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Great Dane asks for move

22/12/2006

KENNETH Bjerre, Belle Vue's rising Danish star, has submitted a transfer request to end rising speculation about his future at Kirkmanshulme Lane.

New owners David Gordon and Chris Morton were aware there was a question mark over Bjerre's future before they bought the club last month.

The little Dane (pictured right) is a popular transfer target because he spent much of last season overcoming a serious injury.

He ended the season with a false average of only six points a match, a figure he has the potential to lift by two points.

Bjerre, 22, suffered a broken thigh in August 2005 when riding for his Danish club. Even so, Belle Vue stuck by him this year, but it was only late in the season when he finally found his best form and confidence.

Now, the club and supporters feel Bjerre owes them a season after the way they stood by him.

Managing director Gordon said: "If Kenneth doesn't want to ride for Belle Vue, then that's fair enough. But I am very disappointed in him because, apart from what we have here to offer a young rider, I feel he owes the club at least another season.

"We put a genuine proposal to him that he couldn't fail to improve under our new team management of Chris Morton and Eric Boocock.

"They are speedway masters who can only improve a rider, and Chris had given Kenneth a personal undertaking to give him the kind of help no other club could offer him. But Kenneth didn't seem to realise the value of that and I feel he couldn't see the bigger picture."

Morton added: "I made several phone calls to Kenneth and sent him an e-mail explaining the help that Eric Boocock and myself could give his career if he stayed with Belle Vue.

"I even asked former Danish World champion Erik Gundersen to have a word with him, which he did. But, unfortunately, he still decided he wanted to leave."