Preseason Interview - Neil Francis

13th Aug 2014 | Posted by The Inferno

Neil Francis is a man who will need no introduction to Devils fans. 14 years with the Devils as a player, and since 2009 he has been Assistant Coach to Gerad Adams. After stepping away from the club last year over the whole 'G debacle', Francis, known to almost everyone as Franny, is back and sporting his new title of 'Director of Hockey Operations'. Franny has always been generous with his time for the Inferno, and was happy to answer some questions for us.

The Inferno - Firstly, welcome back! How exciting is it to be back on-board?

Franny - Thank you! It's an extremely exciting time for the Club as a whole and as someone who has been around the organisation since I was 12 years old it's fantastic to be a part of that. To have ambitious, honest owners such as Steve King and his partners with Todd Kelman, who is the most respected guy in British ice hockey, running the show and to be teamed up with Ice Arena Wales with the new rink less than 12 months away is a dream come true.

The Inferno - How hard was it to walk away from the Devils last season for you after the treatment of G?

Franny - In the respect of walking away from a Club I care a great deal about it was tough but there was no way I could compromise my morals by staying involved after what happened to G and continued to happen for the remainder of the season. Fortunately karma has played its part now and that is all behind us. G won a Championship and a 2 year contract in Sheffield and the Devils are about to enter what I hope will be the most exciting period in their history

The Inferno - How was it watching from the sidelines as the events of the previous season unfolded?

Franny - It was sad to see and very concerning for the guys who I had built good relationships with and cared about.

The Inferno - And onto happier topics, can you explain what your new role as Director of Hockey entails with the club?

Franny - My role covers overseeing pretty much everything that is involved with the on-ice side of the Club to leave Todd Kelman to concentrate on the business side. That's not to say that he won't have an input into the on-ice or I won't help Todd off-ice because we work as a team but it is my role to make sure that we are best placed to deliver a competitive, entertaining side that will reward our loyal supporters and support everything Todd is doing off the ice.

The Inferno - You've been announced as being a part owner of the club! How good is it to be involved in the ownership this time around?

Franny - This philosophy comes down from Steve King and the guys at Ice Arena Wales in that they want to run the team almost like a family business and with Todd and I having a small stake it supports that philosophy. I know that everything that I ever do for the Club is with the intention of making better so to have a more official position from that respect is reassuring.

The Inferno - We saw you announce Andrew Lord as our new player coach for next season, can you give us a little insight into what we can expect from him?

Franny - I got to know Lordo over the 3 years prior to signing him and his work ethic, passion and attention to detail made him my number one candidate. Working with him closely over the last couple of months has confirmed everything I'd hoped and I'm excited at having him lead our team. He a straight talking guy who is totally on the same page as the rest of the management team in terms of how we want this organisation to run. He is happy giving and receiving constructive feedback and will act in the teams best interests at all times. He will go to great lengths to make sure we are as prepared as possible and give us every chance of competing for trophies. He understands the history of the Club and is determined to bring Devils hockey and smiles back to faces around the rink.

The Inferno - We went from having 1 signing at the start of May to having our entire squad signed by the start of August, not a bad turnaround! How helpful has it been having Lord and Kelman involved in the recruitment?

Franny - Yeah it was a bit of a whirlwind to say the least and involved some very long nights for all of us but it was worth it to put together the squad that we have. Lordo was an absolute work horse during this period and literally spent 12-14 hours each and every day on researching players, speaking to ex coaches and team-mates as well as speaking to the players themselves to see if they were bought in to what we are building here. The three of us combined really well as Todd and I have good recruitment experience to go with Lordo's ideas and enthusiasm and each of us respected the others opinions. Todd's experience was really useful as he's had a lot of success in Belfast and was able to steer us if he felt there was something that would work better. Todd had lots going on with finishing up in Belfast and getting things moving in Cardiff so he empowered Lordo and I to do the bulk of the work and fed in as and when required. The three of us are excited about the balance, skill and character of the team and the players themselves are all itching to get together and get going.

The Inferno - A big turnover in players this season, but we've managed to retain some rather excellent players as well! How excited are you to be bench coach for the upcoming season?

Franny - Retaining Tyson Marsh was a great starting point to build from as he displayed character and leadership in abundance last year so we were delighted to keep him here. Jake Morissette is a guy who does all the unselfish things that perhaps many don't notice but are essential for any successful team and makes him a very popular teammate. He has the team-first attitude that we were looking to implement throughout and I think he will thrive in his role this year. Ben Davies had unfortunately already signed in Braehead but fortunately Ben Bowns was already the sole signing for the Devils at the point of the takeover which helped counter Benny not being available. It then was essential that we signed up the remaining Brits and we are expecting big years from all of them and will look to guys like Matthew Myers and Mark Richardson to help the new guys settle in quickly. In order to make the most of our budget we quickly decided on a player coach which meant me stepping back in to the bench coach role. We have assembled an exciting team and during the early conversations with the guys it is evident that everyone senses being part of something special in Cardiff and to be involved in that is an honour for me.

The Inferno -  We've got Harding and Buglass on 2-way contracts with the Wildcats this season, is this something that you think will be expanded in the future to provide a route from NIHL to EIHL?

Franny - We had a lot of success over the last few years with Mark Cuddihy developing guys in NIHL so that they could step up into the Devils set-up successfully and guys like Ben Davies, Luke Piggott and CJ are great success stories of that. The Elite League is improving year on year so I think it's a sensible move for us to link up with Swindon for guys like Harding and Buglass to gain invaluable experience at an even higher standard especially with the way that league has improved this year too. Having Welsh players develop into professional players with the Devils has always been part of the culture and will remain so.

