Barrow AFC’s world fell apart after they were voted out of the Football League in 1972, but after 48 years in the wilderness they are about to take to a much bigger stage.

Outside attention towards the club had already been growing throughout their National League promotion campaign, but interest in the Bluebirds is sure to increase further now they are among the EFL’s 72 clubs.

One of a number of changes for supporters will be the media interest, as the Non-League Paper will no longer be the only national outlet that will regularly shine a spotlight on them.

Instead of BT Sport, it will be Quest’s excellent highlights show that their goals will be shown on and there’s even the prospect of them being in front of the Sky Sports cameras for the first time ever, should any of their matches in League Two be shown live.

The competitions they will be playing in will be different, for instead of the FA Trophy, the Bluebirds will be entered into the Carabao Cup for the first time since 1971 and with the enticing possibility of facing a Premier League team should they reach the second round.

There will be no more qualifying for the FA Cup, as they’ll go straight into the first round proper of the world’s oldest knockout competition.

They’ll also be entered into the Leasing.com Trophy, although the prospect of facing a Premier League team’s under-21 side in that competition doesn’t quite bring with it the same sense of excitement.

What will, however, will be the day the fixtures for the 2020/21 season are released, as it will confirm some of the company AFC will be keeping in League Two.

Perhaps the most surreal will be sharing a division with Bolton Wanderers for the first time ever, while Bradford City will be another relatively big club they can look forward to facing.

There will also be bragging rights at stake when they take on fellow Cumbrians Carlisle United and in the clashes with Morecambe, which really is a local derby by Barrow’s standards.

Off the pitch, promotion could have a transformative effect as well, as around £1 million of funding from the EFL is set to swell the club’s coffers over the course of the campaign, helping to pay for the ongoing ground improvements.

To give that some context, AFC received around £85,000 from the National League last season, demonstrating that this is a different era they are about to embark on and one they hope will be the making of the club in years to come.