PIRATES chief Matt Ford last night hit back after Poole’s recruitment and selection methods had been questioned by Elite League rivals Swindon.

Robins co-owner Gary Patchett’s comments came after it was this week revealed that a tribunal had ruled in favour of Pirates after their close-season dispute over the signing of Swindon asset Adrian Miedzinski.

Patchett was said to be baffled by the decision to allow the Polish star to join Poole Coastal Aluminium on loan rather than in a full transfer.

In an interview with the Speedway Star, Patchett went on to suggest that the move could be bad for Miedzinski as he was likely to increase his average and make himself “less attractive” to other clubs. Patchett added that “you don’t have to dig too deep to find quite a list of riders who have ridden for Poole for just one season”.

Ford claimed clubs including Swindon had requested lower team-building limits, which prevented him from retaining riders who boost their averages.

He told the Daily Echo: “We would be more than happy to be riding at circa 45-point limits.

“I would then have the possibilities of tracking people who aren’t even here like Krzysztof Kasprzak and I may not have had to loan out riders like Bjarne Pedersen and Davey Watt.

“However, we can’t do that because the majority of clubs in the league don’t have an asset list like we do. That is not a fault and I would never consider that to be a downside of the club, I would always consider it to be the fact that we had actually just done our job properly.”

On the Miedzinski tribunal, Patchett said Swindon had offered 2012 terms to the rider and they felt they were “not being adequately compensated”.

Ford said: “The reasons were given in the tribunal as to why Adrian didn’t want to ride for Swindon. I don’t believe it is in the public interest to make it further common knowledge because I believe there is enough rumour out there.”