Keen wants Barrow fans response

Keen wants the level of attendance seen against Oxford on a regular basis

Barrow director Tony Keen insists that the club's ambitions to return to the Football League could be realised with the help of their supporters.

Keen believes that increased gates at Holker Street in 2010 would provide the revenue needed to improve all aspects of the club, including personnel.

"We want to get back into the Football League," Keen told BBC Radio Cumbria.

"We can only do that with the attendance going up, and 1,300 isn't enough to sustain us at that level."

Barrow lost their place in the Football League way back in 1972, being replaced by Hereford United after losing a third successive battle for re-election.

But, 38 years on, the Bluebirds have set their fans a target for the remainder of the season in a bid to boost their revenue. And they will be looking to average '2,010 in 2010'.

In the short term, they have already banked the gate receipts (estimated at over £150,000) from their share of Saturday's 25,190 crowd for Saturday's FA Cup third round tie at Sunderland.

And, while supporters will be pushing for outlays on new players, Keen admits that the next step is simply to invest sensibly. And discussions will be had with management team Dave Bayliss and Darren Sheridan on Thursday regarding all aspects of the club.

"We're going to talk about where the budget is, what their aspirations are, which players they're looking at, who we're moving in and who we're moving out," said Keen.

"It's important that, as a club, we keep using this word sustainability, that we don't overstretch ourselves with a big boost like we've had at the weekend.

"We have to make sure what we've set up this year is sustainable into next year and beyond.

"We're doing those calculations at board level and we'll be talking to the managers on Thursday.

"We've got to start looking at what we need from a ground and a club as well.

"There's no point having the best team in the North West when the ground it's playing in isn't up to scratch. We have to keep our eyes on everything."