We have nothing to fear, insists Francis

Monday 25th May 2009

BUBBLY Joe Francis is setting his sights high as Cray Wanderers prepare for their inaugural Ryman Premier League campaign, writes Stephen McCartney.

The Magic Wands sealed promotion with single goal victories over Worthing and Metropolitan Police in nervy play-off games, but the assistant manager, speaking to www.kentishfootball.co.uk this lunchtime says the Hayes Lane outfit are going to spring a few surprises next season.

“We want to go up, we want to give it a proper go,” insisted Francis.

“I don’t think there’s any point walking into any league saying we want to consolidate or to do the best we can.

“I’m a great believer in momentum. We’re used to, over the last two seasons, being successful in the majority of games that we play. We’ve got players that are used to winning.

“I’m not predicting anything, we know it’s going to be an excellent league with really good teams, really good players and really good managers. It will be a test, we want to do as well as we can - no fear.”

Francis added, “You only have to look at what Ramsgate did in their first year (reaching the Ryman Premier League play-off semi-final), Dartford went close to the play-off’s. If we can emulate with what Dartford did this year, it’s well within our reach.

“You have to go into a season believing. There’s no point going into a season saying you’ll consolidate or to avoid relegation. You’re setting yourself up for a lack of ambition. We’re ambitious, it’s not about being arrogant or cocky. If you didn’t have aspirations there’s no point getting out of bed in the morning.”

Cray Wanderers hired an open top bus for their celebratory tour of their local area on Saturday, and Francis said this was an excellent way of promoting the club to potential new fans.

“It was a really, really good exercise in promoting the club locally and just a lovely experience for all the players,” he said.

“You can go a whole lifetime without the opportunity of one of them. It was great, the chairman did a really clever thing in exposing the club to the locality.

“Every single player was there, the committee, all the wives, girlfriends and kids, it was great.

“It put a great seal on the season. You can’t do anymore celebrating!”

It also gave Francis, boss Ian Jenkins, and Paul Blade the chance to speak to their current squad about their plans for next season.

“We’ve caught up with most of the players from last season,” explained Francis. “We’re in a really positive strong position, everyone wants to stay and we’ve also had a number of players that have been contacting us as club.

“Tomorrow Jenko, myself and Paul are going to sit down and work out a strategy for the club for the forthcoming season.

But Francis says that the management trio will give their promotion winning side time to decide whether they want to play for the club next season.

“We haven’t got to hurry their decision,” he said. “We respect they might need a couple of weeks to make up their minds and they have earnt the right to have time.

“It just about making that commitment to another season in the league above. What with all the celebrations and going on tour this is the time we’ve allowed them to think about that.

“We’ve got a good core of players, maybe we’ll bring in three or four (new players) depending on those decisions coming from players.

“We need one or two bits more quality, a bit more experience in positions. We’ve got a number of players in mind, the attractive thing about going up (is that players want to join).

But Cray Wanderers wouldn’t be in this fine position if it wasn’t for the financial backing of Gary Hillman and John Woolf, the club’s chairman and vice-chairman respectively.

And Francis agreed, adding, “With the current climate, with club’s cutting budgets, there’s a lot of players who are maybe looking to change clubs. It’s just about keeping all your network available and all your contacts and it’s our busiest time.

“Our budget will be similar to what we’ve had this year and we’re thankful for Gary and John to keep supporting the club.

“We have got a strategy of myself, Jenko and Paul and the committee to go out and get some sponsorship, but you’ve got to work really hard to get, that might bring some more revenue.”

Visit Cray Wanderers’ website: www.craywands.co.uk