Twelve seasons. That’s the amount of time that Newport County has spent in the fourth tier of English football—the longest current streak of any EFL team in any league. They’ve endured heartache at Wembley in the playoff final, avoided relegation by the skin of their teeth, and seen just about everything there is to see in League 2.
Rewind to the summer of 2013. Newport County have just finished 3rd in the National League and have beaten Wrexham 2-0 in the playoff final. After a 25-year hiatus, they’re back in the football league. There was a cautious optimism in the air ahead of their first season back, and as the BBC’s Simon Davies put it, “There’s a buzz around Welsh club football at the moment, and Newport will enjoy passionate support at Rodney Parade. Don’t be surprised if they make their mark this season”.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-22410374
A 14th placed finish followed, which by all accounts is a solid season for a newly promoted team, just 1 point behind preseason favourites Portsmouth. 12 months later, Newport County ended the 2014/15 campaign six points off the playoff positions in 9th place, improving on the previous year in points tally and league position. The club seemed to be moving in the right direction after 2 promising seasons back in the EFL, but little does anybody know of the rollercoaster of a journey that the team and fans are about to embark on.
Think of League 2 as a bit of a crossroads – a real melting pot of the Football League. Your fallen giants are attempting to regain their place further up the pyramid. You have your ambitious non-league teams trying to make a name for themselves at a higher level. In the 12 seasons that Newport County have resided in League 2, they have seen a fair few teams come and go. They’ve shared a league table with some current Championship teams like Oxford United, Plymouth Argyle, Coventry City and Luton Town, as well as some current National League North/South teams like Scunthorpe United and Torquay United.
In this 12-year span that we’re exploring, Newport have made two playoff appearances. One in 2018/19 and one in 2020/21, finishing 7th and 5th respectively. The first of those playoff seasons began with a loss to Mansfield Town, but Newport County found themselves in the playoff places after five games. A mid-season slump saw them fall as low as 15th after 33 games, but it was the 10-game unbeaten run at the end of the season which spring boarded them into the top 7 on the final day. They saw off Mansfield on penalties in the playoff semi-finals and looked to be heading to penalties in the final too, if it wasn’t for a Tranmere Rovers goal in the last minute of extra-time. Despite the disappointment at Wembley, it was considered a successful season for The Exiles. A 7th place finish was their best since returning to the EFL 6 years prior.
Their second playoff season got off to a fast start, winning eight of the first 10 games in 2020/21. County found themselves top of the league from October up until Boxing Day, where another mid-season slump had them outside of the playoff places by the start of March. As with 2018/19, a strong finish pushed them back into an eventual 5th place finish. The playoff semi-finals were a bit of a goal-fest as Newport beat Forest Green 5-4 on aggregate to set up a date with Morecambe at Wembley. However, a controversial 107th minute penalty denied them promotion to League 1.
As well as promotion pushes, Newport County have also flirted dangerously close to relegation. They have twice finished 22nd, just one place above the relegation places. It was the 2016/17 season which saw The Exiles pull off ‘The Great Escape’. They sat bottom of the league for much of the season and were 11 points from safety with just 12 games left to play. Guided by Michael Flynn, they won 5 of their last 7 games. League 2 safety didn’t come until an 89th minute winner on the final day of the season against Notts County, to relegate Hartlepool United instead.
A pair of playoff appearances and a pair of relegation battles are the high and low points of Newport County’s 12 consecutive seasons in League 2. However, there are plenty of mid-to-low table finishes that are easily forgotten, with nothing to play for. This is where the debate of stability versus ambition arises. Do supporters appreciate the stability of the club, especially when other teams around the EFL are having financial difficulties? Or do they think that the club lacks ambition and could be doing more to get themselves promoted? I asked some of the Newport County fans for their opinion on the matter:
“There are three certainties in life: death, taxes, and Newport County knocking around mid-table in the fourth division” one fan said. “It may not be edifying, but by god it’s better than where the club found ourselves for much of the 20 years which preceded regaining our place in the Football League. When you lose a club, and are forced to not only reform it but then suffer the indignity of playing home matches in a completely different country, 80 miles from home, getting back to where you had been and enjoying 12 years of stability suddenly doesn’t feel quite as bad”.
When asked about the club’s ambition to get promoted, he responded, “Granted, many of us would like to see the club build itself up sustainably and push for further glory – but there are plenty of other sides who’ve tried to do it the quick way and have flown to close to the sun – so forgive us if we take our time and enjoy the view”.
Another fan had a similar view, but was concerned about the current trajectory of the club. “It’s a strange situation. I think there’s an acceptance that under Michael Flynn where we controversially lost two playoff finals, it was a sliding doors moment. Since then, we haven’t quite reached that level. We were in a financial predicament last year and did well to survive on the lowest budget in the league. Despite new ownership, our budget hasn’t increased and we’re still operating on a shoestring, but this time, moving away from experience and towards youth. Unsurprisingly, it’s yielded mixed results and it’s led to apathy from the fanbase, including myself. EFL status is something to cherish, especially after being forced out of business. However, we’re far more likely to go down than to go up for the foreseeable future, which is depressing”.
After hearing from several fans, it seemed like there was a bit of a divide between the fanbase. As a younger fan put it, “The older fans, especially the pre-1989 ones, have been through a lot. From seeing us in Europe to watching us get dissolved, to then claw back from the 8th tier in just 25 years. They have a much more relaxed view on it and can appreciate the stability for a club that hadn’t had it for 35 years or so”.
“Meanwhile, the younger fans are hungrier. While many of us can look back and appreciate where we’ve come from, a lot of us have grown tired of it, thinking we should’ve achieved more than we have”
“From a personal point of view – I understand that it’s a miracle to be here, and we’ve been disadvantaged during our time in League 2 by being fan owned for many years. But we really ought to have done better than this. I do feel that the club lacks ambition in some respects, and while [Nelson] Jardim has led us to what should be safety, he is not the man to take us forward and unfortunately never was”.
“You will always hear about us having a small budget and us overperforming, but you see what other teams in similar positions have done (such as Crawley last season) and it just makes you think “why couldn’t that be us?””.
“Ultimately, I think the fanbase does agree that within the next couple of years we need to be fighting for playoffs at a minimum. We can’t just sit around between 18th and 11th for the rest of time”.
So, with Newport County seemingly safe for another season (16 points clear of relegation at the time of writing) another relatively uneventful season-end draws near. We can count on there being a 13th season in League 2, but will that prove unlucky or will The Exiles rise again?
