Former Barrow AFC defender Dan Jones has tipped his old club to go well this season under manager Ian Evatt, who wants to make a concerted push for the play-offs in his second campaign in charge.

The Bluebirds ended up a fair way off the top seven in terms of points in the last campaign, although their revised tenth-place finish (after Gateshead’s points deduction) marked good progress from the previous year.

In what was Jones’ first season at Holker Street, AFC were fortunate not to be relegated from the National League and few would have predicted a top-half finish 12 months on at the time.

Not many would have had Jones marked down for a successful switch in position that saw him go from being put on the transfer list by the club to earning another crack at the Football League with new club Salford City.

Jones said: “I think they’ll do well again this year and I hope they do. I’ll be looking out all the time for their results and supporting them.

“I made a lot of friends at Barrow that I’ll carry on speaking to and I hope the lads do well this year and I wish them all the best.”

Jones believes one of the reasons for his upturn in form after being converted into a centre-back was down to the style of play Evatt has implemented at Barrow since he took charge a year ago.

He said: “I think it allowed be to stand out a bit more and it suited my game more for me to get on the ball and pass it out from the back and keep the long ball for when I needed to.

“I prefer to pass it, rather than just kicking it forwards, and try to wear down teams, which I thought we did a lot of last year. We tried to be one of the best teams on the ball.

“In my first year, the performances on the pitch weren’t great. You saw this year a different style of football and while not everyone might like it, I thought it was enjoyable to play in and it should have been enjoyable to watch and a contrast to what some people might have been used to at Barrow.”

Jones heads into League Two with Salford with a reputation as one of the best defenders in the National League, after being named in their Team of the Season, an honour that came as a surprise to him.

It wasn’t the only honour he gained during his time with the Bluebirds, as represented the England C team on two occasions.

“I was on holiday when I found out,” Jones said of his place in the star XI, adding: “Connor Brown texted me, saying ‘how did you manage to get in this?’

“It’s a big achievement for me, as no-one else got in from a team outside the play-offs.”