In two spells with Barrow AFC, his hometown club, striker Jason Walker made himself a firm favourite with the Holker Street faithful and now he is looking to repay the goodwill the town has shown him down the years.

During his times with the Bluebirds, Walker scored 91 goals in 252 appearances, with the most famous of those unquestionably being his stunning winning strike in the 2010 FA Trophy final against Stevenage, at Wembley.

As he enters the final stages of his playing career, he has now set up the JW9 Football Academy, which will be hosting a football coaching open evening at Parkside GGI Academy, at Greengate Street, Barrow, on Monday, July 15.

Parkside, where Walker works as their sports coach, will then host the academy's first summer holiday club from July 22-26 for boys and girls aged 4-11 before weekly training sessions are pencilled in to commence in September.

Walker said: “This was always at the back of my mind and I work at a school where all the kids still have a bit of a buzz about me playing football.

“It’s been on my mind to maybe set up something and I’ve come to a time now where I can dedicate a bit of time to it.

“We’ll see how it goes and hopefully I can coach some kids into becoming footballers - they don’t have to become footballers, they can just enjoy it and the more football they play the better, for me.”

Walker, 35, has moved from Workington to Lancaster City during the summer and will actually come up against AFC in a pre-season friendly next month.

He is hoping he can form close ties with his old club with this new venture, with Barrow themselves striving to give youngsters a better pathway into senior football.

Walker said: “It has to be that way and it’s sad, really, that it wasn’t around before because there are some good players around here at a young age and they do either fall by the wayside or they go to Carlisle, or somewhere else.

“With the set-up Barrow have got, then they should be getting players and the more links you have with Barrow the better it will be. We’re all from around here and we all want Barrow to do well, so why not work with them, rather than against them?”