Four months is a long time in speedway. Especially the four months when all the action is off the track.

Seasons are shaped between November and February be-hind the scenes, and this year will be no different.

Currently there is talk of restructuring the sport at the top level, with curbs on the number of Grand Prix superstars and introducing soccer-style squads.

Whatever the outcome, the alarm bells should be ringing at Arlington if the plan is to stick with most of the current team.

It's been a difficult year for Eastbourne boss Jon Cook. The serious injury to Joe Screen and a chaotic on-off Saturday night fixture list were severe tests of the club's resolve.

The fact that attendances remained buoyant was a testimony to a good fan base and some entertaining racing.

The bottom line, however, was that the team was not good enough by a long chalk, and without top gun Martin Dugard next year some major surgery is needed if Eagles are to reclaim their place among the real elite.

Dugard apart, and by his standards he did not have a great year, there wasn't one rider who could be relied on to score consistently.

In that sense, the man Eastbourne missed most was Paul Hurry, who was virtually guaranteed to score seven or eight points every time during their championship year.

Arlington, once a fortress, was breached six times in the league and again in the Craven Shield. In all, Eagles failed to win at home on nine occasions.

And usually it wasn't even close. Ipswich twice won by ten points, Coventry by 12, Oxford by ten. And Poole's third victory was by a massive 18 points.

Eagles flattered to deceive by scoring early-season wins at Coventry and Wolverhampton but won only once more on the road, late on at Oxford.

Leaving out guests, Dugard was Eastbourne's top scorer or joint top scorer on 19 occasions, a fact recognised by the supporters who voted him rider of the year in a landslide.

But that says a lot more about the rest of the team than it does about the club's departing skipper.

Screen was main man five times before he was injured, but the truth is the cracks were already appearing before then.

Eagles won only three times in ten matches before they lost Screen and, ultimately, dis-counting the King's Lynn debacle, only one of their first six at home in the league.

There were some sparkling individual displays, like Brent Werner's best of the season 19 points at Coventry, but they were few and far apart, and overall the stats make desperate reading.

David Norris was top scorer in only two league matches and joint top with Dugard three times.

Joonas Kylmakorpi was best in three, Werner two and Dean Barker one, while Toni Svab and Roman Povazhny shared top spot once.

While Eagles, under Cook, have rarely stood still in the past, there was a perception of the club marking time once Screen had gone and Dugard had announced he was quitting at the end of the season.

The riders who completed the season were given plenty of time to establish their claims for a place in next year's line-up, but eight defeats in the last ten matches suggests a drastic rethink is required.

Kylmakorpi showed promise in his first year in British speedway, but Povazhny still cannot command a permanent team place three seasons down the line.

Werner might have done the same job as Petri Kokko the year before from a reserve berth but found himself thrown in at the deep end by the shortcomings of the riders in front of him.

And the performances of middle-order men Norris, Svab and Barker, who again missed part of the season through injury, were hit and miss in an area which invariably wins or loses matches.

So where do Eastbourne go from here?

Much will depend on winter manoeuvres in the corridors of power, but clearly Eagles need a world-class replacement for Dugard, especially with doubts over Screen's ability to score heavily on his return.

That might or might not be a Grand Prix man, depending on the regulations, as it appears Screen may be included in next year's GP series.

Billy Hamill has been rum-oured to be in line to join the Sussex club, while Mark Loram, or a rider of the calibre of Scott Nicholls, would certainly fit the bill.

Stefan Andersson is likely to return, and Eagles would do well to find a place again for Hurry.

Whatever happens, Eagles cannot afford another season so far off the pace.