The Inferno - There's been a lot of debate about Steelers signing Mosienko, do you think his previous actions will have any effect on the team this coming season? Would you welcome him into a team you were playing on?

Franny - Everybody makes mistakes and Mosienko made a huge mistake in doing what he did. Fair play to G and Sheffield for giving him a second chance as I'm not sure many teams would have. He has to accept that there will always be a stigma attached to him and he has to deal with that as part of his punishment for what he did. He's not on our team so I haven't had to think about how I'd feel if he was.

The Inferno - The import limit has gone up for this season and will be increasing again shortly... Do you think this is a good move for the league as a whole?

Franny - My personal view is that there has to be a balance between the import numbers and the opportunities for British players. In Cardiff we have always enjoyed having the home-grown hero's lining up alongside quality imports and I'd like to see that continue. With us being a smaller budget team we have always had to rely on giving opportunity to local guys who back themselves to take a smaller wage in the short term in return for the opportunity to prove themselves and subsequently move up the pay scale. That has worked well with those players now commanding better salaries having helped the Club compete with the bigger spenders. With less and less opportunities for the player to aim for it makes it more difficult for the smaller clubs to compete. I think that 11 or 12 non-home trained players is the maximum it should go to so I would hope that the plans for the following 2 seasons are reviewed especially if this season turns out to be as competitive as it looks on paper.

The Inferno -  Almost every team in the league appears to have strengthened considerably this summer, apart from Edinburgh and Hull. Do you think they'll be able to cope against some of the rosters that have been put together?

Franny - I think it's difficult to say right now whether Edinburgh and Hull have improved or not as Edinburgh still have a number of spots to fill and Hull have taken a chance on some younger, less experienced guys with it all to prove. If some or all of those turn out to be gems then they will compete well. We've seen in the past how guys with huge résumés have not had the impact that was expected whereas guys like Guillaume Doucet and Jeremy Tendler have come in and scored 50 goals.

The Inferno - Has the team been set a target for final league position, or winning the CC/playoffs? Or is it more just a case of bringing enjoyable hockey back?

Franny - There are no set targets for league positions or trophies but I know what Lordo would say if you asked him this question! What we want to provide is a team that competes hard every night, plays with passion and plays exciting hockey. We believe that if we do this then the results will follow.

The Inferno - Last time we spoke to you (May 2013!) you were hoping for triple headers in Scotland because of the travelling. This season we've got double AND triple headers, that's got to be even better right?

Franny - Being the furthest team down south means the travelling is that much worse so to get several games out of the way with one trip is much better. In addition to that it's an opportunity for fans to enjoy a weekend away and the support during these games is crazy and really drives the players on.

The Inferno - Red Army Travel are doing a fantastic job of getting our fans to away games in large numbers, just how much difference does it make having a large away following?

Franny - It makes a big difference. I love seeing particularly the new guys reactions when they look over at the sea of red making the loudest noise at an away arena! Red Army Travel spend a lot of time and effort organising the trips and making them so much fun so a big thank you to them.

The Inferno - The new rink is finally under construction! How much of a draw do you think it will be for players next season after the last 9 years in the BBT?

Franny - To be fair to the guys who have played here, they have embraced the BBT as 'our BBT' and haven't moaned too much about it. Apart from budget-wise, I don't think it has affected our recruitment too much as it would take a pretty shallow player to say they are not coming because of the rink. It has definitely seen better days but our Equipment Manager Mark Thompson and Marcus Howells Flooring Services recently gave the changing rooms a facelift to make the most of it in it's last year. When Ice Arena Wales opens, it will make Cardiff THE best place to play and everyone is excited at seeing that go up right before our eyes. It will definitely be added to our pitch during next years recruitment as it will be a fantastic facility and compliment all the other benefits of playing for this organisation in this town.

The Inferno - There have been some calls for a Cardiff Devils Hall of Fame in the new rink, do you know if this would be possible, or something the club could do?

Franny - I definitely think that this is a good idea and will help recognise the contributions of many great people on and off the ice over the years. I'd be interested in helping take this forward.

The Inferno - Do you know what the plans are for the BBT once the new arena is up and running? Is there any chance of it heading somewhere that needs a rink such as Bristol or even Newcastle?

Franny - As far as I know the BBT belongs to Planet Ice so it will be their responsibility to remove it when IAW is open. I'm pretty sure it isn't as simple a just lifting it up and putting it somewhere else as it was a temporary rink designed to last 3-5 years and that was 9 years ago. I think what will more likely happen is that the usable parts such as the ice plant, seats etc will end up somewhere as part of an new development. That's all down to Planet Ice though.

The Inferno - Can you give us any idea of when we might be able to expect title and jersey sponsors to be announced? Or who they might be?

Franny - With the takeover only completed in mid-June, we are still finalising details for our title and jersey sponsors and we will hopefully bring you news on that very shortly. What is likely to happen is that we will wear our new warm-up jerseys for the pre-season games to allow CH Sports to produce the regular season jerseys in time for the opening weekend on 6th September. We've also made a few other changes to the kit to mark the start of this exciting new chapter.

The Inferno -  Is there anything we've missed or that you'd like to add?

Franny - Although I've answered a couple of questions above, the new Management team have a rule that from now on we are not going to talk about what happened last season as we have so many positives to concentrate. It's time to draw a line in the sand and be a part of something special on and off the ice and return this Club to the heights that it once was at. Let future generations talk about this era in the same way as we talk about the Lawless-years or winning the first Super League. I can't remember so much excitement to start a season from players, fans, sponsors and management so make sure you are apart of it, and bring your friends! We want to hit the ground running with a full BBT for the Belfast pre-season game and continue on from there. Get those fans that stopped coming to games for whatever reason back to the BBT and let us prove to them why they should come back every week. Not long to go now.Devils hockey is back!