Swindon Wildcats managing director Steve Nell explains decision to apply for Southern League

Swindon Wildcats managing director Steve Nell has explained the reason the club have applied to to join the National Ice Hockey League (NIHL) Division 1 South.

Late on Tuesday evening, the club announced that they would be applying to play in the division and, speaking to the BBC Wiltshire Nell said the EPIHL chairman was questioning the future of the EPIHL.

"We recieved an email from the chairman of the league (Ken Taggart) on late Sunday night, advising everyone to apply for the National League, which was a bit of a shock, we weren't expecting that email to come out," Nell said.

"He was just questioning the stability and I spoke to a few people yesterday and one of the other owners seems to think that the chairman won't actually allow us to run the EPL so we're a little bit in limbo.

"My main focus is to make sure we've got hockey in Swindon next year, so I made the application."

Nell admitted that "potentially" the league, in its current form, won't exist next season and that the remaining seven teams will break away. The Manchester Phoenix withdrew from the league last season due to financial difficulties.

"If the chairman doesn't allow the league to run then we haven't got any say in that - it's not our league, it's the assosciation's league.

"We had issues throughout the season when Manchester dropped out. There's been a bit of concern but we were looking at teams to join the league rather than leave the league.

"We've still got another month to go to sort things out, I just thought it was prudent to make the application and I just let the fans know where we stand so you're not getting rumours going round."

Despite the uncertainty regarding the league itself, there is no danger of the Wildcats themselves going out of business, Nell insists.

"There's no problem whether we're going to be here as a team, we'll be here next year. What the league is and what it's called is to be determined but I've got worries whether we're going to be here not or not. We're financially fine."