There are many impassioned speakers, but to genuinely inspire 16 and 17 year olds you need a touch of magic. As soon as he stood in front of 400 former students and their parents, Franny began to weave his spell. Everybody, in a matter of 20 or so minutes, experienced the highs and lows of Franny’s endurance tests, laughing and crying in equal measure. You could have heard a pin drop as images of a near-broken Franny flashed up on the screen, whilst silently and palpably the audience willed him on, eventually sharing in his tears of relief and joy as he’s seen crossing the finish line at the end of his 2 weeks feat of running and cycling 1400 miles.

A great story of the human spirit tested to breaking point. Inspiring, moving, funny – told with humility and impossible modesty.

For someone with such an accomplished career on the pitch, with a inherent connection to the City of Southampton, it is Francis’ extra-curricular work with charities that sets him apart from any of his peers. While his football career presentations are enthralling, his post-football career is inspiring down to the core. The lives he has touched, and helped is unsurmountable, and you can only be inspired to better yourself to benefit others, after hearing his motivating, dynamic talks. So much depth to his character, has led me to write this with hand-on-heart feelings, knowing any audience exposed to Francis will be engaged, energised and immersed, in his well executed, professional, presentation with perfect pitch. Thoroughly recommended, and a great example of a motivational speaker of today, next year, the year after and beyond!

We were lucky enough to have Franny present at our annual Speaker’s Dinner, and what a pleasure it was. Leading up to the event, Franny was very easy to speak to and happily gathered our ideas to allow him to tailor his presentation to our audience. On the night, he not only amused us with exciting stories from his football career, but also gave a very passionate, honest account of his life since retiring, and the highs and lows of life after football. Delivered naturally and professionally, Franny’s presentation and video left everyone feeling inspired. We would like to thank Franny for an extremely engaging evening and would thoroughly recommend him.

We had the pleasure in having Franny address our Leadership team, at an informal dinner setting. It is important to give context, that the team were made up of Pan European colleagues, I say this as everyone spoke to me of their fascination and admiration with Franny’s story post the event, with not everyone recognising Franny for his footballing career. 

It has been said before that Franny is one of the nicest guys you could meet, but his ability to inspire an audience is second to none. We all came away motivated and realising that anything and everything is possible with the right planned focus and determination. I would recommend a gathering with Franny and hear it for yourself.