As a long-time supporter of the club, next season was always going to be an exciting one for Levi Gill and as Barrow AFC’s new chief executive officer, he has a big part to play in what he hopes will be an exciting future.

Gill formally began his new role on Monday, having previously been on the club’s board since March 2019 as the Bluebirds Trust’s representative on it.

He has stepped up just five over weeks before AFC’s first season in the English Football League for 48 years and there has been a great deal of change since their promotion from the National League was confirmed in June.

There’s obviously been a change of manager, with David Dunn replacing Ian Evatt, following the latter’s departure for Bolton Wanderers, and seven new players have signed since.

Off the pitch, meanwhile the finishing touches are being put to the new fanzone at the stadium and a new roof being put on the Holker Street End is just one of the projects that will make the ground EFL-compliant.

Gill said: “From my side, what we’ve got coming up here and what we’re confronting with all the EFL compliance we’ve got to very much get our head around.

“I know the inner workings of the club, from my time on the board, I obviously already know the staff, I know the challenges and you’ll see outside the scale of the construction work going on.

“We’ve had to move quickly. We’ve had to move quickly to replace Ian, which I think we’ve done really well with David Dunn, we’re all really excited.

“We’ve had to move quickly to get the pitch work done, we’ve had to move quickly to get the roof on and I think part of my appeal to the owners is not only the skills I can bring but the fact that there’s not that learning period [because] I get the club and I’m excited to get into it as a fan as well.”

Gill sees some similarities with Dunn in that they’ve both had to get used to their new roles quickly.

What he is keen to do now is ensure that fans continue to have a voice in how things develop at the club, harking back to his previous role, not least because the Bluebirds Trust hold a ten per cent stake.

“David will be the first to admit he doesn’t come with years and years of frontline managerial experience, although he’s got a great coaching record,” Gill said.

“I’m obviously new to my role, we as a club are new to the EFL and Covid is another degree of learning, so we are all learning as we go, so we won’t get everything right.

“Something else I’m keen to get set up is that I want a club email account for people to give us feedback because, ultimately, this club belongs to us all, not just the owners - the fans are an owner now, of course.”