Joe Francis
Following Felixstowe & Walton’s Bostik North encounter away at Coggeshall on Saturday 20thApril, Joe Francis announced his retirement from non-league football. It was a decision he had considered taking a year earlier but had decided to carry on for one more year. There will be many people involved in football in East Anglia who will be aware of the great contribution Joe has made to the game. He will be missed both as a footballer and for his character and personality.
Joe joined Felixstowe & Walton in the summer of 2017 as a 30-year-old with plenty of experience in non-league football dating back a number of years. He was a trialist at both Norwich City and Ipswich Town and joined Woodbridge Town following a recommendation from former Ipswich coach Peter Trevivian.
Joe spent four years with our neighbours at Woodbridge between 2004 and 2007 before moving on, as a 20-year-old, to King’s Lynn FC where he spent two years. It was at The Linnets that Joe experienced winning the Southern League Premier Division title away at Merthyr Tydfil with the backing of 1,500 travelling fans from Norfolk.
After a short spell at Corby Town in 2009, he joined Lowestoft Town at a time when they were experiencing a lot of success. While he was at the club, The Trawlermen won the Isthmian North league title, the Suffolk FA Premier Cup and advanced to the first round proper of the FA Cup coming unstuck 1-0 away at Wrexham.
In 2013 he came a bit closer to home by joining Leiston FC where he made a total of 136 appearances scoring 42 goals.
It was in the summer of 2017 that Felixstowe & Walton secured his services in what was considered a big coup for Kevin O’Donnell and Ian Watson. Speaking at the time to The East Anglian Daily Press, Joe said, “As soon as it was known I was leaving Leiston, my phone was busy, I must be honest. I really enjoyed my time at Leiston and have nothing but good things to say about Glenn Driver, Tony Kinsella and chairman Andy Crisp. It’s a great club. But after 12 years of doing so much travelling playing non-league, I want to do less. But I still want to win and I still want to be with a competitive club. Felixstowe, with their awesome new facilities, tick the boxes. They sold the club to me and I want to help them get to where they belong and get them Ryman (now Bostik) football. Hopefully my experience will help.”
Well - his experience certainly did help because The Seasiders achieved promotion from the Thurlow Nunn Premier Division to the Bostik North in Joe’s first season at the club. During that first season Joe banged in 37 goals from 42 appearances, helping the club to win 35 matches in the league and finishing with 109 points and a goals difference of plus 88. This campaign Joe is on target to make around 35 appearances and hopes to feature in what would be a wonderful send off by helping the club win The Suffolk FA Premier Cup against his old buddies from Leiston on May the 8that Portman Road.
Manager Ian Watson had the following to say regarding Joe and Ethan Clarke, who also announced that he too would be leaving the club at the end of the season. In Ethan’s case it’s unclear at the moment whether he will continue playing elsewhere or decide to hang up his boots. “I would like to take the opportunity to thank Joe Francis and Ethan Clarke for what they have done for our club. They will be missed by all of us, especially in our changing room. Two of the best players non-league football has seen and it’s been a pleasure managing them.”
We leave the final words to Joe: “I was looking at retiring last season then I decided to give it another year. I’ve had a good innings and I feel like I need a rest. I want to spend some time with my family and be able to play tennis and do other things. My career highlight was probably winning the league title with King’s Lynn when we took 1,500 fans that day to Merthyr Tydfil and won the league. I’ve won league titles and three Premier Cups, two at Portman Road. It would be nice to finish on a high by winning another one on the 8thMay.”
Joe finished with a tribute to the fans, who he believes are the best in Suffolk, saying, “I’d like to thank all the fans as well. You deserve to be playing at least at the level above where you are now.”
On behalf of those fans, perhaps I can just add, “Thanks Joe.”
If you would like to watch both Joe and Ethan being interviewed on Seasiders TV you can watch it here.