OWNER Matt Ford has revealed Pirates are defying the global economic crisis by being in the strongest financial position of his tenure.

The Wimborne Road chief’s comments come as Poole Coastal Aluminium prepare to launch their Elite League title defence during the upcoming 2012 campaign.

He reported that the speedway giants had picked up major new sponsors to put down firm foundations during the close season.

Ford, who has been in charge of the Dorset big guns since the 1999 campaign, confirmed that Pirates’ books now made better reading than at any other point during his time at the helm.

In stark contrast to many businesses in the current climate, Poole announced a club-record sponsorship package with Coastal Aluminium in January.

And Ford insists off-track stability can help Pirates build on last year’s double-winning success on the shale.

Ford told the Daily Echo: “I would say we are stronger than we have ever been.

“People like to be part of a success story and Pirates are certainly that.

“Getting things right off the track before we get things right on it has always been our first point.

“The on-track success can come and you can normally achieve that if you are doing things right off of it.

“That doesn’t, by any means, mean that we spend more money on riders, in terms of point money, than our competitors.

“I can say categorically that we are not one of the better paying clubs. We rely on the fact that people want to ride for the Pirates, want to live on the south coast, perhaps next to the beach. The loyalty showed by the riders to the club has proved that.

“But, in financial terms, we have certainly bucked the trend. It has been good and long may it continue.”

Ford added: “For what is deemed as being probably the most dominant club in the past decade of British speedway, we have held our prices for the third year running.

“That is only possible because of the amount of support we receive off-track from all of the sponsors. They give us the chance to be competitive in terms of the transfer market but also to try to keep the prices as cost-efficient as we can.

“It is with interest that I see clubs in the Premier League charging as much, or more, than we are now.

“Commercially, we have improved year on year and I am really pleased to say that this has been no different. The outer season of 2011-12 has been very good for the club.

“The programme is going to be a tremendous advertising vehicle for us again, all the races are sold, all the meetings are sold and one or two very large companies have joined the fold in helping the club move forward.”

• See Thursday’s Echo where we introduce the Pirates class of 2012 ahead of the new Elite League season.