EHM The Blue Line

fishi wrote:how many of you tbl guys are going to the nhl opening games next weekend in london?

Fuming Courtenay hands every Giants Player threat of the axe

Tuesday, October 09, 2007

By Stuart McKinley

Ed Courtenay has taken a major step to back up his threat to axe players from his Belfast Giants team.

The Belfast Telegraph can reveal that EVERY player in the squad has been given their two weeks notice in writing, with player-coach Courtenay himself giving out the letters.

Under the standard contract every player in the Elite League signs clubs can terminate their contracts after a 14 day notice period and the clock is ticking on a number of members of the Giants team.

A week ago Courtenay gave his players two games to save their jobs. Over the weekend the Hull Stingrays and the Cardiff Devils both inflicted defeats on the Giants, with nobody else joining Scott Cameron and Trevor Johnson among the names on the coach's safe list.

Now the threat of losing their jobs just a month into the season is hanging over the players, with the axe ready to fall at anytime.

"The guys know how serious I am about making changes," said Courtenay.

"They were all given their two weeks notice and any guys that want to go can go.

"That is how serious I am.

"It is frustrating for me to be trying to get a response from the players and still I am the one who is scoring goals and putting points on the board and I am 39-years-old.

"Other than that Scott Cameron is the only one to have done it on a regular basis.

"Some others have done it, but not consistently enough."

After eight defeats in ten matches it might seem that things can't get any worse for Courtenay, but they did last night.

Roman Gavalier hasn't played since the opening weekend of the season and he will now be missing for a further three weeks.

Added to that the injury to Johnson that wasn't as bad as initially feared may now actually keep him out for a few weeks.

"We thought Roman was closer than he is, but we were told he's going to be three more weeks and that is a blow to us," said Courtenay.

"I perhaps didn't give him enough credit last season. JP Morin was the best defenceman in the league, but perhaps Roman made him the best in the league.

"Trevor Johnson's thumb keeps dislocating. He thought he was fine, but he's obviously not.

"He is going to be looked at and I think he will be out for a while.

Although Courtenay is desperate to make changes he is restricted in just how much he can alter his line-up.

Under Elite League rules he is allowed to play a maximum of 15 imports - or ITC transfers - during any one season, with no more than ten playing in a match.

All ten spots were taken up when Courtenay built his roster for the season and since then Todd Kelman stepped into the line-up on a temporary basis before new signing Shaun Sutter made his debut against the Stingrays in Dundalk on Saturday night.

That has left just three ITC spaces between now and April and one of those has to be kept back in case of an emergency.

Despite those restrictions it is a situation that Courtenay is comfortable with.

"Under the rules I can only make two changes, but I don't really feel restricted by that," he said.

"I am not happy being tenth out of ten teams, but I don't think that we are that far away.

"Two wins would lift us halfway up the table and that would feel a bit better for me and the players.

"It is not very pleasant being where we are, but I don't think it is anything that two players wouldn't improve."

And those changes will happen this week if Courtenay can't get the right players in time.

"I am waiting on something and that might happen in the next 24 to 48 hours," he said.

"I have been on the phone and there have been people calling me as well as the other way around.

"The right guys have to come in though. I won't sign just anyone.

"There are guys out there who are looking for jobs and there are some who I would take a chance on.

"I have told the players that I will make changes and I will do it as soon as a guy who is the right fit is available for me to sign."

Calv wrote:I like the fact that he's done that to every player but can only sign 2 more imports, if 5 or 6 walk out they're gonna be completely screwed!

Courtenay poised to make Bison raid

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

By Stuart McKinley

The outcome of a high level meeting today could end up having a major impact on the Belfast Giants' faltering season.

Basingstoke Bisons' future in the Elite League is believed to be in serious doubt, despite the club issuing a denial last week.

Their position will be discussed by the Elite League's board and should Bison withdraw it may well have a positive affect on the Giants.

Ed Courtenay is currently looking for new players to add to his line-up and if the Basingstoke team are left without a job then he may be forced by the league to sign their players first.

That, however, may not be a bad thing for the Giants.

The Bison roster includes some proven quality players, in particular goaltender Steve Lyle and former Giant Steve Thornton and if those two come available there will be no shortage of takers.

Thornton turned out to be the missing link in the Giants team when he signed in December 2002, helping the team finish sixth in Europe and second in Superleague before winning the Play-off title.

His presence on the current Giants team would be welcomed, especially if he had anything like the same impact.

Help Save Our Team
Well! It has been a roller coaster of a week and as you are aware from the Basingstoke Gazette the budget of your team has been cut by £1,500 a week.

I would like to say that myself and the remaining players in the dressing room have decided to stay and ride this out, but we need your help.

