I’m starting to get excited for next season and I think I can feel the excitement in the town too.

In the past week, we have made some fantastic signings in Gareth Hock, Wartovo Puara and Stargroth Amean that are putting Barrow back on the map.

It is a good sign that players of this calibre are joining our club and I am now starting to get players approaching me from all over the world wanting to get on-board.

I don’t think we are quite finished yet. I’m deep in talks with another two quality forwards and I have offers on the table for two more of our backline from last season.

If I can get those four over the line, then I like the look of our squad and there is still the possibility of some season-long loans from Wigan.

I’ve seen some messages, mainly from rival fans, relating to how Barrow is affording all this, especially in light of our financial problems last season.

The truth is that if we could get through last season then we would be a lot healthier financially. We said that at the time, we haven’t changed our tune.

It is true we ran out of money, but the board invested to get us through the season and we are confident that we haven’t been too optimistic with our income budgets.

In fact, I have set growth targets to exceed all our submitted numbers so that 2020 will take us to another level again.

The boardroom is starting to get a professional look; we are improving the team, we are improving commercially, we are improving in the media.

We are also starting to make more use of our facilities, we are improving our work in the community and we plan to improve our matchday experience and crowds.

When I started watching Barrow in the mid to late 1970s, there was a big influx of names from rugby union, when Steve Tickle, Ian Ball, Chris Camilleri and Nigel French all joined our club.

They added to the local stars, like Eddie Szymala, Derek Hadley and David Cairns and our club started to grow.

Barrow’s crowds started to rise - by the early 80s 4-5,000 crowds were the norm and I well remember very close to 10,000 for the visits of Hull and Leeds in two cup games in 81/82.

Those days from my childhood are etched on my memory. I want those days back and I’m in a very privileged position to try to achieve that and more.

With the backing of our superb fans, our club is going somewhere special.