ALUN Rossiter has thrown his weight behind the bid to bring speedway back to Oxford, but warned that punters must get behind their local club for long-term stability.

Speedway has not been run at the Oxford Stadium since 2007 but the sport was thrown a lifeline earlier this month when the city council rejected a planning application by Galliard Homes.

Swindon team manager Rossiter is in support of the return of his beloved sport to Oxford but insists that supporters will have to delve into their wallets to make any venture a success.

“It would be good if they do come back but it’s not there at the moment for a reason - because people weren’t going there,” he said.

“If they do come back, the supporters and the people of Oxford really need to get behind the club.

“There’s a lot of other clubs that are still going. Just ask the question, ‘why did it shut down?’ “It’s alright people jumping up and down and saying ‘there’s no speedway’, but if they aren’t backing it then it won’t work.

“Nobody can perform without people coming through the turnstiles, it’s as simple as that. At the end of the day it’s down to the people of Oxford. If they are desperate for speedway to come back, they have got to show their support.

“There’s no point going ahead with it if you’re only going to get a couple of hundred people, because you can’t survive on that.”

Rossiter would favour a return for Oxford because it may mean he gets the chance to be a part of a local derby that has created plenty of interest across a number of sports.

“It would be a local derby for us and we’d love to have them back in the Elite League,” said Rossiter.

“They are up the road and we’ve seen in the speedway and the football that Swindon-Oxford is all pretty tense, so that would be good.

“The fourth-bend lot used to give me so much stick when I went up to Oxford in my Swindon days.”