Newport County is a professional Association football club based in the city of Newport, South Wales. The club was founded in 1912 as The Newport & Monmouth County Association Football Club, nicknamed The Ironsides after the Lysaght's Orb Works in the town. The club began in the Southern League but was reformed in 1919 and elected into the Football League in 1920. The first manager of Newport County was Davy McDougall, appointed in 1912.
History Newport's first ever manager, the Scottish wing-half McDougall, played for the club in its first year as a player-manager before moving to management. Billy Lucas is the club's longest serving manager having spent 17 years at Newport across three spells from 1953 to 1961, 1962–1967, and 1970–1974. Jimmy Hindmarsh is the club's longest continuously serving manager having spent 13 years at the club from 1922 until 1935. Newport's shortest reigning manager is Lee Harrison, who spent 5 days in charge as caretaker manager in 2011. The club's shortest reigning permanent manager is Eddie May who spent one month at the club during its tumultuous 1988 season.
Four managers have returned to the club for more than one spell in charge: Billy Lucas (1953–61, 1962–67, 1970–74), Colin Addison (1977–78, 1982–85), John Relish (1986, 1989–1993), and Tim Harris (1997–2002, 2011).
The club's most successful manager for honours is Len Ashurst who achieved promotion and a Cup win at the club. However Peter Beadle also achieved Cup wins and runner-up places, and Justin Edinburgh achieved a division play off victory and Cup runner-up place.
Three Newport County managers have been inducted into the club's Hall of Fame: Dave Williams, John Relish and Justin Edinburgh. Edinburgh was posthumously inducted in December 2019 before a fixture between Newport and Leyton Orient, who he was manager of at the time of his unexpected death in June 2019.
Achievements
The first manager under whom Newport won a major trophy was Billy McCandless, who guided the club to the Third Division South championship in the 1938–39 season. Newport reached the fifth round of the 1948–49 FA Cup under manager Tom Bromilow, the furthest they have gone in the competition, later equalled in 2019. They only narrowly lost the game 3–2 to Portsmouth. Bobby Evans led the club to become runners-up in the 1963 Welsh Cup. Len Ashurst achieved a third place promotion in the 1979–80 Football League Fourth Division and the club became Welsh Cup champions in 1980 under Ashhurst. In 1987 under John Lewis the club were runners-up in the Welsh Cup, losing to Merthyr in the final.
In 1989–90 John Relish secured the Hellenic League championship. Graham Rogers achieved the 1994–1995 Southern League Midland Division championship. Tim Harris again achieved the 2nd place promotion spot in the 1998–1999 Southern League Midland Division season. Peter Nicholas led the club to the runners-up spot in the 2003 FAW Premier Cup, which the club again achieved under Peter Beadle in 2007, and which was followed by Newport winning the competition the following year. Dean Holdsworth led the club to become Conference South champions in 2009–2010. The club were FA Trophy runners-up in 2012 under Justin Edinburgh. Edinburgh produced the club's most recent honours in 2013 when he went on to lead the club back into the Football League, winning the Conference National play-offs against fellow Welsh opponents Wrexham.
Michael Flynn led the club to its joint best performance in the FA Cup, playing against Manchester City in the 2018–19 FA Cup 5th Round for only the second time since 1948–49. Flynn took the club to the 2019 EFL League Two play-off finals where Newport were defeated by Tranmere Rovers and reached the semi-finals of the 2019–20 EFL Trophy where Newport lost to Salford City on penalties. Flynn again led Newport to the 2021 EFL League Two play-off final, losing 1–0 to Morecambe.
List of managers
No. Picture Name Nationality Contract From To Length of tenure 1 Davy McDougall Manager / player-manager 1 July 1912 30 June 1913 1 year 2 Sam Hollis Manager 1 July 1913 30 June 1917 5 years 3 Harry Parkes Manager / player-manager 1 July 1919 30 June 1922 3 years 4 Jimmy Hindmarsh Manager 1 July 1922 30 June 1935 13 years 5 Louis Page Manager 1 July 1935 9 September 1937 2 years, 2 months, 9 days 6 Billy McCandless Manager 9 September 1937 8 April 1946 8 years, 7 months 7 Tom Bromilow Manager 9 April 1946 30 June 1950 4 years, 2 months, 22 days 8 Fred Stansfield Manager 1 July 1950 30 June 1953 3 years 9 Billy Lucas Manager / player-manager 1 July 1953 30 June 1961 8 years 10 Bobby Evans Manager / player-manager 1 July 1961 30 June 1962 1 year 11 Billy Lucas Manager / player-manager 1 July 1962 30 June 1967 5 years 12 Leslie Graham Manager 1 July 1967 