BARROW Raiders want to retain coach Paul Crarey’s services for next season.

Early discussions between board members and Crarey have already taken place, with official talks due to get under way within the next fortnight.

Raiders chairman David Sharpe has been pleased with the contribution Crarey has made at Craven Park.

The former Walney and Dalton boss signed a one-year contract when taking over from Bobbie Goulding following relegation from the Championship in 2014, and both parties are keen to see the rebuilding job at the club continue.

Crarey confirmed last week that he wanted to stay, and Sharpe said: “Paul knows that we want to keep his services.

“We have had a chat about it and where we are going, we have got the same ideas of what we want to do with the junior section and the first team.

“The boxes are getting ticked, now it is just a case of sitting down again and actually negotiating a deal for next year. Both sides want the same thing, so hopefully that’s what will happen.

“We haven’t sat down yet, it is just about getting the time to do that.

“We’ve had informal talks about next year because we want to get things going nice and early with regards to that. We are looking at players for next year anyway, so that is all on its way.”

Crarey was appointed following a disastrous Championship season which saw the club relegated and lose the majority of the playing staff.

He was brought in to build new foundations and, as well as recruiting the squad, has started coaching sessions with local amateur sides and helped set up the new junior Super Lotto Development Programme.

The team sit seventh in Kingstone Press League One with five games of the regular season remaining and Crarey, like Sharpe, is hoping for a positive end to the campaign, with a play-off place awaiting the top five finishers.

The former BARLA Great Britain head coach is happy with the progress which has been made since his appointment, but wants to be sure more is planned for the upcoming years before committing his future to Raiders.

“Obviously, I want to stay, but the club has to be progressive,” he said after the first talks.

“If it’s not progressing, there’s no point in me being here. I want the club to progress on the field and off the field.”

Sharpe believes both Crarey and the board would be happy with a year-on-year deal and said the one-time Cumbria coach has done ‘fantastically well with a small squad’.

The chairman said talks would take place ‘in the next couple of weeks’.

“We are looking at one year,” he said.

“I think it works well for everyone that at the end of 12 months you can reassess and have a look and see where you want to go from there.

“It can work both ways it can put pressure on people in a sense but I think it is important that Paul is comfortable with a year and at the end of that we will look again.”