ALUN Rossiter is relieved that common sense has finally prevailed to allow Hans Andersen to return to the Robins, but believes the whole episode has tainted the sport during difficult times.

Swindon and Peterborough have been locked in battle throughout the off-season over the futures of Andersen and Australian Troy Batchelor, with the Panthers insisting both riders could only return to Wiltshire on full-transfers.

While Batchelor’s future remains unclear for now, Andersen has completed his loan return to Blunsdon and is set to once again captain the side he led to Elite League glory in 2013.

Rossiter always knew he would get his man in the end, but believes the drawn-out saga has damaged people’s perceptions of speedway as a sport.

“I knew common sense had to prevail in the end, and we have been saying it all along,” he said.

“We knew the facts and that was that he was never in their team, and it has all been tit for tat.

“The sad thing about it all is that speedway has been tainted by it all, not people with power or people with money, it is the sport.

“This is a time when everyone has to pull together and stop playing silly buggers, because if we don’t we can damage our sport and our own businesses.”

Given the financial problems both within speedway and the country in general at the moment, Rossiter believes clubs need to help each other when it comes to building teams.

“We are all in a recession and there is no money, and people could have loaned riders and say they were going to buy them at the end of the season and it could have fallen through,” he said.

“It has happened before, and we could have said that, and said ‘yeah we will buy them’ but we have been honest and realistic.

“It is not as if we are not investing, we are bringing Nick Morris on board, and at the end of the day it is sad because our livelihoods have been played around with. Fans are holding back on buying season tickets because they didn’t know who is going to be in our team.

“I knew all along he would have been here because they never wanted him, and if there is no chance of riders being used then they should be allowed out on loan.

“We have plenty of riders out on loan and we have had no problems with it.”