Newport County: Welsh club’s latest league to escape act

The victory at Barrow came exactly 10 years after a Leicester City team featuring Fuchs won the Premier League title in one of the greatest sporting upsets of all time.

“It feels like we’ve won the league,” the Austrian added of Newport’s celebrations at Barrow.

“But that’s what it means to the fans. It’s a lot (of Fuchs’ career accomplishments).

“You get to know the players, you get to know a lot of people and I’m very happy for them.”

It will be some time until the euphoria dies down for Fuchs, his players and the club’s supporters.

But once the celebrations are over, Newport will face a remarkable summer to ensure they don’t find themselves in this same situation again in 12 months’ time.

Exiles have been in decline for years, and they need to buck that trend.

After losing to Morecambe in the 2021 League Two play-off final at Wembley, the Exiles finished 11th, 15th, 18th and 22nd in the table before finishing 20th this season.

Considering their wage bill is the smallest in the division, this is arguably to be expected.

Yet former Swansea City chairman Huw Jenkins didn’t see it that way when he took a majority shareholding in Newport two years ago.

After guiding the Swans to the brink of fourth-tier relegation in the Premier League, Jenkins hoped to rekindle some of that magic at Rodney Parade.

That hasn’t happened yet. He spent £3m of his own money to stabilize the club and, as losses continued, Jenkins was open about the need for fresh investment.

A number of potential takeovers have been mooted in recent months, most seemingly dependent on whether Newport can secure their League Two survival.

Now that they’ve done that, the county can prepare for the summer with more hope.

Fuchs signed what was described by the club as a “long-term contract” with the bottom-of-the-table exiles when he was appointed last November.

Having since led them to safety, the 40-year-old will have a say in Newport’s latest rebuild.

Once he had a chance to enjoy this latest escape, that was.

“I think they’ve shown in the last 10 games what they’re capable of, some really good performances,” Fuchs said of his team’s hopes for the future.

“We have to regroup, review the season, analyze it and see where we have to improve ourselves.

“But right now it’s about enjoying the moment.”