PAUL Cox is confident he and Barrow AFC owner Paul Casson can work to build the club on and off the field during the summer.

The pair have held extensive talks during the season and are working together to plot the way forward for the team and the organisation as a whole.

As well as looking at players to bring in to bolster the squad and push further up the National League next season, Cox has been pleased at Casson’s recognition there needs to be concentration on other areas as well.

“The chairman has been fantastic since I have been here,” said the Bluebirds manager.

“A chairman’s role, for me, is not just about giving you an extra two-pence when you want to bring somebody in. Sometimes a chairman’s role is to talk to you, to bring you down when you’re on a high and to pick you up sometimes when you’re on a low.

“Since I have worked with Paul, my relationship with him has been excellent.

“There are some massive plusses even before we start next season, but there is a lot of hard work to do before I would turn round and say we have achieved. We finished mid-table and I’m not going to celebrate mid-table mediocrity.”

He added: “I’m still watching and analysing in terms of the whole football club, never mind just the players, for next year.

“The positive thing that came out of the discussions between me and Paul is that he knows there are a lot of things we need to do, as well as build a team.

“There are a lot of things we need to do off the field and on the field for this club to progress. Paul is aware of that and the positive thing is that he is both aware of it and also being proactive in terms of doing things about it.

“I don’t say that for next season it is all about the football. It’s about building a club.

“It’s about the whole infrastructure of the football club. I think Paul was very analytical of things needed to take the club forward off the field as well since I have been here.

“There have been some good meetings with him and the board, really positive meetings, and it’s all those little foundations as a football club, not just on the footballing side, that we need to take the club forward. Everything is a positive at the minute.”

Cox warned that, while things are looking good for the club at present, there is still a lot of work to be done and it will take time for everything to be put in place.

He and Casson will speak often during the summer as they plot the way forward, but the AFC boss is happy with the attitude and approach of the owner.

“I’ve known that since I met Paul that he’s a chairman who really does want to take the club forward,” Cox added.

“The things we have talked about show that he is realistic enough to know there is a time frame in taking the club forward and it’s not going to be done overnight.

“There are a lot of good people working extremely hard behind the scenes, but the chairman is realistic enough to know that we need to improve as a football club.

“That’s going to take time and the nice thing about Paul is that he is a realistic guy who knows that we are in transition and that the success will be there, but it is giving the whole club small goals to aim for. If we don’t do that, I think it will become too much for us.

“As long as we are realistic and the players, the fans, everyone who works for the football club, has the same goal and has the same realism, we will ultimately achieve our goals.”