SIMON Grand is aiming to rebuild his Barrow career under new boss Paul Cox after being transfer-listed by departed manager Darren Edmondson.

After arriving at Barrow in the summer of 2014 the centre-back skippered the Bluebirds to the Conference North title last season, when he started all but two of AFC’s 42 league games.

But with summer recruit Steve Williams partnering Danny Livesey – who has been wearing the skipper’s armband – at the heart of the defence at times this term, the 31-year-old has not been an automatic first-team pick – starting 14 of Barrow’s 23 National League matches.

Around four to six weeks ago, Grand was told by Edmondson that he was surplus to requirements at Holker Street and placed on the transfer list.

Grand explained: “What’s happened with me this year is I’ve lost the captaincy and I’ve been transfer-listed.

“But Darren was good to me, and honest, because I questioned why I was not in the team and asked what I needed to do to get into the team.

“And he’s just been honest, which is nice from a manager, and he said ‘you’re not in my future plans’ and he said ‘what I’ll do is put you on the transfer list, circulate your name and try and do you a favour and sort out a club for you’.

“So I didn’t go in and demand to play, and he didn’t say, ‘I don’t want you, you’re out’. It was amicable.

“I respect him a lot for what he’s done and I’m sure he’d say the same about me, that he respects what I’ve given to the club.”

With Williams being sidelined by a groin injury recently, Grand has started Barrow’s last two games – the 4-0 home win over Torquay and Saturday’s 3-1 defeat at Dover.

Following the Dover loss, Edmondson departed Barrow and former Mansfield boss Cox replaced him in the Holker Street hot-seat.

The change could open up an opportunity for Grand to reverse his fortunes.

“The way things have gone at Barrow I don’t want to leave now,” added Grand.

“My contract is up at the end of the season, and the way I see it I want to stay and I want to be successful at Barrow.

“As far as I’m concerned, all I’m going to be doing now is carrying on what I’ve been doing for the last six weeks since I’ve been on the transfer list.

“I’ve been coming in every day, working hard in training and still trying to be a role model and a captain to the young lads in the squad.

“If the new manager selects me and I’m involved then that’s great. I think that’s what everyone has got to try and achieve.

“I don’t want to leave the club. If it’s a case of being forced to leave and I’m not wanted then sometimes you have to.

“But if he wants me to stay, that’s exactly what I want to do.”

Not only that but Grand would also relish the opportunity to try and earn a new deal at the end of the season.

“If things are working out and I’m involved in the team then, of course, I’d love to stay longer,” he said.

“My job now is to get back in the team under the new manager, work hard, help to get us up the table, and you never know, if he (Cox) sees a future for me at Barrow then, if something was offered, then it would be very hard for me to turn down I would imagine.”