PROMOTER Matt Ford has backed Tai Woffinden's plea for job shares in the Elite League but warned speedway's self-interested nature would scupper his quest.

Stretched world champion Woffinden made a public appeal for British track boss¬es to allow top riders to split their commitments in half having admitted to “strug¬gling” with his increased schedule.

Poole Pirates boss Ford revealed he had been a long-term advocate of the Grand Prix star's idea and had fought to convince fellow promoters of the benefits over the past six years.

But having hit a brick wall so many times, the Wimborne Road chief told Woffinden that his bid would almost certainly fail, particularly after so many top stars had opted out of the UK.

Ford told the Daily Echo: “Job sharing is nothing new. I have put forward proposals for the past few years now and while I would like to see it happen, the opportunity has probably passed us by.

"It's very much the case that people look after their own interests in speedway and I make no bones about it, I will always look to do the same. That's possibly one of the reasons why it won't happen.

“Chris (Holder) and Darcy (Ward) were longing for this rule but never received any support whatsoever so I would be dumbfounded if there was a change of opinion now.

"It certainly should have happened a couple of years ago because clubs might have kept a lot of the riders that have gone.

“There are still some very good riders who choose to do British speedway but I can't see the likes of (Emil) Sayfutdinov and (Martin) Vaculik gracing these shores at all. We would be kidding ourselves to think that they would.

“They're happy with their lives and don't feel the need to ride here.”

Pirates have two guests in place for tomorrow's trip to Leicester (7.30pm) with Vaclav Milik on international duty and Benji Compton riding in the National League for Kent.

Craig Cook and Matt Williamson come in.

Leicester: (from) Doyle, Stead, Korneliussen, Clegg, Bates plus two unconfirmed guests.

Poole: (from) Ward, Grajczonek, Pawlicki, Cook (guest), Janowski, Newman, Williamson (guest).