Carl Johnson won't return to the Showground while the current Peterborough Panthers owner remains in charge

“It’s the hardest decisions I have ever made because of my family’s involvement with Panthers, but it feels like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders.

‘My partner Katy Lewis is chairperson of the Panthers supporters’ club, our son Charlie loves his speedway, my father-in-law Richard is an ex-chairman and still heavily involved, and my mother-in-law is child safety officer, everybody is involved.

“They are all continuing which is what I want. This is a personal decision and, family-wise, they are staying on as they have been doing it for many years and will keep on doing it.

“They understand my decision and to be fair they have said ‘we are surprised it’s taken you so long!’ I wanted to fight on and was hoping things would change, but they didn’t so I had to make my choice.

“It’s a decision I had to make, but I never want to let people down and I feel I have let the supporters down.

"I have let Peterborough speedway down, but, whether or not it’s the right decision for everyone else, it’s certainly the right one for me.

“I’m not going to go again while the current owner is there, but the family are still going to go and they have got my 100% support to continue to do what they do for the club because I still love the club.

“I have only got to go 100 yards from my front door and I can see the track and it will be very different not being there when there’s a meeting on.

"I was about eight years old when I was taken to my first meeting in 1984 and I was 16 when I did a practice day, run by the former world finalist Vaclav Verner, in 1992. I made my debut for Panthers against Exeter in 1993.

“I’m involved in others things which I have on on a Thursday evening, I coach a football team, Feeder Under 7s, but normally they finish before speedway starts.

"Our son Charlie plays for my team and I will go training with him and then I’m going to take him to the track and drop him off at the main gate, where his mum will meet him, so he can watch the meeting against Sheffield this Thursday and I’ll go off doing my thing.

“I’m going to carry on trying to find a new site for a track because I don’t want Peterborough speedway to finish. I’d never want it to finish, but I can’t continue with the owner who is there and that’s not going to change as we stand.

“But that doesn’t mean to say he is going to be there in the future. If I could afford it I would buy the speedway tomorrow, not at the price that he might be asking for, but obviously I’m not in that position. I can’t do it.

“I’ve been the one pushing for new land for a new stadium. I’m the one who has done all the background work, all the footwork, and we have got a piece of land waiting for us.

"It’s covering the financial side of building a new stadium that is a problem. Times are hard and people won’t put hundreds of thousands of pounds into speedway, but I certainly hope there will be something going forward.”