PROMOTER Danny Ford insisted Pirates would not be left with the scraps when it came to building a competitive team for next season.

The Wimborne Road outfit are yet to name any of their one-to-seven for the 2022 SGB Championship campaign, as they look to defend the crown they won back in November.

The likes of Danyon Hume and Ben Basso, members of Poole’s team from last campaign, have since joined Glasgow, while Aussie Rory Schlein has retired.

But despite not yet showing their hand, Ford said Pirates’ team building mission was almost over.

He told the Daily Echo: “Team building is going really well. For all intents and purposes the team is very nearly complete, we’ve just got one very last thing to sort before we start making announcements.

“We are excited by the team.

“Just because we haven’t made any announcements, doesn’t mean by any means we will be slow off the mark. We just hadn’t made them common knowledge just yet.

“We are very happy with what we have put together. We feel it’s a competitive team which is going to be challenging for silverware again next year.

“I have seen a few comments online, people saying we are going to be left with the scraps or whatever – but that is not the case at all.

“We have done a lot of deals already. We just haven’t put them out to the public yet.

“We don’t want to show our hand too early. We know how quickly things can change in speedway, so we are holding fire on that.

“We know it’s frustrating for supporters, it’s frustrating for us as well – we just want to make sure we are in the strongest position possible come the end of the season.”

The likes of Leicester, Plymouth and Redcar have all confirmed their full team line-ups for 2022.

But Oakdale resident Ford insisted good things came to those who waited, with Pirates’ double-winning season from last year recent proof.

He added: “To be fair, in the past couple of years we have been one of the last teams to announce. It didn’t turn out too badly last year to be honest!

“If that’s anything to go by, hopefully we get more of the same.”

Ford has confirmed team managers Neil Middleditch and Gary Havelock will be at the helm once again for 2022.