As the power-brokers in the sport sought to thrash out a deal that would help all their businesses prevail and impasse meant that the representatives of British speedway’s second tier, the Championship, walked out en masse.

In the words of one – Glasgow Tigers manager and promoter Stewart Dickson – “the Premiership wanted their cake and eat it,” as the nights on which race meets would take place were being decided, resulting in that collected withdrawal.

That, though, was where the vision of those who have seen such a reaction before, was rewarded, because all concerned had nowhere to go.

“It may seem strange that British speedway's AGM takes place in Tenerife, but it’s held there because sometimes in the past when things haven’t gone to plan promoters have been known to down tools and drive up the road when it was held in Great Britain if they didn’t get their way. If you take it to an island they can’t do that so easily,” Dickson explained.

This time, instead of threatening the coming season - a risk which was, in any case, inevitably thwarted as tempers cooled and common sense prevailed - the break in collective negotiations effectively brought about an extremely welcome addition to the schedule for 2018, because it provided an opportunity for some old issues to be resolved, resulting in the timely reintroduction of the Scottish Cup, a contest that has not been staged for the past four years as a result of tensions between the clubs involved, Dickson’s Tigers and the Edinburgh Monarchs.

“At that particular break myself and John Campbell, the Edinburgh promoter, got talking and came to the conclusion that it would be nice if we could repair relationships for the benefit of Scottish speedway, because it wasn’t doing anyone any good,” said Dickson.

“After a couple of refreshments tongues get loose and things happen and that’s really how we got things sorted out. I came back and spoke to our owners and they were of the same opinion that it wasn’t doing anyone’s business any good.”

The central issue was the Tigers’ intention to revert to Friday night racing, potentially resulting in direct competition for neutral supporters with their closest rivals, but also a recognition of the greater challenge that faces any sport other than football in Scotland, particularly those on the west of the country.

“I think Edinburgh had resigned themselves to the fact that we were going to get it this time,” said Dickson.

“We put up our reasons for it. Glasgow’s a footballing city with Rangers and Celtic and speedway used to be Friday nights at Coatbridge, Hampden, Shawfield. I know that was a long time ago, but it’s how it used to be.”

To their credit, the Monarchs have, rather than digging their heels in, subsequently taken an extremely constructive approach to dealing with the situation, with the result that the Tigers’ first visitors on a Friday night will, this evening, be their neighbours as the Scottish Cup takes place this weekend and next, kicking off a very special season for the sport.

“Since then we’ve moved forward and one of our owners, Gerry Facenna took up the reins and spoke with Edinburgh. Now they’ve come up with free coach travel for both sets of supporters, which will encourage bigger attendances and also, to ensure that supporters know the money is staying in their own club, we’ve arranged that if you buy tickets from your own club the money stays there,” outlined Dickson.

“It’s gone from one extreme to the other and I think it’s good. We only want the rivalry on the track and I’m glad it’s been resolved. We will also meet each other in the league and we’ve drawn each other in the (British) cup as well. It’s good the way it’s worked out and it’s all systems go.”

The timeliness of this rapprochement is that it is allowing both Scottish clubs to kick off very significant seasons with attention grabbing matches. This year marks the 90th anniversary of speedway being introduced to Britain, the sport being staged at Celtic Park, among other venues, as it announced itself in 1928, while it is also the 70th anniversary of the formation of Edinburgh Monarchs. Historically the capital-based club has the edge, whereas the respective size of the crowds is perhaps reflected in Glasgow being the bigger city.

“Trophy wise Edinburgh’s ahead of us, crowd wise Glasgow are bigger, but Edinburgh’s a very well run club with two owner-promoters who have been there for 30 years,” said Dickson.

“Myself and (fellow promoter) Alan Dick are going into our 18th season and for the Facenna family who own the club we represent them, but we’re 12 or 13 years behind the Edinburgh promoters, so they’ve got a bit more experience than us and we’ve been in it a long time.”

It could be argued that, in terms of the balance between provenance and fashionableness, it is both a strength and a weakness of the sport that it has essentially remained unchanged in a long history, the peak of which in the UK, in terms of a wider audience, was probably the live-televised, multi-sport Grandstand/World of Sport era of the seventies and eighties.

In those days Peter Collins was the great British challenger to the six time world champion Ivan Mauger whose popularity in his native New Zealand was such that he has been described there as having been “our Pele”, but it perhaps speaks to the relative fortunes of the sports in question that his name would now be rather less well known globally than that of his great-nephew Aaron, who became an All Black just as rugby was transforming its marketability through professionalism.

Like most other sports, speedway can never hope to match the popularity of top flight football or rugby in Scotland, but it provides a product that has sufficient appeal that the Tigers have been able to reverse their relationship with Junior football club Ashfield in recent years, taking ownership of the facility in Possilpark which has allowed them to set about seeking to transform the spectator experience, while retaining the rather classical fifties feel that is somehow reminiscent of a George Formby or Norman Wisdom film set.

That followed the Facenna family taking ownership of the speedway club four years ago and they have invested heavily in the infrastructure at the stadium. This year meanwhile sees a simple, but potentially vital change that did not completely delight their now tenants, but in Dickson’s opinion will make for ever more thrilling racing, as an extra two metres of grass surrounding the football pitch were removed to broaden the track.

He believes that has more than coincided with the recruitment of a rider who has the reputation of being one of the most exciting in the sport, Cornishman Chris ‘Bomber’ Harris, a former British champion and British Grand Prix winner.

“We’ve been after him for a couple of seasons now and we’ve finally got him up here. I think the changes to the track helped. He had always said it was a bit narrow for him, so I think that was crucial in terms of sealing the deal,” Dickson reckoned.

While little has changed in terms of the core product with brakeless, single-gear machines essentially unchanged other than the introduction of titanium allowing them to be lighter, so easier to handle, the Tigers manager also believes the sport has undergone something of a revolution in terms of the attitudes of its leading participants in recent times as they have looked for other ways of maximising their speed.

“I’ve been going to speedway for maybe 45, 46 years and certainly the last five years in particular I’ve noticed that the riders are now training harder and looking at their diet, nutrition, exercise,” said Dickson.

“You read their stories in interviews they all speak about training programmes. That was never mentioned up to five or six years ago. Speedway was very slow to catch on, particularly in Britain.”

His contention is that for those who have been before, a superior product is now on offer while newcomers can anticipate a sporting night out fit for a 21st century audience.

The first leg of the Scottish Cup takes place at Ashfield tonight, getting underway at 7.30pm, while the return is at Armadale Stadium next Friday.