MANAGER Paul Cox is working through some of his hardest days as a football manager in the absence of assistant boss Gary Simpson.

Simpson has not been seen around the club for close to a month – his last appearance on the touchline being during the 1-0 win at Macclesfield on February 15.

Cox has been unable to talk about the situation – apart from saying it is not resolved and is an internal matter – while AFC chief executive Austin Straker would only confirm Simpson is still a club employee.

Straker hopes the matter will be resolved within the next week or so, allowing the Bluebirds to expand further, though he has rubbished rumours suggesting Simpson had been involved in a physical altercation with an opposition player.

In the meantime, Cox has been made to expand his workload at training and ahead of fixtures, leading the pre-match warm-ups which normally saw former Lincoln City boss Simpson to the fore.

It has been a tough period for the Barrow boss, but he accepts the need to step up and take on the extra responsibilities, saying: “I have had to work harder than I have ever had to work. But it's not a problem – I work very long hours for this football club. It would be nice to see my family now and again!

“Anyone who knows me, knows that I'm not going to rest until I have been successful with this football club. When you look around the leagues, as you saw on Tuesday night, there were five or six members of staff on the Tranmere bench.

“I understand what it's about. If I have to do 51 jobs – if I have to sweep floors, if I have to paint walls, if I have to carry balls, if I have to put cones out – then I will do that to make this club successful.”

Straker's statement on the Simpson mystery earlier this week did not go into any detail, but said: “It is a personal matter, and for that reason alone the club is not prepared to put anything out in the public domain.

“We hope to have something to say, with Gary's permission, within the next week or so, but we are not in a position to make any comment on his circumstances at the minute. He is an employee of Barrow AFC.

“It is a personal matter, which will run its course, and we will report further in due course.”

He added: “I have been shown some rumours which have been published on social media and on the club forum over the past week. What I would say about them, is they are absolute nonsense. I don't know whether they were supposition or hearsay.

“There was some suggestion that he had assaulted somebody, an opposition player. That is absolutely ridiculous. I can categorically deny that is the case.”