BARROW AFC boss Paul Cox hopes he and his players will be involved in more events in the community this coming season.

The Bluebirds first-team squad mingled with supporters at a meet and greet session in Barrow’s Costa Coffee last weekend, ahead of a training session for the players at Rakesmoor Lane.

Cox was delighted to be able to meet with fans young and old, with the new signings and retained players signing autographs and having their pictures taken with the AFC followers.

He hopes to see similar events scheduled throughout the season to come, to help build up the relationship between the squad and their supporters.

“I do believe that this football club needs to do a lot more things like this,” said Cox, who along with members of the squad will take part in a pre-season evening at the Crossbar on Friday July 22.

“I have spoken closely with the chairman (Paul Casson) and with Emma Athersmith (the AFC commercial manager), and these people need to be congratulated on setting this thing up. There was a lot that went into it.

“I was over the moon with the amount of people who turned up – young and old. It’s lovely to see the new generation of Barrow fans there in abundance and it’s great to see there was no us and them scenario. I want the whole club to be as one and, for that to happen, everyone has to play their part.

“I thought the players were brilliant going down there and signing autographs and I thought the whole thing was excellent.

“We need to do more of that. The more we can do with the local community, the better.”