Season 20 sees the Brickhill Tigers back in the top division, as we attempt to reassert ourselves as a major force in the top flight.  Despite limited transfer funds we feel we have an excellent squad that can make its presence felt in all competitions.  There are just two new additions to the Tigers for S20.  First up is the current Russian Champion Alexandr Astafjev.  Signed for a paltry fee of just £1000 we hope he will be the bargain of the season?  Having spent almost all of his professional career riding for Pila, Alexandr will be looking forward to the immense challenge of representing Brickhill.  Alexandr's signing has meant that we have had to loan out one of our other riders, and that rider is our Czech superstar Ales Pokorny.  Ales will definitely be back when the opportunity arises. Our second signing is 22 year old Dave Ridley.  Having started his career at Willenhall and then most recently at Barnet, Dave has showed steady progress as he has become an accomplished academy league rider.  With the closure of Barnet at the end of the year we managed to buy Dave's contract for a fee of £40,000.  It is hoped he will firmly establish himself in our starting line up this season?   Returning of course as number one and captain is club legend Curtis Doolan.  Curtis has a new set of engines this year and it has certainly showed in preseason, looking almost unbeatable at present.  He will be ably supported by Australian International Joel Slater and the evergreen Alan Clark, who despite his age has also looked unstoppable in preseason.  The promotion hopes this will give us as strong a top 4 as anybody, and they will be supported by some exciting young talent in our lower order.   Taking the tricky number two spot in the team will be 20 year old Adam Jones.  Adam has been integral in our Academy side recently and has also cemented a place in the first team.  We are not the only ones to have spotted his talent however, and we have had to fend off bids from several interested clubs in the last couple of seasons.  Joining Adam and Dave Ridley to fill the second reserve birth is 21  year old Michael Nightingale.  Signed in a big money deal from Cradley Heath Cobras, early expectation put added pressure on young Michael.   However last season he really settled in and put in some outstanding performances as reserve.  With those three talented youngsters we feel the present and future is looking very bright indeed.  However it doesn't end there as the rest of our Academy squad will also be hoping to challenge for a first team spot in the coming campaign.  Most established of the rest is Willis Hanson who will be pushing Michael and Dave very hard for first team action.  He will be joined by Chris Hayward, Garry Giles and last but not least by 16 year old Jordan Murphy.  Jordan had an outstanding debut season in the Champion Apprentice competition where he top scored overall.  He will be hoping to show what he can do in the Academy side this year.