Firstly, I'd like to wish a warm welcome to all the fans and directors from Newport County. It was a great effort from the club to put coaches on for the supporters, so well done and I hope you all have a safe journey.
It's pretty obvious who the underdog is at the minute. Our form isn’t great, and we have had to cope, as usual, with issues surrounding Covid and injuries. However, we can put a team out under the EFL guidelines, so let’s get behind the team today in what is a run of five home games in a about a month.
The manager, coaches, team, backroom staff and the directors are working hard to keep the club going through this difficult time and I thank them all for their efforts, in what isn’t an ideal situation.
We continue to identify and offer players deals through the window and this transfer window will be crucial, so we work towards looking at all solutions and only when this window closes will we have deemed it successful or not. I believe that next week will see players come in and out of the club, so we ask that you have patience as Keith establishes his players within the squad.
With 21 games to go, our 12 home matches and home support will be crucial for us to pull away from the drop zone and we are fully aware of the ramifications if we do not succeed. However, we have to do this sensibly and under Keith’s guidance. If we become reckless and borrow beyond our means to finance the club through this window, we could put the club at risk and I will not let that happen.
I believe our approach towards recruitment in this window has been the correct way to proceed and we will try to recruit players who can improve us and help get us clear of trouble. The position we find ourselves in does not always lure players to the club and some of our targets have decided to choose higher positioned clubs, be that in this league or above. It has not been solely about money, we have a budget and we have to work to that.
I’ve explained the financial situation at the club many times and although some individuals continue to manipulate the truth, it's important that you understand we can’t invest millions into the club at this time. It makes no sense to borrow or risk the club’s future either, as we come out of Covid and begin to recover as a business. It’s important that whatever happens to us this season we have a strong financial footing going forward and there is certainly no guarantee that we can buy or borrow ourselves out of trouble.
The directors must ensure the club is sustainable and secure until further investment can happen, whether through ourselves or other parties and I would step away if that external investment was forthcoming for the football club (including the stadium and land), but it isn’t as yet. I know it’s not great where we are, but we can’t keep beating the club up at every turn, we must pull together and heave ourselves out of this disappointing time - you the fans, Keith, his staff, the club staff, directors and myself must do this as one and battle to the very last game if needed.
The last two games have not been easy to watch against excellent opposition, but we must improve, and the players must wake up now, not when the window closes. We demand a performance in our next two home games, we demand effort and of course we want to see better football, but I would accept the scrappiest of games and goals, if it got us the points! We must have energy, we must have effort and we must play as a team to earn that scrappy win however we can, so there is no better platform than the next two games.
Away from the game, it was great to meet up with Paul Hayes yesterday and talk about his time at the club and his affinity with the Iron - so much so that he has taken the last couple of days to come up and support us. He will be at the game today with his family and in various areas of the ground before the match. I hope you get a chance to say hello and yes, I did ask him to bring his boots!
Your chairman
Peter Swann
UTI