We the team (personally) have sat down and tried to think of ways of raising money as with a £1,500 cut we will become the whipping boys of the league and that is not what we want for either ourselves as players, our pride, or for you the fans.

I am sure you, the Bison fans, don't want this either, as we all know it is not much fun to be at the bottom.

I believe if we can recuperate £500 a week on the budget, we can put together a competitive team which is what we all want.

So folks we are looking for ideas literally of any sort, to help me and the team raise this shortfall so please come and speak to us.

I want the money to come straight to me, so that you will know it will be used solely to help your team.

I will keep you updated as to what is happening through the media and website.

Many thanks for your support during this difficult time.

Ryan Aldridge

Statement from David & Sharon Taylor

Following the events of this week we felt it appropriate to clarify as many issues as possible.

At this moment we are sitting 1 point off the bottom of the Elite league, if we loose to Belfast tonight we will be bottom, we have put together a high profile team with one of the highest wage bills in the league, we were the only Elite team to reveal our wage bill to the board at the July meeting., hence the comments from some of the teams via their websites and local press.

The position with regard to the long term viability of the club is as follows, we believe that professional Ice Hockey is viable from the Basingstoke Arena, we gave our assurances to the board last week and stand by those assurances, Sharon and I have been financially supporting the club to the tune of £6,000 per week together with a pre season investment of £10,000, the reason for the wage cut of £1,500 per week was to firstly secure the long term financial viability of the club and to bring down the costs to a manageable level for us as owners, which at the same time allow us to develop the product, we are currently working with 2 corporate agencies specialising in sports sponsorship with the outcome being realised during this season, the second reason was due to the performance of the team in recent games, it doesn’t take a genius to work out that changes have to be made to the team to return us to winning ways and to do justice to the Basingstoke Bison name, the new wage level is just below the wage cap and will allow Ryan to get the team back on track. The article from Ryan was based upon his request that if he can raise x amount per week from various fund raising concepts can he be allowed to spend that directly on strengthening the squad, my answer was yes he can, hence his comments about the money going to him.

As the owners we have expressed our concerns to and have been met with agreement from Ryan that 3 wins from 11 games is unacceptable, Ryan and I met Monday evening to decide the best way forward, the first instance was to look at our current squad to identify where the problems was, the decision was taken to release Peter Campbell and allow him to accept the offer he received from Belfast last week (whilst under contract to Basingstoke) and look immediately to replace him with a new playing partner to Steve Thornton, the players met on Monday evening again to confirm their commitment to the club, Tuesday morning Ryan woke to Stevie Lyle packing his suitcase (they share a flat together to keep the costs down) Stevie requested his release so he too can accept the offer and contract again put onto the table to him by Belfast last week.

At present Ryan and Steve are sourcing the replacements for both Stevie and Peter, an announcement will follow once signatures have been secured, any funds raised by Ryan and the team will go directly on additional players.

There has been much speculation and miss-information on many websites and regional papers over the past weeks, much of it is complete rubbish mixed in with some extremely un pleasant personal attacks on me by a large number of supposed supporters of the team, because of the vicious nature of this comments we will not be entering into any off ice event which runs the risk of being turned into a witch hunt against Sharon and I.

What is required now is for all the persons who clearly seem intent on driving us from the club to shut up, get off our backs and get behind the team, we are in much better position financially now than we were at the start of the season and fully intend to build upon our current league position.

The off ice activities with the merchandise is selling better that expected however the best way of assisting the team can be through the purchase of match day programmes (£1.50 profit and 50 / 50 tickets as both these raise serious funds for the team, the 50 / 50 sales at Basingstoke are less than a quarter of the Bracknell’s match day 50 / 50 sales!!

The first shirt auction is set for Sunday 4th November 2007 immediately after the home game against Belfast in the Q Bar, the winning bidder will not only receive the players shirt from him at the end of the season but will also have theirs or a name of their choice put onto the rear of the shirt.

The issue about both Cardiff and Belfast putting out stories in their local papers originated from our decision to keep the players fully up to speed with the situation, Ryan was informed once our Accountants were able to confirm our exact income and outgoings we informed Ryan of the trading position, who in turn appraised the players hence the calls from some players to other clubs to possibly line up other options, with hindsight this may not have been the best course to take.

I have raised the fact that 3 clubs have made offers to a couple of our players whilst they remain under contract to Basingstoke with the Elite League Board, we do not hold the players responsible for that but we are very disappointed with the clubs for not only negotiating with the players involved but also making offers to them, at the end of the day the players must do what they feel is best for them and their families.

To summarise, we remain committed to the Basingstoke Bison and have placed the club in a much better financial position than we were last month and are looking forward to moving forward.

David & Sharon Taylor