OUTWARDLY, they might appear to have been the most unlikely partnership to succeed.

But as a duo, Matt Ford and Mike Golding definitely forged a special dynamic that has propelled Pirates back to the top of British speedway over the past nine years.

Two completely different characters - chalk and cheese spring to mind - they breezed into Wimborne Road as new guardians of the club in early 1999 after previous Poole owner Mervyn Stewkesbury moved out.

They immediately breathed new life into an outfit that was slowly dying on its feet after millionaire property developer Stewkesbury, by his own admission, had fallen out of love with the sport.

Ford, the flamboyant front man whose charismatic character shines like a beacon, and Golding, the older man who was happy to remain in the background studiously working outside the limelight.

Now the M and M partnership has broken up, with Ford publicly confirming earlier this week that he and Golding have gone their separate ways in a deal actually finalised just before this season started.

Ford is staying at Poole, alongside new co-promoter Giles Hartwell, who has no financial input in the club.

Golding has departed after selling his 50 per cent Pirates share to Ford and will concentrate solely on running Premier League Somerset.

No big surprise there, especially after 60-year-old Golding bought the Rebels outright a couple of years ago.

Both say there is no animosity between the two, and a parting of the ways was inevitable, especially as they initially only planned to promote at Poole for five years.

Swept along by the successes of 2003 and 2004, when Pirates completed a treble and a double, they remained together for nine.

So how did Ford and Golding forge such a devastating winning partnership that lifted the club to new heights, with eight trophies plundered from 2001 to 2006?

Especially when their differing characters appear to be more like Terry and Bob of The Likely Lads, the BBC's hit 1960s sitcom, than two people who are always automatically on the same wavelength?

The answer is easy to work out. They both have an in-built winning mentality much like six-times world champion Tony Rickardsson, who they brought to the club in 2001 under a blaze of glory to replace 2000 top guy Mark Loram.

They also decided early on in their Pirates tenure that each would concentrate on different aspects of running the club.

Ford, a dapper dresser always with the latest hairstyle to match, is undoubtedly a people person who finds it easy to court the press.

The ideal man to deal with the media, he also went out and found the riders and club sponsors and negotiated the deals.

While Ford did most of the talking to keep Poole in the spotlight, Golding - no rabbit when it came to dealing with the press either - was happy to take a back seat and, by his own admission, carry out the more mundane jobs of running a speedway club.

Golding also encouraged the development of youth riders at the track and acted as the go-between, or buffer, between the fans and the promotion That aspect worked perfectly, particularly as Ford, as unlikely as it might seem, appears more sensitive to criticism from spectators than Golding.

On the terraces, there are many people who will tell you they are Ford men, and many who will tell you they are in the Golding camp.

That's the way life works.

Now quiet man Golding has gone back onto the terraces as a fan there is no choice. All Pirates supporters with the club truly at heart must get behind Ford in these difficult financial times.

Based on his previous record, it's a good bet that highly ambitious, focused and articulate Ford, working as sole owner, can take the club to the next level, with talk of entry into a new European League possibly still on the cards.

But whatever happens, Golding has left his legacy on Poole, the club he has supported since 1956.

After all, if he hadn't come up with the money inside 96 hours to buy 50 per cent of the club after Ford claimed he'd been let down badly by another potential partner, the younger man might not have been able to buy into Pirates in the first place.

And the successful M and M double act would never have existed.