SWINDON Wildcats general manager Steve Nell is delighted to see the club’s future resolved after their application to join the National Ice Hockey League was accepted.

Following a six-hour meeting of the league on Sunday, the Link Centre side will join fellow former English Premier League clubs, Basingstoke Bison, Bracknell Bees and Peterborough Phantoms in a new-look NIHL South One next season.

The division is to be split into two conferences, with Swindon joining Chelmsford Chieftains, Invicta Dynamos, London Raiders, Peterborough and Streatham in Conference B, while Basingstoke, Bracknell, Cardiff Fire, Milton Keynes Thunder, Oxford City Stars and Solent Devils make up Conference A.

Teams will play others in the own conference twice home and away, and teams out of conference once home and once away.

The future of EPL sides had been up in the air after the league was left with just seven teams at the end of last season, with those clubs then advised to apply to join the NIHL, and Swindon supremo Nell is pleased that any uncertainty has now gone.

“We are happy with it. We are going to be competitive and we are going to be keeping a lot of our current team. It doesn’t change any plans from our point of view,” said Nell.

“We are pretty happy with where we are, we had some players on two-year deals and have already signed a couple of other players that we’ve announced.

“In the coming weeks we will be making announcements and Aaron (Nell, head coach) will be finishing off his roster. We have still got some spots to fill but that is fine, it’s where we normally are.”

As well as feeling upbeat about his own club, Nell believes the inclusion of EPL clubs will improve the level of the NIHL as a whole, with the changes also ensuring the sport in Great Britain continues to grow in the coming years.

“Having Premier League teams involved will strengthen the league and I think the other teams will get stronger as a result of that, so it’s a positive all round,” said Nell.

“British hockey is definitely not in decline, I think it is on the way up. I think the leagues just needed a re-jig and it’s had that now.

“There are quite a few new rinks coming, Leeds have got a rink coming in the next year, Bristol have one in the next couple of years, and I’m assuming these new rinks are going to have new clubs, so the future is bright.

“It is going to get bigger with strength in depth and hopefully there is now sustainability for the whole set-up and that’s what it needed. It needed an organisational structure that can be in place for the next 20 years.”

As well as player signings, the club will also be announcing information on season tickets in the coming days and weeks as the new season draws closer.

Nell added: “We will give the fans a bit more information when we get the schedule all sorted but it’s the same every year, we never get our schedule until probably end of June or early July and it’ll be the same this year.”