NEWPORT County stalwart Lee Minshull admits he is completely in the dark over his future at the club.

The 29-year old joined the Exiles in January 2012 on an initial loan deal and has proved a huge success at both Spytty Park and Rodney Parade, helping County to Wembley twice, promotion to the Football League and this season’s ninth placed finish.

Minshull has made 125 appearances for the Exiles, including 42 this term. However, he, like a host of his teammates, is now out of contract and facing an uncertain future as new manager Terry Butcher assesses his squad.

“There isn’t an awful lot I can say at the moment, at the minute I and most of the players don’t know any more than the fans do about our futures and to be honest, we probably know less than you guys (in the press) do,” he told Argus Sport.

“The new manager has been appointed quite late in the day really and I assume he’ll have his own ideas and own thoughts about what he wants and what he needs in the squad.

“I presume we will sit down in the next couple of weeks and work things out. But at the moment, I don’t know.”

Minshull, who has also been doing age-grade coaching at the club this season, admits he feels a real affinity for Newport.

“This is more than just a job and a club for me, the average time for a player or a manager, especially at this level of football, it isn’t really that long,” he said.

“It is certainly a lot shorter than four-years which is what Jimmy Dack did and I’ve been at Newport three-and-a-half seasons now, since coming here on loan when we were still playing at Spytty Park.

“If you remember back to that time, I was one of the players in the situation of the fans paying my wages; we were struggling in the Conference and battling relegation really.

“But look now, we are pushing on in League Two, finishing ninth in the table and establishing ourselves as a Football League side and I am still here and enjoying it. I hope that can continue.

“It is all ifs and buts at the moment. My preference would obviously be to stay at the club, but it might not be my decision.

“We need to have a proper discussion and I’m just grateful to all the people who supported me.”

Minshull was also thrilled departing boss Dack got the send-off Justin Edinburgh’s departure to Gillingham ensured he never got.

“I’m glad Jimmy Dack got his send-off, he deserves it and I want to put on record my thanks for what he had done for me and all the other lads.”

Minshull has enjoyed getting to mix-in with some coaching as he looks to a future in the game.

“I’ve been getting involved in the youth coaching and I’ve loved it, it has been a real riot and hopefully the boys I coached got as much out of it as I did myself,” he said.

“Quite a lot of them were at the game cheering us on against Oxford and when you think about it, it is another sign of the progress the club has made. We have all these different youth sides and we had none of that when I first came here to the club.”