Newport County A.F.C.

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The Football League years

After spells in the Western League and Southern League, the club were first elected to the Football League in 1920. After almost twenty years in Division 3 South, the club finally clinched promotion to Division 2 as champions in 1939. Unfortunately, this co-incided with the outbreak of the Second World War, and only three games were played that season. 'County' managed a respectable 1-1 draw with Tottenham Hotspur and a 3-1 win over Southampton, finishing joint 9th out of 22 in the abandoned season. On the resumption of association football after the war, the club didn't fare so well, suffering their record defeat at the hands of Newcastle United. Despite victories over the likes of Coventry City, Sheffield Wednesday and Fulham, the club needed four wins out of the last four games to have any hope of safety. Despite a revenge victory over Newcastle United, defeats to Birmingham City, Luton Town and Manchester City sealed their fate, and County finished rock bottom of Division 2 and were relegated.

After eleven further seasons in Division 3 South, the club narrowly avoided another effective relegation with the creation of League Division 4. The bottom twelve teams from Division 3 North & South were placed in the new division, with the remainder forming a new Division 3. County avoided this fate by a mere four points. Of course with the creation of a further division, it was only a matter of time before the club found itself in it! And so in 1962, with only seven wins all season, the club were to play in Division 4 — their home for the next 18 years.

The 1980s heralded both the brightest and darkest moments in the club's history. In 1980, promotion was finally achieved from the Football League basement, the club only being 5 points from being crowned champions. This was also the year that County won the Welsh Cup, entitling them to play in the European Cup Winners' Cup the following season. The cup run turned out to be quite eventful — The first round against Crusaders of Northern Ireland was won 4-0 on aggregate (4-0 at home and 0-0 away). The second round against Haugar F.C of Norway was even more convincing, after a 0-0 draw away, the home leg was won 6-0, taking the club into the quarter finals against Carl Zeiss Jena F.C of East Germany. The quarter final away leg was drawn 2-2, with Tommy Tynan scoring in the 90th minute, but the club controversially lost the home leg 0-1 in front of 18,000 fans. Carl Zeiss Jena went on to be the eventual runners up.

The decade ended in a rather less glamorous way — with back-to-back relegations from Division 3 to Division 4, and then into the Conference, eventually going out of business in 1989. However, in June 1989 a new team was founded and elected to the Hellenic League (some four divisions below the Football League). Since then, the club's main aim has been to regain the Football League status held by the original club.

The new club

Known as The Exiles, they obtained their nickname as a result of the need to play their inaugural season in the north Gloucestershire town of Moreton-in-Marsh at which venue they won the Hellenic 'League and Cup double', winning promotion to the Southern League.

After two seasons back home in Newport at Somerton Park, football politics consigned them to a further two seasons of exile at Gloucester and the club was forced to resort to legal action to protect themselves from being forced out of the English football pyramid. That litigation proved successful, a landmark High Court verdict enabling them to have a permanent home in Newport at the then newly-built Newport Stadium. The club’s first season back in Newport, in 1994-95, saw them promoted to the Southern League Premier Division by winning the Midland Division Championship. That was achieved by a 14-point margin, on the way to that championship, the club set a then Southern League record by winning 14 successive league matches.

Subsequent re-organisation of the upper divisions of non-league football saw County take their place in the inaugural season of Conference South, one of the two feeder divisions into the Conference. As of 2005 the club are now only two steps away from regaining their place in the Football League.

The club’s away following is among the largest outside the Football League and supporters have generally been the source of inspiration. The club is rare in non-league football as many of its fans live far from Newport.

Honours

• Football League Third Division South champions 1939.
• Southern League Midland Division champions 1995; runners up 1999.
• Hellenic League champions 1990.
• Welsh Cup winners 1980; runners up 1963, 1987.
• FAW Premier Cup runners up 2003.
• Southern League Merit Cup joint holders 1995, 1999.
• Hellenic League Cup winners 1990.
• Monmouthshire/Gwent Senior Cup winners 1921, 1922, 1923, 1924, 1926, 1928, 1932, 1936, 1954, 1958, 1959, 1965, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005.
• Gloucestershire Senior Challenge Cup winners 1994.
• Herefordshire Senior Cup winners 2000.

History

• Record Attendance: League: 24,268 vs. Cardiff City, 16 October 1937; Non-league: 4,300 vs. Manchester United, 31 March 2004.
• Record League victory: 10-0 vs. Merthyr Town, 10 April 1930.
• Record FA Cup victory: 7-0 vs. Woking, 24 November 1928.
• Record League Cup victory: 6-0 (8-1 aggregate) vs. Exeter City, 14 September 1982.
• Record League defeat: 0-13 vs. Newcastle United, 5 October 1946.
• Record FA Cup defeat: 1-8 vs. Brighton & Hove Albion;, 19 September 1955.
• Record League Cup defeat: 0-5 vs. Swansea City, 15 August 1978.
• FA Cup progress: Fifth round (last 16) defeat by Portsmouth, 12 February 1949.
• Year Formed: 1906 (reformed 1989).
• Previous Names: 1906 Newport County A.F.C; 1989 Newport A.F.C; 1999 Newport County A.F.C.
• Previous Grounds: Somerton Park, until 1991.

Notable former players

• John Aldridge
• Darren Campbell
• Tommy Tynan

External links

• Newport County official website
• Amber Army (Supporters' Trust) official website
• Newport County Supporters Club official website