NEWPORT County AFC boss Warren Feeney expects to have a first team squad of around 21 players for the new season, with a central core of 15 seasoned professionals.

Feeney told shareholders and Supporters' Trust members at last night's club annual general meeting that he wanted a squad that favoured 'quality over quantity'.

The former Northern Ireland striker, who has just appointed Sean McCarthy as his new first team coach, also said he was talking to two strikers as he seeks to bolster his squad before the start of the season next month.

Feeney told the audience at the Riverfront Theatre in Newport that while some members of his squad would be youngsters such as first-year professionals Ben Jones, Dafydd Jones and Lewis Bamford he also wanted players with the experience and 'character' to play in League Two.

He also said he wanted 'leaders' on the pitch and felt the team did not have such players last season.

The manager said while four members of his squad had been club captains, he had yet to decide who would skipper the Exiles next season.

County play a pre-season friendly at Caldicot Town on Friday night (7pm kick-off) and Feeney confirmed a number of trialists would get game time.
However, he will not be taking any trialists on next week's tour to Poland.

Feeney also emphasised the importance of County having a permanent training base in the city: "We don't want to go to Cardiff like we had to last season. We're Newport and we want to train here."

Board members at the AGM said the club was close to securing a deal with charitable leisure trust Newport Live for a permanent training base at Newport Stadium.