PIRATES boss Matt Ford believes Tony Rickardsson is the greatest speedway rider of all time.

Poole RIAS' chief also believes the Swede, who rides his last meeting for them at home to Belle Vue on Wednesday (April 28), could have won a record SEVEN World titles if they were still decided by one-off finals.

Talking about how the five times World champion ended up at Wimborne Road in 2001, Ford exclusively told the Daily Echo: "It was my idea three and a half years ago to sign Tony Rickardsson.

"I had only met Tony once at the Alun Rossiter Testimonial during the 2000 season.

"He seemed to be an extremely amenable sort of guy and before we said our goodbyes he handed me his card and said one day it would be good to do something together.

"Of course at that stage Mark Loram was on the verge of winning the World Championship and firmly entrenched at Poole and we didn't think anything else about it.

"Then contract talks broke down with Mark at the end of 2000 and the conversation with Tony at Rosco's meeting came back to me.

"In my mind I thought: 'There is only one rider who could replace Mark Loram at Poole and that's Tony Rickardsson.'

"We phoned him and at that stage his mentor and manager Carl Blomfeld was sorting out his contractual arrangements. His deal was done in 15 minutes.

"To be honest we like to negotiate all our contracts quickly with riders.

"First it's important we feel that rider "x" wants to ride for Poole and then we tell them what we can afford and believe to be a fair contract.

"If it breaks down then we have to look elsewhere.

"We certainly don't pay the highest contracts to riders in the Elite League; but, then again, we don't pay the lowest.

"In the case of Tony's replacement, Ryan Sullivan, I met him at Heathrow Airport eight days ago and the first impression I got was his eagerness to get back into British speedway.

"If we had said we needed him against Belle Vue tomorrow night, he would have been in the pits raring to go.

"He is so excited about riding for Poole and wants to show that the Ryan Sullivan Poole fans saw at home each week in 1998 has matured into a world class rider in 2004.

"His financial arrangements with Poole seemed secondary to his riding for us.

"Obviously it's the first time the promotion team of Mike Golding, Neil Middleditch and I have worked with him, but from my first meeting I have to say I am extremely impressed.

"I can't hide the fact that I am terribly disappointed at losing Tony. I have been watching speedway all my life as a supporter and more recently as a promoter and I don't think there has been a greater speedway rider than Tony Rickardsson.

"The way in which the World Championship infrastructure in the sport has changed from a one-off World Final to the Grand Prix series many speedway pundits believe it is easier to win a World title today than 20 or 30 years ago.

"I don't necessarily agree.

"Without playing down the efforts of Mark Loram in 2000 and Nicki Pedersen last year in their World title successes, who's to say that over one meeting in either of those years Tony Rickardsson wouldn't have won the meeting?

"He could have been a seven-times champion by now."

Rickardsson is aiming to equal Ivan Mauger's all-time record of six World titles this year.