DARREN Edmondson may have walked through the Holker Street door but his desire to remain as a full-time football manager has not been diminished by his AFC demise.

After being appointed as Barrow boss in December 2013, the Coniston-born boss guided the club to Conference North safety.

Edmondson delivered the title and promotion to non-league’s top flight last season, when he also secured his first full-time managerial contract.

That achievement was hard-earned having previously spent six years in charge of Cumbrian part-timers Workington Reds at Conference North level.

Following Barrow’s 3-1 defeat at Dover on Saturday – which inflicted AFC’s fourth loss in five games – Edmondson was asked if he intends to try and continue to operate as a full-time boss should he leave the Bluebirds.

“I’ve had a feel of it, I’ve got belief in myself and so, yes, I want to continue and if it comes to it I’ll apply for other jobs,” said Edmondson, who departed Barrow by mutual consent yesterday.

“This is my job, so this is what I’m going to continue to do.

“Of course I want to be successful and there’s that inner drive to be successful. I take pride in what I do and I’m hurting as much as the fans at the moment.

“This is disappointing, and it’s not a good run.”

In a typical fashion, Edmondson also spared a thought for those fans who made the arduous 750-mile round-trip to Dover on Saturday, adding: “It’s disappointing for fans when they pay a lot of money to come hundreds of miles, and the team gets beat.

“So I do feel for them also.”

Edmondson is to be replaced as Barrow boss by ex-Mansfield and Torquay boss Paul Cox, who should join the Bluebirds on a three-and-a-half year deal which will run until the summer of 2019.

Cox led Eastwood Town to two promotions which saw them make the jump into Conference North, while the club also made it to the third round of the FA Cup for the first time in their history during his tenure.

Eastwood finished fourth in Conference North – although they could not compete in the play-offs because their ground lacked the proper grade to be eligible for promotion to the Conference Premier – before the 43-year-old was appointed as Mansfield boss in May 2011. He masterminded the Stags’ 2013 Conference Premier title triumph.

And Bluebirds owner Paul Casson said of Cox: “I think he’s no-nonsense, down to earth and doesn’t have any particular airs and graces.

“He cut his teeth in management at the bottom, he was an assistant-manager at a team (Eastwood) that was in the Evo-Stik League and, after taking charge, brought them all the way through to a position where they qualified for the play-offs to get into the league that we’re in.

“He then went to a team in the league that we’re in and then took them up in his second year.

“That sounds very familiar with the scenario that we’re looking for.

“So it’s a path he’s travelled before.”

And Casson indicated that Cox is fully on board with the task of developing the club over the long-term – although one of his first tasks will be to assess his new squad of players.

Casson added: “We didn’t go into great technical detail with exactly what he would do and which formations he would play and all of that.

“I suspect that he’ll want to look at the players first and get a sense of their strengths and weaknesses and hopefully he’ll tailor the system to them.

“I think he’s very current, very hungry and he wants to succeed.

“His eyes lit up when we started to talk about the Barrow brand and he wants to be here for a long period of time and develop that.

“So that was also very reassuring.”