IT SEEMS a curious contradiction when one of British speedway's leading promoters says he has let his club down.

But that is the feeling Matt Ford has carried with him since September, when Pirates were beaten in the SGB Premiership play-off semi-final for the second straight year.

Ford's mantra has always been that in order to secure success on track, things must be right off track. And, speaking with typical frankness ahead of tomorrow's press and practice, the Poole boss did not shy away from an uncomfortable truth.

"I do feel I've let the club down, not with the personnel I've picked, but off track I haven't been as good in terms of making sure the club is promoted in the right vein," said Ford.

"It's my club and I don't want that to continue, I want to put it back on the map and make sure everyone knows what we're trying to do.

"It's important to me to make amends."

That much is obvious. Even the most casual Pirates fan would have noticed an increase in the club's promotional activities in recent months.

A new crest has been designed in honour of the 70th anniversary, there has been better engagement with fans online and publicity has been boosted in local and national media.

Significant track work has piqued the interest of supporters and plans have been revealed to spice up meetings in a variety of ways, with different kinds of off-track entertainment inked in for most Wednesdays.

The message coming out of Wimborne Road seems to be working. Season ticket sales are the best in a decade and that is exactly what Ford wants, given incoming cash from the Premiership's deal with BT Sport is minimal.

"The fact finances from the television contract were reduced by more than 90 per cent meant I took a step back and looked at what was happening with the club," said Ford.

"We have not been as productive in promoting and putting ourselves out there. Some things we have done very well but I have taken my eye off the ball when it comes to the promotion of the club to schools and certain other aspects.

"That needs to be brought back. We need to get crowd levels up by 300 to 500 to stay level with the money we had from the previous television contract and I feel fairly confident we can do it.

"If the team sets the pace and the riders go about their jobs in the way they can, success will bring people back to us."

On paper, Poole have a team which boasts plenty of strength in depth. Spearhead Brady Kurtz made huge strides last year and former world champion Chris Holder is a bargain on a seven-point average.

Josh Grajczonek is a proven performer in Poole colours, Linus Sundstrom is hungry to impress and the Polish pair of Kacper Woryna and Mateusz Szczepaniak are capable of big things.

James Shanes, who has invested in his machinery over the winter, should be better equipped to cope with a tougher challenge at reserve.

The bookies are certainly convinced, making Pirates favourites for the title. And it seems a sizeable portion of fans – if not all – agree.

"Someone said to me recently that they were not very impressed with the team and then they asked me what I thought," said Ford. "I wasn't quite sure how to answer because I am incredibly pleased with it.

"At times, it is a science when you pick a team. At times, you get lucky. But if ever you could point to science, it would be this year in terms of how it's been put together.

"I've never been as late as January in finishing a team but we had to wait a long time for Linus. I stuck to my guns when it would perhaps have been easier to have gone down alternative routes.

"I did that because I feel this team has the feel of the 1969 British League-winning team in that it can be competitive from one to seven.

"We need luck to make sure the guys are injury-free but all in all, it's a great start."

Between 2003 and 2015, Poole won seven Elite League titles. In the past two years, they have just one Elite Shield to show for their efforts.

Some have suggested the aura of invincibility has disappeared, that the Dorset club are no longer the force they were. But Ford, unsurprisingly, does not agree.

"I still think that when the fixtures come out, we are the ones who are looked for," he said.

"Going back to the Tony Rickardsson days onwards, we were an attractive team, but in the Chris Holder and Darcy Ward era we were the team everyone wanted to watch, we did great business and I want it to be the same again.

"I still think we're the biggest club in Britain. Perhaps in the past two years we have been in a lull and have been more of a sleeping giant but I'm determined to put us back on top this year and when I say no stone has been left unturned, I mean it."

As if you doubted it for a second.