Last updated 10:12, Monday, 23 June 2008

WORLD CLASS: No, it’s not Barrow’s new midfield but international cabaret act Casablanca Steps who are appearing at Holker Street.

WELL, it’s been a quiet week with both managers away on their holidays so the rumours surrounding the next signing have gone quiet, for now.

This week we’ve been to the Conference AGM/Dinner, which was held in Blackpool. The night was hosted by Setanta TV and as it turned out was an excellent advert for Barrow AFC and the town itself.

The night was where we were formally presented with our play-off trophy and, as you are aware, we were also presented with the Conference North Player-of-the-season award for Steve McNulty, who was also on holiday.

Steve’s award is chosen by the managers of every side in the league and it is a testament to how he has performed at such a consistently high level throughout the season, well deserved and well done from everyone at the club.

Every team is represented throughout the North, South and Premier Conference sides, with over 600 people at the event, which was televised and is being shown on Setanta Sports.

Barrow, as a club, weres recognised for not only having the noisiest table in the event but for the achievements the club had made during the season!

But what was noticeable was the recognition the fans got by the comment of the Setanta presenter and the fact that the highlights programme throughout the night used a shot of our fans over and above anyone else to show the passion of the sport at this level.

Once the formal presentations were over, I took the opportunity to talk to the Setanta producer and discussed the impact that live TV has on a town like Barrow.

He was surprised to hear that the pubs and clubs were full on the night of the final as he thought the majority of our fans had travelled to the game.

I wanted to get across the fact of the size of the club and he was very responsive to some of the ideas that I put to him so hopefully we will be seeing a fair deal of Setanta in different ways this coming season.

We have had further conversations this week over the phone and Setanta have agreed to send us the official DVDs of the play-off semi-finals, finals and the highlights sections I mentioned above.

Off the field it’s been the start of the painting campaign at Holker Street. It is well underway and it’s great to see so many people turn up to help us so it’s a massive thanks to; Chris Altree, Frazer Stewart, Ste Story, Jon Thompson, Owen Price, Jordan Chubb, Matthew Story, Lewis Martin, Daniella Clark, Elaine Warden, Greg Curtis, Gary Brown, Jacob White, Jonathon Todd, Zak Smith, Kieron Hayman, Adam Bell, Joe Miller, Bob Nixon, Tom Dodd and Ryan Sutherland.

The work continues again this week on Monday night.

You see that the walls on the Wilkie Road side of the ground have now been rendered, which will improve the visual impact of that side of the ground.

Work inside the Crossbar also continues with the new kitchen works coming to completion over the next week before we start to move on to some of the other projects that we have got lined up for the close-season.

The detail is being added to the new web-site and there is a lot of work going on behind the scenes to get this up and running ASAP and we hope to see something over the next couple of weeks. Meanwhile here are some diary dates:

•  Sunday, June 22 sees the third annual gala day at the club and it’s an event not to miss for all the family.

As always, the main attraction is the dancing but also this year we have something for all the family with a number of the players coming to the event including Tim Deasy who will be giving you all a chance to beat one of the best penalty stoppers in football.

There will be the chance to have your photo taken and autographs signed by the players so please support the club and get next Sunday marked down in your diary, it’s guaranteed to be a great day.

•  A couple of weeks after that on July 5 we will be hosting our first formal celebration dinner, which you will have seen advertised. We will be having a marquee erected on the pitch and a great night of excellent food and entertainment is on offer.

We will also have a number of the players and managers in attendance and we plan to award Steve McNulty with his player-of-the-season award, if anyone is thinking about going please get in touch with the club as there are only a few tickets left.

•  On the night before (Friday, July 4) we have the John Doe Band playing in the marquee so if you fancy coming down it’s a great venue for a great band and it will again be another special evening at the club. These events are very important to the club and help us set up for the coming season, please get behind us and support them.

TONY KEEN

AFC DIRECTOR