The men bidding to keep Peterborough on track say they are ‘overwhelmed’ by the response to their survival package.

Long-serving club official Trevor Swales and Ged Rathbone, who joined the management team during this year, have teamed up in a bid to ensure Panthers race on in 2015.

They staged a hugely successful fans’ forum at the East of England Showground last Friday night at which they revealed the need to raise £40,000 to cover set-up and operational costs . . . and they are already more than halfway to hitting that target.

An anonymous pledge of £10,000 was made during the event while subsequent donations have seen the total doubled.

Swales said: “I must apologise for not providing an update sooner, but I’m sure everyone can appreciate that we have been mega-busy since the event on Friday.

“I cannot thank the fans enough for such a good turnout and they were nothing but positive about our plans.

“The amount of financial backing we have already received has astounded us. It clearly shows how much passion there is for speedway in Peterborough.

“We are now just over halfway towards raising the amount of money we feel is required to make the club a viable proposition.

“There are still some hurdles to be overcome and we clearly still have a lot of hard work to do, but I am optimistic that we will be in a position to go to the British Speedway Promoters’ Association annual meeting at the end of next week with the intention of racing on.

“We will provide further updates whenever possible. I would urge everyone to check this website and local media outlets on a regular basis.”

Swales and Rathbone told those gathered in the Peterborough Suite that they will return to the traditional Friday race-night for home meetings if successful in their bid to keep the club going.

Panthers will again race in the Premier League if they receive the green light for 2015 and Swales confirmed he is in daily contact with co-owners Rick Frost and Julie Mahoney.

He and Rathbone are determined to increase commercial revenues and are already searching for major team backers.

They are also putting together a number of other sponsorship packages which will appear on the website soon (www.peterboroughpanthers.co).

An email account has been created to allow anyone interested in making a donation to get in touch. It is – pantherspledge2015@gmail.com