New Barrow AFC owner is hopeful of Football League status in five years

Lifelong Barrow AFC fan Paul Casson has bought the club and promised to invest £1m to acquire the assets. Lifelong Barrow AFC fan Paul Casson has bought the club and promised to invest £1m to acquire the assets.

Paul Casson has completed the purchase of Conference North side Barrow AFC and believes his investment can help propel the club back to the Football League.

The Cumbria club were relegated from the old Division Four in the 1970s and finished 11th in the Conference North this season, 22 points behind Guiseley in the final play-off place.

But Casson believes his investment represents a good deal for himself and the club. "It's not a risk at all, I think it's a great opportunity," he told Sky Sports News.

"I was born here and my mother and father were born in Barrow, so I have a large family legacy in the town. My father died in September, so the primary reason is to leave a legacy in his memory.

"He would have been proud to see his son be a custodian of the football club in the town he loved. I've followed the club from afar since I left.

"It was very painful when they got relegated from the Football League, which is one of the reasons I started this. I want to try and get them back to where I remember them."

Casson, who is based in Dallas, inherits a club managed by former York defender Darren Edmondson. The Holker Street side enjoyed five years in the Conference Premier until their relegation last season.

But with his investment Casson believes promotion from the second tier of the non-league, and eventually into League Two, is a realistic ambition.

"My first meeting with the manager is this evening. His task is to assemble a squad capable of challenging promotion to the Conference Premier in the next two seasons," he said.

"The longer term goal is to get back to the Football League within five years.

"I'm assembling a team of people I've known for a long time who are very positive about the opportunity. I think we will succeed. Hopefully the community will benefit in the long run as a result."

Barrow won their last trophy in one of the club's most successful seasons in 2010 when they clinched the FA Trophy, as well as reaching the third round of the FA Cup.