League changes see Gough pull out of Stingrays bid

Gough had been involved in a joint bid with Stingrays bench coach Bobby McEwan and, before Wednesday night’s bombshell, was set to announce the securing of the ice-time contract for Hull Ice Arena with the city council on Thursday morning.

That has now been postponed in light of Gough’s decision, although McEwan has vowed to plough on with his bid to buy the club. It’s unclear whether he will now need to bring in somebody else to help with the funding of any takeover from the current Coventry-based owners, but he said the unexpected exit of Gough would not sway his intentions.

Gough stressed there had been no fallout with his bid partner and that his main reason for pulling out was his disagreement with the decision to restructure the league made by other club owners at a meeting in Nottingham on Monday, which was attended by McEwan.

At that meeting it was decided to split the league into two conferences, with Hull forming a five-team ‘northern’ conference alongside Scottish clubs Braehead, Dundee, Edinburgh and Fife. Gough said he was unaware of the changes until McEwan informed him after meeting.

That resulted in a total of eight more league matches against teams north of the border, while playing two less against the more well-supported teams – Sheffield, Nottingham, Coventry, Cardiff and Belfast - who will form the ‘southern’ conference.

Other club owners are convinced the changes will increase competitiveness in the Elite League and, by providing more local derbies for the smaller Scottish clubs, increase revenues for them to - in theory - invest in strengthening their on-ice product.

But Gough told the Yorkshire Post that while nine of the teams in the league may be happy with the new-look league structure, he felt Hull was the only loser due to the prospect missing out on several bumper gates against the likes of Nottingham and Sheffield - who always bring strong, travelling support - as well as having to undertake more road trips than previously to Scotland.

Gough, who insisted he would continue to support McEwan’s bid by working behind the scenes to attract sponsorship, said: “It was extremely disappointing for me to have to make this decision.

“As a fan I am gutted about it but, as a businessman – while still gutted – I feel it is the right decision.

“What happened on Monday gave me an insight into how this league works. I don’t think it takes care of the interests of all 10 clubs. It’s fantastic for the four Scottish clubs and it’s fantastic for the other five - but I think the only loser among the 10 teams is Hull.

“As a business you have to decide whether you want points on the board or more revenue and, for me, the mix wasn’t good enough.

“But I’m totally behind Bobby and I’ve told him I’ll still work hard to bring in sponsorship to the club and help ensure Elite League hockey remains in Hull.”

McEwan still has to sign the agreement with the current owners and is expected to have talks with Hull City Council with regard to the way forward for the club.

“Nic has decided that he no longer wants to be involved. It was a bit of a shock when he told me, but we have to move on,” said McEwan.

“He said he doesn’t like the new structure. It won’t affect anything I’m doing at all and my takeover of the club is going ahead and, as it stands, I’ll be running things off the ice on my own.

“I don’t see any problems in signing the deal with the Coventry-based owners. I intend to make sure we’re playing Elite League hockey in Hull next season.”

A fans’ forum planned at the Ice Arena for Thursday night will still go ahead where McEwan said he is expecting to answer numerous questions from anxious fans.

[email protected]

Twitter: PHarrisonYP