ANDREW Casson has assured Barrow AFC fans there are no issues with financing the club through his owner father Paul.

Concerns have been raised regarding a lawsuit in America against Casson Mark Corporation, Paul’s telecommunications company, by former sub-contractor Tallgrass Industries.

But AFC managing director Andrew said that while the case was active – though a court date has been set only for 2019 – and involved a dispute over payments, there was no issue with funding the club. He also rubbished rumours at to the amount of money Casson Mark Corporation is being sued for.

Asked if there was any need to be concerned over the financing of the Bluebirds, he said: “No. The commitment is just as strong as ever.

“We are going to have a conversation before they go back to talk about what the budget is going to look like for next season, so we can start planning and having those conversations with Ady (Pennock) and Grant (Holt). There is no risk on that front. The only question is going to be ‘what is the plan, the right level of support?’. Attendances have been down this season, for a number of reasons, so we will have to look at what the right investment level is.

“But in terms of ability, there are no worries there.”

Regarding the court case itself, he added: “Whether or not people want to believe it, it’s much ado about nothing. There are a lot of rumours going round regarding the amount, but that is all completely untrue. It’s certainly not very much in the grand scheme of his business over there.”

The Cassons and AFC manager Pennock are already discussing the budgetary plans for next season, with money recently having been made available for new travel and accommodation arrangements for matches.

Casson Jnr revealed some of that money had come from players leaving and reducing the wage bill, and he said: “With the way the squad has developed, we have been able to take some of the money we had been paying players like Liam (Hughes) and Alex (-Ray Harvey), and start to devote some of those funds to other areas.

“At this point, it is pretty even in terms of what we are spending on a week-in, week-out basis.

“I think that’s where the budget conversation is going to be key. Ady is the kind of guy who would much rather have 21 players who then have access to the best supplements and the best training facility, overnights and pre-match meals, as opposed to having 23, 24, 25 players.

“That’s why we’re going to spend a lot of time looking at the budget overall, not just in terms of a wage-bill, so we can say if we’re going to spend, say £10,000 a year in pre-match meals and supplements, is that an additional investment or are you going to horse-trade some of that with the wage-bill?”