30 June 1969 2 years 13 Bobby Ferguson Manager / player-manager 1 July 1969 30 June 1970 1 year 14 Billy Lucas Manager / player-manager 1 July 1970 30 June 1974 4 years 15 Brian Harris Manager 1 July 1974 14 March 1975 8 months, 14 days 16 Dave Elliott Manager / player-manager 15 March 1975 30 June 1976 1 year, 3 months, 16 days 17 Jimmy Scoular Manager 1 July 1976 30 June 1977 1 year 18 Colin Addison Manager 1 July 1977 30 June 1978 1 year 19 Len Ashurst Manager 1 July 1978 30 June 1982 4 years 20 Colin Addison Manager 1 July 1982 30 June 1985 3 years, 1 month 21 Bobby Smith Manager 1 June 1985 25 March 1986 9 months, 25 days 22 John Relish Player-manager 25 March 1986 30 June 1986 3 months, 6 days 23 Jimmy Mullen Player-manager 1 July 1986 5 March 1987 8 months, 5 days 24 John Lewis Manager / player-manager 5 March 1987 7 September 1987 6 months, 3 days 25 Brian Eastick Manager 7 September 1987 11 March 1988 6 months, 5 days 26 Dave Williams Caretaker manager 11 March 1988 1 August 1988 4 months, 22 days 27 Eddie May Manager 1 August 1988 31 August 1988 1 month 28 John Mahoney Manager 1 September 1988 30 June 1989 10 months 29 John Relish Manager / player-manager 1 July 1989 30 June 1993 4 years 30 Graham Rogers Manager 1 July 1993 30 June 1996 3 years 31 Chris Price Manager 1 July 1996 30 June 1997 1 year 32 Tim Harris Manager 1 July 1997 14 November 2002 5 years, 4 months, 14 days 33 Peter Nicholas Manager 15 November 2002 13 September 2004 1 year, 9 months, 30 days 34 John Cornforth Manager 29 September 2004 13 September 2005 11 months, 16 days 35 Glyn Jones Caretaker manager 13 September 2005 9 October 2005 27 days 36 Peter Beadle Manager 9 October 2005 27 April 2008 2 years, 6 months, 19 days 37 Dean Holdsworth Manager 1 June 2008 11 January 2011 2 years, 7 months, 11 days 38 Tim Harris Manager 11 January 2011 1 April 2011 2 months, 22 days 39 Anthony Hudson Manager 1 April 2011 28 September 2011 5 months, 28 days 40 Lee Harrison Caretaker player-manager 29 September 2011 3 October 2011 5 days 41 Justin Edinburgh Manager 4 October 2011 6 February 2015 3 years, 4 months, 3 days 42 Jimmy Dack Manager 7 February 2015 4 May 2015 2 months, 28 days 43 Terry Butcher Manager 4 May 2015 1 October 2015 4 months, 28 days 44 John Sheridan Manager 5 October 2015 12 January 2016 3 months, 8 days 45 Warren Feeney Manager 13 January 2016 28 September 2016 8 months, 16 days46 James BittnerSean McCarthy Caretaker / player-managerCaretaker manager 28 September 2016 7 October 2016 10 days 47 Graham Westley Permanent 7 October 2016 9 March 2017 5 months, 3 days 48 Michael Flynn Caretaker (9 March – 9 May 2017)Player-manager (9 May 2017 – November 2018) Manager (November 2018 – 1 October 2021) 9 March 2017 1 October 2021 5 years, 7 months 49Wayne Hatswell Caretaker manager1 October 202119 October 202118 days50James RowberryManager19 October 202110 October 202212 months51Darren KellyCaretaker manager10 October 202220 October 202210 days52Graham CoughlanManager20 October 202220 June 20241 year, 8 months53Nelson Jardim Head coach16 July 202424 April 20259 months54Dafydd Williams Caretaker head coach25 April 202509 May 202514 days55David Hughes Manager23 May 202515 November 20256 Months56Christian FuchsManager20 November 202527 June 20267 Months57Chris Todd Interim Manager28 June 202630 July 20265 Weeks58Hayden Mullins Manager31 July 2026Present
Managers with honours Name Nationality From To Honours Justin Edinburgh 4 October 2011 6 February 2015 2013 Conference Premier play-off final winners, 2012 FA Trophy Final runners-up Dean Holdsworth 1 June 2008 11 January 2011 Conference South Champions Peter Beadle 9 October 2005 27 April 2008 2007–08 FAW Premier Cup winners, 2006–07 FAW Premier Cup runners-up Peter Nicholas 15 November 2002 13 September 2004 2002–03 FAW Premier Cup runners-up Graham Rogers 1 July 1993 30 June 1996 Southern Football League, Midland Division second place promotion John Relish 1 July 1989 30 June 1993 Hellenic League Premier Champions John Lewis 5 March 1987 7 September 1987 1986–87 Welsh Cup runners-up Len Ashurst 1 July 1978 30 June 1982 1979–80 Football League Fourth Division third place promotion 1979–80 Welsh Cup Champions Bobby Evans 1 July 1961 30 June 1962 1962–63 Welsh Cup runners-up Billy McCandless 9 September 1937 8 April 1946 1938–39 Third Division South Champions
Hall of Fame Inducted date NameBornDied Nationality Manager from Manager to Honours18 September 2009 John Relish5 October 1953 1 July 1989 30 June 1993 Hellenic League Premier Champions28 December 2019 Justin Edinburgh18 December 19698 June 2019 (aged 49) 4 October 2011 6 February 2015 2013 Conference Premier play-off final winners, 2012 FA Trophy Final runners-up
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