DAVID GORDON Part One l By Brian Burford

• Chris Morton and David Gordon

They say moving house is one of life’s most stressful pursuits, but what about moving from a dilapidated, run-down stadium into a brand,

spanking new one?

The obsession

MONG the clinking of glass, chatter and laughter, a fanciful aspiration began over a couple of beers in a bar in Didsbury, South Manchester, in 2006.

AIt was Chris Morton and David Gordon’s routine to meet up in The Assembly prior to travelling to Kirkmanshulme Lane for that evening’s match.

The low lighting and dark wood panelling gave it a comforting atmosphere, and perhaps inspired by the walls adorned with pictures of famous occasions, sporting and historical, Morton asked Gordon: ‘If we ever got the opportunity to get hold of Belle Vue, what do you think we should do?”

To which he responded confidently: “The first thing we should do is get a new stadium, it’s totally unsuitable.”

respected, a senior promoter after those years of experience at Glasgow. He was instrumental; if he hadn’t been involved, there might not have been a Belle Vue. Although he went on to join Poole, he’s still a very good and loyal friend.

“At that time we couldn’t even get a team within two or three points of the limit because all the riders had gone. Crumpie (Jason Crump) actually came up to us and said, ‘if you’re buying Belle Vue, I will tell you that I am not going to be part of Belle Vue’.

“He wanted away, and went to Poole. We really struggled in 2007, we were getting hammered at every meeting to be honest, but at least we had got our hands on the club. Jason did re-join us in 2008 and he was the fairest rider we ever dealt with.”

terracing, and bricks appeared where they shouldn’t.

Yet even then there was some degree of pleasantness, if not comfort, when compared with a grassy bank, and the only shelter was a building or two which was so rickety it made post-war prefabs look like 21st Century technology.

The fact remained, however, the owners, the Greyhound Racing Association (GRA), were not about to sink huge sums into improving an arena when their own sport was becoming unfashionable.

Rarely is gambling without its rewards, but it was a safe bet if Belle Vue didn’t want to be dealt aces and eights, then something had to be done to protect their hand.

“Our specific aim was to get out of

“Exactly that – that’s what we must do!” Later that year, Gordon was lying in a hospital bed following hip replacement surgery, when Morton arrived with the necessary papers for signing in order to take control of Belle Vue Speedway.

Only those close to the duo knew it was their plan from the beginning to get out of the dog house and into a modern, plush sporting arena.

“It was a bit of a shot out of the blue really,” says Gordon. “I forgot all about the conversation until Tony Mole (Aces promoter) came up to me and said, ‘we’re thinking about selling Belle Vue, would you be interested?’.

“He was partway through his second year – Tony and Ian Thomas must get some credit for keeping Belle Vue going, because if it wasn’t for them it wouldn’t be there now.

“So we met up with him at the Stable Gate pub in Denton and started to talk, one thing led to another, and eventually we bought the club in December, 2006.

“Gordon Pairman joined us, he was highly-

It’s worth reminding that Kirkmanshulme Lane was not only the very first venue for Belle Vue Speedway back in 1928, but if it hadn’t been for a consortium fronted by Peter Collins, the club would have folded when Hyde Road was sold off as a car auction site at the end of the 1987 season.

Its decaying state in the mid-noughties wasn’t indicative of its early years. When the team moved there in 1988, it was a very tidy stadium and a small, but decent track with a back straight stand, popular terracing on the third/fourth corners, and was generally a nice place to visit.

Belle Vue didn’t get to hold the Commonwealth Final, BLRC, and various Test matches because it resembled a pile held together by string, cable ties, and concrete mixed with too much sand.

It was only latterly, when greyhound racing’s fortunes mirrored that of the shale sport’s own darker days in the 90s, when the place became neglected.

The stand on the back straight closed before demolition, weeds grew tall on the

20 speedway star November 26, 2022