The Club has made long serving stalwart and Club Historian Phil Yelland a Life Patron, to recognise his long contributions to Barrow Association Football Club.
Based in Edinburgh, Phil started following the club on Saturday 6th February 1965, after seeing a feature on Grandstand when Barrow lost 0-5 to Millwall at Holker Street.
The Scotsman has been a major contributor to Barrow’s matchday programme since the 1970s, and still today writes a large amount of the copy for ‘The Bluebird’, with his articles focusing on the history of the club, past games and past players.
On being told of the news, Phil Yelland said:
“I was both surprised and delighted, as it means a lot.
“Living a long way from town, contributing to the programme seemed a good idea in 1977 and it just grew from that.”
The Club has had many ups and downs over Phil’s 56 year span following Barrow, but there are a few distinct memories that stick in his mind:
“The two FA Trophy Final wins the the Conference North Play Off Final win were great, but my favourite memory has to be a sunny night at Morecambe in April 1977 when we won 5-0; my first Barrow win live at the 13th attempt!”