PAUL Cox feels like a new man as he sets about the task of creating a lasting legacy at Holker Street.

The 43-year-old took charge of Barrow at the start of the week having led Mansfield Town to Conference Premier title glory in 2012/13 and then an 11th-placed finish in League Two the following season.

He departed the Stags in November last year with the club sitting 19th in the Football League’s basement division and having gone nine games without a win.

Cox became Torquay boss in the summer but his stay on the south coast only lasted around three months after he was not given guarantees over wage payments. But at least his spells out of the game during the past year have left him feeling refreshed and better equipped for the battles ahead.

He will take charge of AFC for the first time tomorrow, when Barrow welcome Woking to Holker Street (3pm kick-off).

Cox said: “It was my decision to leave Mansfield, I still get along very well with their chairman John Radford.

“But I felt as though I had achieved everything I could at Mansfield at that stage.

“I needed refreshing and probably needed a break from the game. I’d been in management then for about eight or nine years by the time I left – probably without having a really good break.

“I’d got numerous promotions and success but I felt that I needed to go in a different direction. And I think I am refreshed now and probably a better manager for having a bit of time out than I was when I was in it.

“The education you get while being out of the game is probably more important than when you’re in the game because you become blinkered.

“I feel that I’m a better manager now, I think I’ve got stronger in certain areas where I have improved.

“This job isn’t about another job for Paul Cox, I think for everybody it’s a chance to try and build a future for the football club, to make Barrow a bigger club.”

Cox wants to replicate his Mansfield success – not just with regards to delivering promotion back to the Football League but in setting himself a wider brief, with the support of Bluebirds owner and chairman Paul Casson.

“Knowing the chairman as I do now and, having spoken to him on a number of occasions, I know that he’s fiercely ambitious to be successful at Barrow,” added Cox.

“But I don’t think he’s looking for a quick fix. I think he’s looking to build a brand, looking to build the football club’s infrastructure.

“This is something we’ve talked very passionately and in-depth about because as well as taking Mansfield into the Football League, there was no infrastructure at the football club when I arrived there (in May 2011) – there was no youth policy, no reserves or young kids coming through.

“I feel as though I left a bit of a legacy at the club.

“You’ve got kids like Jack Thomas (midfielder) and Liam Marsden (defender) coming through the youth set-up that I set up there.

“So it’s not just about a quick fix, coming in and trying to get the club promoted.

“It’s building Barrow football club as a brand as well and trying to put us on the map with not just youth but things like FA Cup runs, results and trying to get these televised games – the whole package.”

Cox, who began his managerial career at Eastwood Town, has initially been reluctant to set any immediate concrete targets for this season as he assesses his squad.

Asked how long he feels it will take him to lead Barrow back into the Football League, he said: “I want to make us as competitive as possible as quickly as possible. Every club I’ve been into I’ve achieved the goals.

“If you look at my scenario at Eastwood Town, I know people talk about Mansfield, but I got Eastwood promoted twice (resulting in the club playing at Conference North level) in four or five years.

“I’m very hard on myself to try and be successful, to make the club successful.

“We want to do it as quickly as possible and by the quickest route – the scenario starts on Saturday I would have thought.”