OXFORD United director of performance Chris Neville says football and speedway can learn from each other after it was announced Oxford Cheetahs will be returning.
In addition to his role at United, Neville is also head of performance for the Great Britain Speedway Team.
Neville, who joined the U’s in June and looks after the the academy and women’s programme, as well as the first team, said the comeback of the Cheetahs was welcome news after a difficult time for the sport.
He said: “It’s fantastic news for British speedway and for fans, especially in the Oxford area.
“It’s well-documented that it’s been challenging for speedway, it’s a sport which is not as big as football and rugby, and so on.
“There has been challenges but it’s a new growth of the sport.”
Speedway teams in Reading and Coventry have closed in recent years, while the Swindon Robins pulled out of both this and next season.
Neville said the return of the Cheetahs could see fans of those sides flock to Oxford.
He said: “It’s good to have tracks coming back, like Oxford.
“Until you put a track back on like Oxford, within that area there’s lots of speedway fans that want to watch good racing.
“They may well have been Reading fans or Swindon fans but at the end of the day a lot of fans want to see good racing.
“I’m a motorsport fan and I don’t like it when clubs are closing down in tough times, the pandemic has added another layer of difficulty for some.”
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Neville, who worked with the England football men’s team between 2012 and 2016 under Roy Hodgson, finds himself in a rather unique position, having expertise in both football and speedway.
He said the two sports can learn from each other, especially in Oxford when the Cheetahs do return.
“I’ve been a motorsport fan all my life, but of course I’ve spent most of my career in football so there’s not been that opportunity to cross over,” he said.
“Football is the biggest sport in our country so Oxford United has a big county influence but having another professional sports organisation in the city and around the city can only be a good thing.
“We can cross-pollinate different ideas into those professional sports.
“What can we learn from motorsport and use in football, and vice versa.”
Neville has worked with Portsmouth while the the south coast club was in the Premier League, Blackburn Rovers and LA Galaxy, before getting involved in speedway three years ago.
He said: “We had some conversations with the current directors of the GB speedway team and they wanted a more generic performance perspective, and asked if I could give a hand.
“I jumped at the opportunity, it’s been really enlightening and a great opportunity to take some of the methods we might have used in football and translate those over to speedway.
“What we’re trying to do is bring those methodologies from other sports and see how that can influence the development of riders and the way they prepare for racing, and the way they recover from racing.”
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