Barrow AFC say safeguarding concerns were among the reasons for their decision to defer plans for an academy.

The Bluebirds have issued a statement on the decision which has been the subject of speculation and criticism recently.

Barrow have come under fire from some parents of teenage players who had been due to join the Bluebirds’ planned under-18 set-up.

But the club have now explained why they are not now going ahead with the academy for another year.

Central to the decision, they say, was the fact an audit found their safeguarding plans “inadequate” and it would not have been right to push ahead until these were resolved.

The Bluebirds, in their statement, said their application to the EFL for approval to launch a Category 4 Academy next season would have involved nine academy scholars – including four from the Furness area.

An Under-18 side would have been formed from these and other players from the local area who would not have been on the academy books.

“Significant amounts of work went into this undertaking and, while progress was encouraging, it became clear to the board in April that we were rushing to meet the application deadline,” the club said.

“We had serious concerns with the safeguarding aspects of the plan, as well as material issues at the club, including the need to source first team training facilities, the vacant first Team Manager role and a lack of a proper club infrastructure to support the academy.

“We could not, in good conscience, continue and we made the difficult decision to defer the academy application by 12 months.

“This gives us time to fully address the club infrastructure issues and have a stronger resource and safeguarding plan to enable a successful mobilisation.”

READ MORE: Anger as Barrow AFC defers academy intake at short notice

Barrow said that, as part of the EFL process, they had been subject to a two-day formal independent audit from Barnardo’s in early May.

This, they say, “identified our safeguarding plans as inadequate.”

The Bluebirds added: “They found that we did not meet the standard in four out of the seven basic categories, and we received 31 recommended actions.

“The audit stated that our deferral was based upon “sound reasoning”.”

The club said they would act on the review as they plan to launch their academy in 12 months’ time.

AFC added: “We believe up to four players were offered provisional contracts based upon a successful EFL application and we are very sorry for any distress caused to them and their families.

“We also recognise the tremendous amount of work undertaken by Liam Reid, and we hope to leverage that work going forward.

“We still remain committed to applying for a Category 4 Academy next year and this project will be led by our sporting director [Iain Wood], with input from the first team manager and staff.

“We will begin the review and actions associated with the Barnardo’s audit this summer.”