SHEFFIELD Speedway will make a major announcement regarding their plans for next season during Thursday’s Young Shield clash with the Isle of Wight.

The Sheffield Window Centre-backed side are chasing a 21-point deficit from Tuesday’s first leg and will need one of their best performances of the season.

No clues are being offered about the nature of the announcement which club bosses want to make either on parade or during the interval.

“We’re not prepared to enter into any speculation, but we should be in a position to announce something significant,” said co-boss David Hoggart.

Sheffield will need to make a good start to the meeting if they are to have any chance of pegging back the Islanders’ lead.

Club owner Neil Machin said: “We don’t want to go out with a whimper, we’re determined to take it all the way to Heat 15 tonight and it will need the likes of our captain, Andre Compton and the other riders in the main body of the team to be on top form.”

SHEFFIELD: Ricky Ashworth R/R, Joel Parsons, Andre Compton, Paul Cooper, Ben Wilson, David Speight, Lee Smethills.
ISLE OF WIGHT: Jason Bunyan, Cory Gathercole, Krsysztof Stojanowski, Paul Fry, Glen Phllips, Andrew Bargh, Richard Sweetman.