{"id":3891,"date":"2025-12-18T10:12:53","date_gmt":"2025-12-18T10:12:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/speedwayhub.com\/?p=3891"},"modified":"2025-12-18T10:12:53","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T10:12:53","slug":"dan-thompson-returns-as-leicester-make-first-premiership-signing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/speedwayhub.com\/dan-thompson-returns-as-leicester-make-first-premiership-signing\/","title":{"rendered":"Dan Thompson returns as Leicester make first Premiership signing"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Leicester Lions have confirmed the return of Dan Thompson, bringing the title-winning rider back to the Pidcock Motorcycles Arena for the 2026 season.<\/p>\n<p>Thompson re-joins the Lions after helping Ipswich lift the ROWE Motor Oil Premiership title this year \u2013 success which came at Leicester\u2019s expense in the Grand Final.<\/p>\n<p>A former Leicester mascot, Thompson originally left the East Midlands club midway through the 2023 campaign to join the Witches and went on to play his part in their October title triumph.<\/p>\n<p>He now becomes Leicester\u2019s first confirmed signing ahead of next season and the opening announcement across all Premiership clubs.<\/p>\n<p>Thompson said on the Leicester Lions Website: <em>\u201cI\u2019m really pleased to be returning to Leicester and excited to once again call it my home track.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cI\u2019ve stayed in touch with Stewart Dickson since my previous spell at the club and I\u2019m looking forward to working under his management again. When the chance to return came up, it was one I was keen to take.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cI\u2019m fortunate to have the backing of several local sponsors in the Leicester area, who I know will be delighted to see me back.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cI\u2019d also like to thank everyone at Ipswich \u2013 management, staff and fans \u2013 for some very special seasons. Winning the Premiership is a memory I\u2019ll always treasure, and I hope there\u2019s positive news soon regarding their future involvement in the league.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Feature Image courtesy of British Speedway<\/strong><\/p>\n<script async src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-4991349668748061\" crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script><ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display:block;\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-4991349668748061\" \ndata-ad-slot=\"6376928783\" \ndata-ad-format=\"auto\"><\/ins>\n<script> \n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); \n<\/script>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Leicester Lions have confirmed the return of Dan Thompson, bringing the title-winning rider back to the Pidcock Motorcycles Arena for the 2026 season. Thompson re-joins the Lions after helping Ipswich lift the ROWE Motor Oil Premiership title this year \u2013 success which came at Leicester\u2019s expense in the Grand Final. A former Leicester mascot, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3892,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,52],"tags":[8,11,16,9,90],"class_list":["post-3891","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-speedway","category-the-premiership","tag-british-speedway","tag-leicester-lions","tag-premiership","tag-speedway","tag-the-premiership"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Dan Thompson returns as Leicester make first Premiership signing - Speedway Hub UK<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/speedwayhub.com\/dan-thompson-returns-as-leicester-make-first-premiership-signing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Dan Thompson returns as Leicester make first Premiership signing - Speedway Hub UK\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Leicester Lions have confirmed the return of Dan Thompson, bringing the title-winning rider back to the Pidcock Motorcycles Arena for the 2026 season. Thompson re-joins the Lions after helping Ipswich lift the ROWE Motor Oil Premiership title this year \u2013 success which came at Leicester\u2019s expense in the Grand Final. A former Leicester mascot, [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/speedwayhub.com\/dan-thompson-returns-as-leicester-make-first-premiership-signing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Speedway Hub UK\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-12-18T10:12:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/speedwayhub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/thompson_dan23.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"682\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\".\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\".\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/speedwayhub.com\/dan-thompson-returns-as-leicester-make-first-premiership-signing\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/speedwayhub.com\/dan-thompson-returns-as-leicester-make-first-premiership-signing\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\".\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/speedwayhub.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b9c5cb589f02a02efa16bd60a7a63f82\"},\"headline\":\"Dan Thompson returns as Leicester make first Premiership signing\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-18T10:12:53+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/speedwayhub.com\/dan-thompson-returns-as-leicester-make-first-premiership-signing\/\"},\"wordCount\":254,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/speedwayhub.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/speedwayhub.com\/dan-thompson-returns-as-leicester-make-first-premiership-signing\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/speedwayhub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/thompson_dan23.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"british speedway\",\"leicester lions\",\"premiership\",\"speedway\",\"the premiership\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Speedway\",\"The Premiership\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/speedwayhub.com\/dan-thompson-returns-as-leicester-make-first-premiership-signing\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/speedwayhub.com\/dan-thompson-returns-as-leicester-make-first-premiership-signing\/\",\"name\":\"Dan Thompson returns as Leicester make first Premiership signing - 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