SWINDON Wildcats have added a fifth name to next season’s roster after veteran defenceman Neil Liddiard agreed to return to the Link Centre.

Liddiard iced 30 times for the Cats as they played their way to a competition double by adding the National Cup and the Autumn Cup to their collection.

The deal will also see the 40-year-old through to his 24th season as a senior player, after notching well over 1000 games in his career so far.

The D-man revealed the club’s success this year made it a straightforward decision to return to the Link Centre for the fourth year on the trot.

“It was a very easy choice to make. We had a really successful year last year, we have great support and there is a great bunch of lads there,”

“The way that Aaron (Nell, player-coach), Steve (Nell, general manager) and the whole Nell family run it helps too. It’s really professionally run and that made it easy too.

“I mentioned to Aaron about coming back. I said to him that I still wanted to play, because obviously I am a lot older now.

“I wanted him to know that I could carry on playing if I was in his plans because I’m not ready to stop playing yet.

“It was great to be a part of the two trophies and they were long overdue. Swindon have always been a competitive team, it all just seemed to click this year.”

After Swindon failed to win a trophy for more than 15 years, Liddiard says this season could be the start of a successful era.

Many of the roster collected their first winners’ medals, something Liddiard thinks could be instrumental in the future.

“The boys all bonded well this year. That translated onto the ice because people were willing to go that extra mile for you,” added Liddiard, who joins Nell, Stevie Whitfield, Sam Bullas, Renny Marr and Floyd Taylor on the 2018-19 roster.

“If you’ve got a winning team, which we have, I think it is quite important to get them all back or at least the bulk of the team back so we can carry off from where we left off.

“It will be nice to have a break from the ice. Obviously, I work in the gym so I will be there throughout the summer.

“This year it took a little bit longer to recover from because we had so many games.

“It’s an opportunity to spend a lot of time with my family because during the season, I don’t have a weekend for seven months of the year. I’m lucky enough to have an understanding wife and kids because I do dedicate a lot of time to it. ‘’

Nell said: “I’m thrilled to have Lidds back for another season. He’s a coach’s dream in the way he goes about his work both on and off the ice and is a real leader in the locker-room.

“He comes to play every night and is crucial for us in big game situations.

“We all learn a lot from Neil and you can see every time he throws himself in front of a puck that he will do anything for the team and that is exactly the sort of guy we want in the locker room.”