Successful dribbles: 55. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
A season average of 7.06 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Newport County know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Newport County have done the hard part with Liverpool, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Nick Powell and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words at Newport County training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matty Jacob is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Newport County asked and Brentford said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Nicholas Michalski is on it.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Liam Butler was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Newport County dressing room was either.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Salford City? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
10 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Nick Powell and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad21 Dec 2026
A muscle injury sidelines Aaron Nemane for 15 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Newport County will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Newport County training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matty Jacob is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
At 19 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Newport County, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 16 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 6.89 for the rest of it.
Nick Powell was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑3, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words at Newport County training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Anthony Glennon is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Aden Baldwin’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Newport County needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Nick Powell and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matty Jacob was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 19. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Jordan Wright and Newport County agree another 3 years.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Gabe Forsyth did not need any: 8.30, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Nick Powell and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The terraces31 Aug 2026
Newport County spend $1.0M on the signing the town wanted
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $1.0M for Harry Ashfield, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
Newport County asked and Liverpool said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
He is 20, and nobody at Newport County signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Liam Butler could afford to be generous.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Newport County will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Liam Shephard was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Aaron Nemane
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Ciaran Brennan