NEWPORT County AFC operational chairman Gavin Foxall has revealed that manager Michael Flynn will have an increased playing budget for next season as the club targets promotion to League One.
County are currently 15th in the League Two table and still have an outside chance of making the play-offs this season.
Flynn’s men are eight points below seventh-placed Forest Green Rovers with a game in hand and still have 39 points to play for.
And a win over eighth-placed Carlisle United at Rodney Parade tomorrow would revive hopes of a late charge for the top seven.
“We’ve got ambitions as a club,” said Foxall. “I think this group of players is good enough to play in League One.
“We’ve had a bit of a dip of late, but that’s got to be the ambition of the club.
“That’s the whole point of football – winning games, winning competitions and progressing.”
Realistically, promotion may well be beyond the Exiles this season after their historic run to the FA Cup fifth round. But Foxall is optimistic about the future.
The Argus revealed yesterday that the chairman accepts that Flynn may well be tempted away from Rodney Parade before his current contract runs out in June 2020.
But the pair are already looking ahead to next season, when the £1.2m made from the cup run should make life easier for all concerned.
“Our planning is probably the best it’s ever been,” said Foxall.
“We’ve already sat down with Flynny and agreed what he wants to do with the players he’s got and the framework he wants to work in this summer.
“Of course, the cup run does help that because of the budget situation. There’s no doubt about that.
“I’d imagine there’ll be an increase in the budget for next season.
“Flynny is not going to not allow that to happen, and I don’t blame him for that either.
“I think we’re very fortunate to have somebody like him as manager, someone who understands not just what he wants as a playing budget but also what it means to the wider infrastructure of the club,” added the chairman.
“You don’t get that very often. He understands that because he’s done nearly every job in the club and he’s seen it from the other side.
“I think we’re quite fortunate to be in that situation with him.
“It helps with him understanding the whole culture of Newport and the way it works as well – it works for him and it works for us.”
As part of the South Wales Argus Sports Awards 2019, you can vote for your Newport County AFC player of the year. Make your pick here
Read more: Padraig Amond nominated for prize at Argus Sport Awards
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