ADY Pennock sees Grant Holt as a key role-model for the younger members of his Barrow AFC side.

Holt joined the Bluebirds yesterday as player/coach, after the seven-day notice period the club had put in with Evo-Stik South Kings Lynn Town expired.

The 36-year-old former Premier League striker trained with the squad at Hopwood Hall yesterday, will do so again today, and will be available for tomorrow's National League match against Macclesfield Town at Holker Street (3pm kick-off).

He will also be in town tonight for the special question and answer session with Pennock and new fitness coach Lindsay Davis, whom the Bluebirds appointed at the start of the week.

Holt's arrival comes 14 years after he last pulled on an AFC shirt, having spent two seasons with the Bluebirds following his departure from Halifax Town – from where he had an initial loan spell at Holker Street.

Since making the last of his 59 league appearances for Barrow – all of them in the Northern Premier League, producing 31 goals to earn a move to Sheffield Wednesday – the Cumbrian-born striker has been on to play for the likes of Aston Villa, Wigan Athletic and Hibs. He has been back once as a player, for Rochdale in a pre-season game in 2005.

It was at Norwich City where he made the greatest impact, helping the Canaries gain promotion to the Premier League and scoring 15 top-flight goals in their 2011/12 campaign.

With that wealth of experience behind him, Pennock is convinced Holt will be a big asset returning to the club that set him on the road to success, and is also positive he can still produce the goods on the field.

“Grant is coming to the end of his career, but he can still play at this level, easily,” said Pennock, who also brought in Lindsay Davis as fitness coach at the start of the week. “He has just come out of the Scottish Championship, where he has got them promoted at Hibs. He has kept himself fit.

“The next step in his footballing career is that he wants to be a coach. It's a good opportunity for me to get on board.

“He has great experience on the football side of things and I'll take him under my wing on the coaching and management side of things. It's a big plus for us.”

Pennock has compared the appointment of Holt with his signings of experienced front-men Lee Hughes and Jon Parkin while he was in charge at Forest Green Rovers.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Just about to go and train...can't wait to learn off big holty!! 🤜🏿🙌🏿</p>— adi yussuf (@adiyussuf) <a href="https://twitter.com/adiyussuf/status/928569099164307457?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 9, 2017</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

He saw them as helping bring on the younger members of the squad, and Adi Yussuf – although 25 and having already played in the Football League – Tweeted his excitement at working alongside him yesterday morning.

“Just about to go and train...can't wait to learn off big holty!!” said the Tanzanian front-man, who scored a hat-trick in Barrow's last game.

Pennock hopes everyone will share that delight, and said: “I'm sure the fans will be very pleased we have got him on board.

“When I went into Forest Green, the first thing I did was get Lee Hughes in. He was absolutely fantastic. Then I got Jon Parkin in, who again was absolutely fantastic.

“What they brought with them was a wealth of experience on the pitch, because we had younger players, similar to Barrow. They gained from that experience and professionalism off the pitch as well.

“Those two players were absolutely fantastic, and I'm sure Grant will be exactly the same. I know he will do exactly what Hughesy and Parkin did for us.”

He added: “If he's fit enough, then he can play. The two boys who played in the Aldershot game did very well though (Yussuf and Byron Harrison).

“There won't be any favouritism and Grant knows that. He will fight for his place. But I haven't got a problem starting Grant at all. With Hughesy and Jon Parkin, I had no problem starting them either.

“We've got to manage him playing-wise, but it is a big bonus that we have got him on board. He'll bring us a wealth of experience which will be great for the young centre-forwards to listen to and to learn from.”

The question and answer session featuring Pennock, Holt and Davis will take place in the Crossbar tonight. Doors will open at 6pm, with proceedings under way at 7pm.