Barrow AFC captain Josh Granite believes the players now knowing what manager Ian Evatt expects of them will be a real benefit when they reconvene for pre-season training later in the summer.

The 2018/19 season was a real learning curve for Evatt, as it was his first campaign as a manager and he had a big rebuilding job on his hands when he was appointed in late June last year.

The 37-year-old inherited six players needing to put together a squad almost from scratch, meaning that players and manager alike were something of an unknown commodity to each other.

This summer, however, the spine of the Bluebirds' squad is being kept together, making Evatt's task this time around more evolution than revolution.

Granite said: "There's some lads who might feel a bit more comfortable than they were last year because they know the manager, they know the management team and they know the lads.

"It also works on the other foot that you know what to expect and we're a step ahead of where we were last year, where we started from scratch.

"For me, it's a really big benefit that we've had a full season with the manager and the lads who are staying know his ways and know what is expected.

"We've just got to hit the ground running come the start of the season and hopefully be where we need to be come the end of it."

Barrow will soon be revealing who they'll be facing in their pre-season friendlies, which are already proving a source of excitement for their players.

"I've seen the fixture list and there are some fantastic games, which hopefully they old Barrow faithful will get down and support and watch, so it should be really good," Granite said.