Former Barrow AFC striker Grant Holt has spoken about how returning to Holker Street for his second spell with the Bluebirds in 2001 rekindled his love of playing football.

The 38-year-old, who retired last year after his third and final stint with AFC came to an end, is releasing his autobiography 'A Real Football Life' today, in which he recalls his journey from starting out in non-League football with Workington to playing in the Premier League with Norwich.

He first played for Barrow on loan in the 2000/01 season from Halifax Town and after being released by the Shaymen at the end of that campaign, Holt went out to Singapore to play for Senkang Marine.

It was around then where then-20-year-old questioned whether a career in football was for him.

Holt said: Lads in the lower leagues work damn hard to achieve a career and I wanted to get that across.

"[Before going to] Barrow the second time I was quite happy to chuck it in and work [for a living]. I’d had enough. Going there was the best thing I did because it gave me that joy of just playing football again."

Holt had two successful seasons with the Bluebirds in the Northern Premier League, with his form earning him a move to Sheffield Wednesday in March 2003.

“Someone once said to me, ‘Always try and say yes when you can’," Holt said. "If you do that you’ll be more likely to have a decent life. I could easily have said no to Singapore or Australia, but I went to Australia for four months, played in unbelievable heat and humidity, always running around because they didn’t keep the ball very much, and I came back to Barrow so fit.

"From there I went to Sheffield Wednesday. People will have seen talent in there, but it was the fact I was fitter, stronger, and I’d grown a bit wider because I’d been working. It was a good time.”