Club Statement: New Chairman - Paul Hornby

[Rob]

http://www.barrowafc.com/club-statement ... Nw8io4d2N0

I knew Casson was stepping back but did not quite see this one coming now! Who is Paul Hornby?!?

[Rob]

The full statement:

“To all Barrow AFC supporters,

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven. Ecclesiastes.

After careful consideration, it is time for me to end my ownership of Barrow AFC. The plan was for this to take a bit more time, but when Paul Hornby stepped up to take over, I knew it was right.

Hopefully, the timing is correct that my time as chairman of Barrow AFC should now come to a close. It is unfortunate that the final decision follows Saturdays painful defeat, but there are moments in time that are precipitated by events, and perhaps this is one. This was most likely going to be our final year and so we had been planning a suitable transition. My feeling now is that it’s execution should come sooner than later, in order for new leadership to get up and running in time for planning the second half of the season and next year.

I will dispense with all the normal self congratulatory cliches, history will decide if our custodianship had merit or not.

It is time for the town and the clubs supporters to embrace the new path forward, guided by Paul Hornby. His vision is, I believe, one that is worthy of support, but I will leave it to him to spell that out. It feels like the right transition at the right time.

Running a football club is interesting. It is something akin to a combination of spiritual adulation married to a perpetual public flogging. It is however, addictive in that it is rarely boring, and there are always many subjects for debate. It is far more complex than I ever imagined. Paul has already seen a lot of the mistakes we made in close proximity and so hopefully he will begin with an advantage.

As time passes, I will realize how much I truly loved the experience, though it is a little soon for that at the moment.

To all our true supporters I wish to express my heartfelt thanks. Please give Paul Hornby and his team your unbridled support, beginning on Saturday at home to Barnet.

The world of football never stops. We are out of the FA Cup but there is much left to play for and I believe our manager deserves your support. Sometimes a change can kick start a campaign, and so I will be watching as Paul and Ian continue the Barrow AFC journey.

Sincerely

Paul”

A meeting will be held in the Crossbar this coming Friday, 26th October. The bar will be open from 6pm with the meeting schedueled to begin at 7pm.

It will be held in the form of a question and answer session with both Paul Hornby and Andrew Casson in attendance. They will speak regarding how they are working to make the transition of ownership as seamless as possible, whilst Paul Hornby will outline his vision going forward, before taking questions from supporters.

A statement from Paul Hornby will also be available on our website at 12 noon today.

[HarveyBAFC]

Who is Paul Hornby?!?

JFHornby & Co

[spirit of 1990]

Glad PC stepped in when he did but I guess it was a lot harder than he thought it would be when he originally took over.

Really glad Paul Hornby has stepped up, a nice bloke, local and a supporter.

[barrowfan]

A heartfelt thanks to Paul and his family for all they have done whilst at Barrow AFC. Without them there would be no club, and Paul, you did your Dad's memory proud. Good luck for the future.

[Bingo]

Thanks for taking over when you did it saved the club from going under. You did so with false promises and hope through, you wasted a lot of your own money whilst the ground continues to crumble. good luck to the new guy and let's hope the club can move on to better things

[HenneysKnee]

The conference north winning season when there was so much hope around was genuinely brilliant. Other than that I’m sure he would say now himself they genuinely didn’t realise how big non league is now, he can’t just chuck a few quid at it and you’ll get promotion, other clubs are doing that on a far bigger scale.
Does Hornby own the club now then or what?

[McMark]

Firstly a huge thank you to Paul and Stephanie for stepping in when it was becoming our hour of need. It hasn't always gone to plan but we have enjoyed success and some stability during their ownership. They can't be knocked for trying to achieve on the field, sadly not enough happened off for it to become the lasting legacy they hoped for.
Let's hope we can start to build things both on and off the field under Paul Hornby in a realistic manner with careful planning and achievable timescales.

[Rob]

Does Hornby own the club now then or what?

It's a bit unclear if it's him, or perhaps the Hornby family/company which has taken over? There is a statement due at midday which I guess will tell us more.

[Kieran]

A heartfelt thanks to Paul and his family for all they have done whilst at Barrow AFC. Without them there would be no club

Let's not start with that nonsense. In all likelihood, there would still have been a club. We almost certainly would not have been at this level, but there would still have been a club.

I don't thank Paul Casson, he's been a massive let down and failed at what he apparently set out to do. He's broken 90% of the promises he's made and apart from a cheap set of floodlights he's left us with absolutely nothing as his legacy. Off the pitch we're as hapless as we were when he took over, aside from said floodlights the ground is in the same state it was, despite the success of the U21s so far this season we still have no real youth set up and will now go back to signing average to poor journeymen as opposed to slightly above average ones which will likely see us drop back to Conference North in the near future. We're a million miles away from the legacy Casson promised.

Thank him? Well I suppose the hope (albeit false) of something better was good whilst it briefly lasted for 18 months or so. But no, in reality there's not a lot else to thank him for.

[Middleton Nick]

Many thanks to the Casson family for their time and financial support at Barrow AFC. Good luck to Paul Hornby and we will see what the future holds.

[Bingo]

A heartfelt thanks to Paul and his family for all they have done whilst at Barrow AFC. Without them there would be no club

Let's not start with that nonsense. In all likelihood, there would still have been a club. We almost certainly would not have been at this level, but there would still have been a club.

I don't thank Paul Casson, he's been a massive let down and failed at what he apparently set out to do. He's broken 90% of the promises he's made and apart from a cheap set of floodlights he's left us with absolutely nothing as his legacy. Off the pitch we're as hapless as we were when he took over, aside from said floodlights the ground is in the same state it was, despite the success of the U21s so far this season we still have no real youth set up and will now go back to signing average to poor journeymen as opposed to slightly above average ones which will likely see us drop back to Conference North in the near future. We're a million miles away from the legacy Casson promised.

Thank him? Well I suppose the hope (albeit false) of something better was good whilst it briefly lasted for 18 months or so. But no, in reality there's not a lot else to thank him for.

Can't argue with that it's how I feel more or less

[Fazered]

A heartfelt thanks to Paul and his family for all they have done whilst at Barrow AFC. Without them there would be no club

Let's not start with that nonsense. In all likelihood, there would still have been a club. We almost certainly would not have been at this level, but there would still have been a club.

I don't thank Paul Casson, he's been a massive let down and failed at what he apparently set out to do. He's broken 90% of the promises he's made and apart from a cheap set of floodlights he's left us with absolutely nothing as his legacy. Off the pitch we're as hapless as we were when he took over, aside from said floodlights the ground is in the same state it was, despite the success of the U21s so far this season we still have no real youth set up and will now go back to signing average to poor journeymen as opposed to slightly above average ones which will likely see us drop back to Conference North in the near future. We're a million miles away from the legacy Casson promised.

Thank him? Well I suppose the hope (albeit false) of something better was good whilst it briefly lasted for 18 months or so. But no, in reality there's not a lot else to thank him for.

What an absoluteley awful post. The guy put millions into the club just to keep it going and I for one thank him and wish him well

[Mark Johnson]

Thanks Paul for your ambitions and your honesty in the Statement. I hope you continue to support Barrow AFC. Good luck in the states.

[Kieran]

What an absoluteley awful post. The guy put millions into the club just to keep it going and I for one thank him and wish him well

But what was the point? What have we been left with? Not what was promised that's for sure.

He and his family had money and chose to spend it on the football club, I see no reason to thank them for that. Had they actually done something useful with it then I'd thank them, but they haven't and we're now in a not dissimilar position to when they took over.

As I say, he gave us a bit of hope but ultimately failed to live up to his own hype. That's his legacy.