Stars’ team boss role could be shared

King’s Lynn owner Keith Chapman has hinted the team manager’s role could be shared for the remainder of the season.

The Stars were rocked when Alex Brady quit earlier this month, leaving Chapman suddenly taking over all club affairs and also battling to balance the books.

He publicly stated that the team is ‘over budget’ and repeated that stance after Monday’s narrow home defeat to Leicester, confirming that crowd figures at the Adrian Flux Arena aren’t currently what is required.

The management position is a further headache with the obvious replacement, co-promoter Dale Allitt, unable to take that role although he is thankfully out of hospital following recent illness.

Rob Lyon stepped in for two matches last week and is expected to make other appearances when the fixtures don’t clash with his main club Peterborough, and Chapman himself is likely to take charge again at Wolverhampton next Monday.

He said: “I did enjoy it on Monday night and I’ve got to say Richard (Knight) was a great help to me as well.

“I’d love to continue doing it if it gets us to the end of the season and, that’s where we need to be.

“There’s no-one out there who stands out that you can take. I’d love Rob to be here, but he is Peterborough and it would be wrong for me to say he’s not going there, he’s coming here. That would be totally wrong.

“He can come here and do guest appearances if I’m away or doing something else, but that’s not great for the riders because they need a bit of continuity.

“We’ll try to give them that as best we can, and if Peterborough aren’t riding then Rob can come here and help as well.

“We can continue like this, it’s just if my wife lets me!”

Team-wise, the Stars are understandably frustrated that former skipper Josh Pickering has elected to join Sheffield when he could have slotted into one of two available places in their own side now that he has returned to fitness.

Michael Palm Toft is expected to face several weeks out as he was due to undergo ankle surgery yesterday, which will leave the Stars using guests or rider replacement in the immediate future.

Elsewhere, they are understood to be on the verge of signing a replacement for Frederik Jakobsen, who quit the club earlier this week, and that change should be in place for the trip to Monmore Green.