CUP winner Craig Pendlebury has revealed how he didn’t feel ready to join Sheffield in 1974 – but went on to live the dream.

Pendlebury, now based in Australia, has added a tough of retro to the new issue of ‘Tiger Talk’, the fortnightly club programme during the season delay.

His first season was 1974 – and he says he was prepared to give it a month to see how he got on!

Said Craig: “I really got thrown into deep end in 1974 when the Swedish riders were banned, Sheffield’s Bengt Larsson was one of them.

“I had only ridden in I think seven second division meetings for Barrow in late 73 and was all set to go back there in 74 on loan, but I got the call from the management about two weeks before the season started.

“They said they wanted me to ride for the Tigers, I said I wasn’t nearly ready for first division racing but agreed to give it a go for a month, I ended up the season with an average of just under six.”

Current Tigers star Kyle Howarth has swapped his bike for the building site as he looks to plug the gap in income during this time of no racing and is keeping fit.

Tiger Talk also includes an all-time Sheffield 1-7 with club co-promoter Damien Bates – with some interesting choices – colleague Peter Mole addresses the latest situation and there’s a stunning centre page poster of club hero Ricky Ashworth.

It’s on sale now for delivery on or before Monday June 22 from the publishers https://www.curtis-sport.com/sheffield-tigers where all previous issues remain in stock to complete the set of what is sure to be a unique collection in history.