“You’ve got to look after yourself and your family – and what you think you’re worth,” says Paul Farman, the goalkeeper who has switched clubs in Cumbria, swapping Carlisle United for Barrow AFC.

Farman, after a first-choice season at Brunton Park, turned down new terms with the Blues. He is now with the Bluebirds – a move which has led to a certain trading of opinion among Barrow fans pleased to have taken a key player from Carlisle, and Carlisle fans disgruntled at this fact.

The 32-year-old made 45 appearances for United in 2020/21 and kept a healthy number of clean sheets. The vocal, long-kicking No1 quickly became an established figure with the Blues but is now part of Mark Cooper’s bid to drive Barrow up the Football League.

Farman is enthusiastic about where Barrow hope to be heading and, if he did not exactly skip away from Carlisle, was clear enough in his reasons for doing so, having accepted a two-year deal at Holker Street.

“I had a great year, really enjoyed it, and I thanked everyone for making me feel so welcome at Carlisle,” he says. “But when it came down to it, we just couldn’t agree terms.

“When I had this offer [from Barrow] come up, it was the right thing for me to do. I think security in this day and age…it’s hard when you’re working on one-year contracts. It’s tough for anyone, especially when you’ve got a family.

“I took this decision hoping and knowing it’s going to be the right one for me and my future. When I came in and spoke to the people at Barrow, it gave me that feel that it’s going to be a good year to be involved in the club.”

Farman does not want to disclose the level of offer he received from United, or how he felt about it. “It’s hard to talk about such things publicly,” he says. “You don’t want to disrespect yourself, or the club. You never want to leave on bad terms.

“It’s a tough time to be a footballer when it comes to thinking about contracts, with this pandemic that’s been going on for so long. You never know what’s around the corner.

News and Star: Paul Farman (photo: Matt Dodd / Barrow AFC)Paul Farman (photo: Matt Dodd / Barrow AFC)

“I put on my social media that I hope the Carlisle fans and the chairman and board just knew that, on that one-year deal, I gave absolutely everything for them. This came about and I wanted to do it.”

Farman, along with striker Offrande Zanzala who made a similar move, will face his former club in two all-Cumbrian encounters next season. Unlike in 2020/21, fans should be there to experience the rivalry this time.

“Hopefully I’ll get an alright reception,” Farman smiles. “But fingers crossed I might be able to get a double over them. The clubs and fans deserve to come and watch the clubs in these big games. Football is absolutely everything for some people. Let’s just hope we can get back in next year and all this [Covid] business is done for and we can start having people enjoying football again.”

If Carlisle, as seems likely, promote Magnus Norman to be their No1 after a season spent mostly understudying Farman, the older keeper believes the younger man can thrive.

“Me and Magnus worked really well together – we pushed each other and enjoyed working together. If he does get the No1 spot and the go-ahead from Carlisle, I’m sure he’ll do a job. It’ll be nice to play against him.

“There’s a great bunch of lads there, and some unsung heroes at the club who do their jobs very well. I spoke to all of them, including the gaffer and coaching staff. I wanted to leave on good terms and I do wish Carlisle all the best next year.”

While Carlisle fans anxiously await more signings to add to their one so far (Tristan Abrahams), Barrow have been quicker out of the blocks, committing what appears an increased budget on the likes of Farman, Zanzala, Tom White, Remeao Hutton, Josh Gordon and Mark Ellis, with more additions likely.

Back in the Football League last season for the first time in 48 years, the Bluebirds eventually survived in League Two thanks to Rob Kelly’s inspired caretaker management and a strong spirit which saw them over the line. Now, after a campaign of recurring managerial change, the south Cumbrians hope the installation of Cooper can deliver more measured progress.

Barrow are developing their infrastructure in line with the attempted growth on the field. “A big part when I spoke to people at Barrow was the project of this place,” Farman says. “When I went down to the ground, having played there quite a bit against Barrow, I was a little bit surprised at the work they were doing to try and make this place a Football League club properly.

“You don’t want to take backward steps in your career. You have to keep looking at what’s going to be right for everyone down the line for yourself and your family. When I went and spoke to them, I was really happy with it, and it got sorted quite quickly.”

Farman says this decision became apparent as he “whittled down” his options and decided against staying at Carlisle. He believes Barrow’s ambitions match his own.

“With more recruitment that’s going to be coming in, that’s going to help add to where we could finish next year,” he says. “Of course you want to finish as high as possible in this league. I’ve been in a promotion myself. At the start of that season [with Lincoln] we probably weren’t really in the mix for it, because every season before that we were a bottom half team.

“Let’s see what the recruitment does and finish as high as we can. A lot of clubs in the off-season try to make a statement in the signings. I think so far our signings have gone down really well in the fans’ perspective. But that doesn’t take away the hard work we’re going to have to put in pre-season to get bang on ready for the start of the season.

“Promotions do change players’ lives. Look at Morecambe – that goes to show anything is achievable if you have a good dressing room and a bunch of lads willing to put in a real shift. Sometimes when your backs are against the wall you stick to what you’re good at and you get that chance to put a promotion on your CV.”

Striker Zanzala will be at least one familiar dressing-room face to Farman in 2021/22. Farman says of the centre-forward, who is known as a lively character: “He’s a great lad, works his socks off. If I was a manager or on the coaching staff, he’s one of the lads I would want to recruit, but I’d tape his mouth up…

“I’ve played against a few of the other lads before, but don’t really know anyone besides Ozzy. When we did play against them [Barrow] last year twice it wasn’t an easy game. Staying up quite late on shows the togetherness they must have in the group. Surviving after a promotion is a good thing – it’s probably an achievement when you’ve been out of the Football League for so long.”

Cooper, the ex-Forest Green boss, is another big factor. “I would like to know exactly how many times I’ve played against the gaffer when he was at Forest Green,” Farman says. “I was on the winning side quite a lot but last year he did do the double over me.

“He’s always recruited well in the teams I’ve played against when he’s been in charge. He’s a well known name in the Football League – players do want to come in and play under him when they know what he can achieve.”

It is less than a year since Farman was looking ahead in this way at Carlisle, but now the keeper starts anew. “If you come and see what I try to do day-in, day-out in training, you’ll see I put a lot of pressure on myself and work my socks off,” he says. “I always want to do better. I want to play at the highest possible level I can.

“I don’t want to have any regrets in my career when I come to retire. I’m leaving it all out there – wherever I am I’m going to give it absolutely everything.”