Wolves speedway bosses apologise after fans shut out of stadium on momentous night for club
Wolverhampton Speedway bosses have apologised to supporters who were 'locked out' of what might have been the famous club's final competitive fixture at Monmore Green.
Hundreds of fans were locked outside the stadium at the play-off semi-final meeting with Sheffield on Monday night, with the desperate ones attempting to scale fences and walls to try and glimpse a piece of history.
The play-off fixture first leg saw Wolves lose 40-50. They now face another meeting at Sheffield to overcome the deficit and keep their season alive, and with promoter Chris Van Straaten already announcing the club won't fulfil any fixtures next season, the biggest crowd for years at Monmore showed up.
Today, Wolves issued a statement apologising to the supporters who were unable to gain entry to the meeting, but said their landlords Ladbrokes were not at fault.
The statement said: "Wolverhampton Speedway sincerely apologise to the supporters who were unable to gain entry to Monmore Green Stadium on Monday evening.
"While the ultimate responsibility lies with this promotion we would like to explain the circumstances which led to the decision.
"The decision to close the gates was taken on a health and safety issue with stadium capacity regulated by the local authority.
"Wolverhampton Speedway regard this regulated figure as unrealistic and can point to events held prior to the Covid epidemic when more than double the amount of spectators were safely accommodated.
"You may recall the long battle during the latter stages of Covid with Environmental Health Services Wolverhampton once the national green light for entertainment had been given.
"There is a certain irony in that the Wolverhampton City Council used their own social media channels to promote our event and encouraged people to attend yesterday.
"We have two further events in October and arrangements have been made to install temporary seating on the bend to ease the situation.
"We will attempt to liaise with Wolverhampton City Council in the meantime over capacity."
The club had previously announced that whatever the result of the play-offs, there will be a 'Farewell to Monmore' exhibition meeting at the stadium in October.
