It’s been a good year for Welsh football. Swansea City won the League Cup and established themselves as a force to be reckoned with in the Premiership where they will be joined next season by Cardiff City.
But in many ways the most remarkable story has been that of Newport County, albeit their promotion out of the Conference was achieved at the expense of another Welsh club, fan-run Wrexham. They are back in the Football League after a quarter of a century away.
It’s been a good year for Welsh football. Swansea City won the League Cup and established themselves as a force to be reckoned with in the Premiership where they will be joined next season by Cardiff City.
But in many ways the most remarkable story has been that of Newport County, albeit their promotion out of the Conference was achieved at the expense of another Welsh club, fan-run Wrexham. They are back in the Football League after a quarter of a century away.
County were one of the clubs elected to the Football League in the expansion after the end of the First World War. In 1980 they reached the quarter finals of the European Cup Winners’ Cup and in 1983 they achieved their highest ever league position, fourth in what was then the Third Division.
In 1988, a year after being relegated to the fourth division, they dropped out of the Football League. They failed to complete the 1988-89 Conference season, folding in February with debts of £300,000.
Fans formed a phoenix club, Newport AFC, but the Welsh FA did not want them to play in the English non-league pyramid. They were forced to play in Gloucestershire and became known as the Exiles. In 1994 they returned to play in Newport and in 1999 became known as Newport County AFC.
The recruitment of Euromillions lottery winner Les Scadding as chairman has boosted by budget, but they are not as big spenders as recently promoted clubs such as Crawley Town and Fleetwood Town or even clubs that remain in the Conference such as Luton Town and Forest Green Rovers.
They do not lack support. 6,500 watched the play off semi-final win against Grimsby at the ground they share with Newport Gwent Dragons rugby club at Rodney Parade. The average home crowd was 2,547, more than 900 up on the total budgeted for.
Newport is the third largest city in Wales. County were originally known as the Ironsides because of the importance of steel manufacture, but the Llanwern steel works is now just a rolling mill. The city is in the midst of a regeneration programme and having a club in the Football League will boost its profile.