A long awayday for Rovers fans on Good Friday.

The 240 miles will take almost 4 and a 1/2 hours by road.  Coaches leave TFCNL at 8.00, Sainsburys at 8.15, and Stonehouse at 8.25.  To book your seat ring  KB Coaches on 01453 825 774 between  8.30am and 5pm  Mondays to Fridays.  Remember to mention if you are a Supporters Club member, as you will earn a discount.

Trains don’t look viable.  It’s a 6 and a 1/2 hour rail journey that costs £145 return and you can’t get back on the same day, so not an option for most.  If you do end up at Barrow Station, it’s about half a mile from Holker Street (or The Dunes Hotel Stadium, as it is known for sponsorship reasons).

There’s some information for away fans on the Barrow FC website barrowafc.com/tickets/fan-guides/guide-for-away-fans/

Ticket prices are below.  Away fans are in the Holker Street Stand, behind one of the goals, which has had a new roof this season and which gives a choice of either seats or standing.

If you’re travelling by car, you can’t park in the stadium car park as it’s too small but there is a local soccer club next to the main reception where you can park for a small fee.  Alternatively, there is free parking at Liberata (see photo opposite) or there is a good amount of street parking near the ground.  The postcode for sat navs is LA14 5UW

This season is only the 2nd ever season in the EFL for Barrow.  Last season, 20/21, they finished in 21st place.  The match that pretty much secured League 2 status for Barrow last season was their 2-0 victory in Nailsworth with just 2 fixtures left to play.

The Bluebirds are 21st in the table with 37 points from their 40 games.  This has left Barrow precariously close to the relegation places – they are on level points with Oldham & Stevenage.  Realistically, one of these 3 sides will be joining Scunthorpe in the National League next season.  So Barrow have a lot at stake.

Barrow are pretty tight at the back – they have only conceded 48 goals.  But they have struggled to score – just 34 goals scored – only Scunthorpe have scored fewer.  Barrow’s home form has been slightly worse than their away form this season.

Barrow seem to change formation frequently and, with their new manager, it’s hard to predict their line-up.  In Phil Brown’s first game they set up as a 3-5-2.  One constant seems to be number 12 Josh Gordon leading the line.

Discipline has been something of an issue for Barrow – 5 red cards so far.

Experienced midfielder Ollie Banks (number 28) is probably Barrow’s main man to watch.  Banks is in red-hot form and has already had his highest scoring season since 2013/14 with 9 league goals this campaign (3 of them penalties).  Banks is a dead ball specialist and has been influential for Barrow this season. He is Barrow’s leading goal-scorer and has plenty of know-how of League Two having won promotion with Tranmere Rovers in the 2018-19 season.

Ollie Banks is Barrow’s man in form.

Josh Gordon leads the line for Barrow.

Another player to keep an eye on is former Walsall striker Josh Gordon (number 12) who moved to Barrow in the summer.  Gordon also has 5 league goals to his name, including a solo run and strike against Newport County that won him the EFL’s September goal of the month award.

Barrow recently appointed Phil Brown as manager on a contract until the end of the 2021/22 campaign.  Brown is a management veteran of over 500 games experience across all four divisions.

He was assistant to Sam Allardyce at both Blackpool and Bolton Wanderers being appointed boss of Derby County in 2005.  He is well known for steering Hull City to promotion to the Premier League in 2007/08 and keeping them up the following season.  He has since managed at Preston North End, Southend United, Swindon and Indian Super League’s Hyderabad.

Brown’s 1st game in charge saw Barrow lose 2-0 at Leyton Orient.  His next 2 games have been losses to Port Vale and Crawley, so it hasn’t been a dream start for Brown.

Brown replaced Mark Cooper, who left Barrow ‘by mutual consent’ in March.  Cooper, who took charge of Barrow at the start of the season, had been in the middle of an 8-game touchline ban for inappropriate comments made to a female assistant referee during a match.  It’s not known whether the ban or Barrow’s poor run contributed most to him leaving.

Apart from their manager, there are numerous links between FGR and Barrow.   Midfielder Jordan Stevens (number 35) was a product of FGR’s academy before moving to Marcelo Bielsa’s Leeds in 2018.  Stevens got embroiled in a charge of breaching gambling regulations which earned him a 6-week ban from all football which seemed to end his career at Leeds.  Loan spells at Swindon and Bradford followed before his move to Barrow this summer.

Forward George Williams (number 23) played for Rovers between 2018 and 2020 before moving to Grimsby, then joining Barrow in August.

Defender Mark Ellis (number 6) played for Rovers in 2017, on loan from Carlisle.

Jordan Stevens in his FGR days.

George Williams (with ex-manager Mark Cooper) signing for Barrow.

Barrow’s list of managers doesn’t include many familiar names. But, in another link with FGR, Rovers fans will remember one of our former managers, Ady Pennock, with his assistant Jamie Day.  Pennock managed Barrow with Day from October 2017 until May 2018.  Pennock is now in his 2nd season with Singapore League side Brunei DPMM FC and led them to their 2nd Singapore Premier League title in his first season in charge.

Adrian Pennock managed FGR between Nov 2013 and Apr 2017.

Barrow’s crest tells a story – a submarine represents it’s shipbuilding heritage, particularly the building of submarines.  The red rose represents its historic association with Lancashire (though it has been Cumbria’s 2nd biggest town for a while).  There is a bee that looks as though it’s impaled on an arrow (B-arrow).

The club was formed in 1901 as the crest tells us and finally, of course, there’s a football. The club might be thinking of adding a wind turbine to the crest sometime soon as Barrow is a hub for energy generation and handling. Offshore wind farms form one of the highest concentrations of turbines in the world, including world’s 2nd largest offshore wind farm, Walney.

As a football club Barrow spent about 50 years in the football league between 1921 and 1972 without any notable success. Almost the next 50 years were spent in non-league football with the club moving between the 5th and 6th tiers on a regular basis. In 2019 Barrow’s odds on winning the National League were 50/1. Defying these odds, the Bluebirds surprised everybody by leading the league until the season was curtailed by the pandemic and Barrow were awarded automatic promotion into the football league.