Barrow Raiders coach Paul Crarey has praised the way the club is being run during the current Coronavirus pandemic.
With no games having been played since mid-March, many clubs are suffering financially, but the Barrow board have been working hard behind the scenes to keep bringing some cash in and avoid furloughing players or staff.
The latest money-making plan will tie in with the next phase of easing the current lockdown, when Government strategy aims to reopen pubs and bars on Saturday, July 4.
The Raiders are aiming to host the town’s biggest beer garden, with picnic tables being ordered to be placed on the pitch, whilst maintaining social distancing rules. There will also be other areas on the pitch where visitors will be able to lay out their own blankets.
The club hopes to have two bars in use, with a queuing system set up for the outside bar, with table service to be organised from the indoor Raiders Bar to avoid crowding.
It is hoped as many as 500 people will be able to be on the pitch at one time, with as much as £10,000 coming into the club from the opening night.
“The club has been great and has been doing a lot of work off the field,” said Crarey.
“I was at this club for two years before coming back for this six-year block.
“Everyone who’s been in charge over those eight years has been great, but this current group are taking the club to a new level on the business side.
“Denis Fay, who used to be a head teacher and is on the board, once said to me that if you’re standing still, you’re going backwards. And he is right.
“This group has raised the bar and are trying everything to take the club forward.
“Off the field, we’re now at a different level to anything I have seen at the club before.
“We used to be a club that didn’t do much business-wise, but this group know what we need to do to be sustainable and they are doing their best to get us there.”
The Raiders are currently advertising for a new chief executive.
