Stan A. Einstein wrote:The town of Swindon has a population some 30,000 greater than Newport. However the conurbation of Newport is some 100,000 greater than that of Swindon. ( Swindon is surrounded by fields, Newport has Risca, Cwmbran etc.)

We can and must see the likes of Swindon as those who we compete with on an equal footing and get rid of the 'little old Newport' mentality.

I have no idea if your figures are true, what I will say is, as far as I’m aware Swindon have no serious competition for fans. In Newport alone we have the Dragons & Newport RFC. Then there’s Cross Keys, Ebbw Vale, Newbridge, Pontypool in the Gwent region plus anyone else I’ve missed. Also, let’s be fair Swindon have traditionally operated at a higher league than ourselves & so have attracted more fans.

Dogger wrote:

Stan A. Einstein wrote:The town of Swindon has a population some 30,000 greater than Newport. However the conurbation of Newport is some 100,000 greater than that of Swindon. ( Swindon is surrounded by fields, Newport has Risca, Cwmbran etc.)

We can and must see the likes of Swindon as those who we compete with on an equal footing and get rid of the 'little old Newport' mentality.

I have no idea if your figures are true, what I will say is, as far as I’m aware Swindon have no serious competition for fans. In Newport alone we have the Dragons & Newport RFC. Then there’s Cross Keys, Ebbw Vale, Newbridge, Pontypool in the Gwent region plus anyone else I’ve missed. Also, let’s be fair Swindon have traditionally operated at a higher league than ourselves & so have attracted more fans.

Agree with that. Still believe that rugby is more popular in Newport than Football, and probably even more so in the wider Gwent region therefore comparing us with Swindon is not comparing like with like. I'm sure it's been mentioned on this forum many times, but a far better 'like for like' comparison would be with Exeter and Northampton where rugby is also 'king' in relation to attendance figures.

Stan A. Einstein wrote:

Mr Figo wrote:

Stan A. Einstein wrote:The town of Swindon has a population some 30,000 greater than Newport. However the conurbation of Newport is some 100,000 greater than that of Swindon. ( Swindon is surrounded by fields, Newport has Risca, Cwmbran etc.)

We can and must see the likes of Swindon as those who we compete with on an equal footing and get rid of the 'little old Newport' mentality.

I live just outside Swindon Stan and I can tell you that whilst it may be surrounded by fields, the supporter base for Swindon spreads throughout a wide area. Oxford is about 25 miles east, Bristol and Gloucester roughly 40 miles west, nothing much south until you hit Salisbury (who tend to follow Southampton and nothing much north until you hit Cheltenham. In between that you have various towns, Chippenham, Bath and Melksham to name but a few and then small villages and towns in between. That's in addition to the 30,000 you mention that live in and around Swindon.

Pause for a moment. If you read my post I am not saying anything other than Swindon are a club she should be able to compete with on an equal footing.

Nothing more, nothing less. Swindon are the club who represent Wiltshire. Population 472,000. As opposed to Newport who represent Gwent. Population 591,000.

Good morning Brendan. I cannot agree at all with your last but one sentence. Since when did Newport represent Gwent. That is part and parcel of the NGD issue with the Dragons and we don’t want to go there.

Newport represent Newport. Never in my 55 years of supporting the County did I ever think that I was cheering a club that represent Gwent. I cheer for a club that is from Newport. Newport is in Gwent, that is it, if the surrounding towns wish to support the club, then brilliant, come on in.

Please don’t think that this is insular thinking - it is not, the club do excellent work in the Community and long may it continue, we need all the support we can get.

No doubt some will say that the clue is in the clubs name. To me, that is just it, a name. We could have been called Newport Utd or Newport Town. Then, I would have been saying, cmon Utd, or come on the Town.

By the same token, I don’t think Swindon represent Wiltshire, they represent Swindon and get their support from the town and the surrounding area. By and large, fans these days have an interest in a club that they may have no emotional connection to. For example I support Liverpool and I don’t have any emotional connection at all to Merseyside. Football (as Greavsie used to say) is a funny old game and never stranger when fans explain their connection with a particular club. Cmon the County, (Newport football club).

I suggest he spends time working in the outposts of Risca, Ebbw Vale and Tredegar .... supporting anything remotely to do with Newport is far from 99% of their minds, in fact most despise us, and if he mentions re education, then I suggest the club gives him that role.

Justanordinaryfan wrote:I suggest he spends time working in the outposts of Risca, Ebbw Vale and Tredegar .... supporting anything remotely to do with Newport is far from 99% of their minds, in fact most despise us, and if he mentions re education, then I suggest the club gives him that role.

Can't agree with this, especially the 'most despise us' quote. I was born and lived in Newport for my first 23 years, but now live in Griffithstown between Cwmbran & Pontypool . My observations are despite what others claim are a significant number of people in Cwmbran support the Dragons and an increasing number support the County. Whilst the Pontypool sport attending population primarily support their own rugby club I believe there are a small number of us who support the County. Whilst the majority of my social circle my say they dislike the game of football, I don't hear any ill will towards the county, and indeed most would wish them success, and would certainly be supportive of any local youngster playing for the club.

I've said this before, but in the late 60s and early 70s kids from the bottom end of the valleys - Trethomas, Machen, Pontymister, Risca - used to go to school in Bassaleg which was then outside the Borough. Loads of my contemporaries used to support City. The only one I can remember supporting County lived in Coedkernew. I'd probably be a Bluebird if I'd happened to go there first.

It helped that this was the Toshack/Real Madrid era, but the chances must be that if any of these lads stayed in the area their kids and by now grandkids would likely support Cardiff. It must help that you can now get a train down from Ebbw Vale to Cardiff but not to Newport.

I never mentioned Cwmbran or Pontypool, I have many life long mates who are County fans from that neck of the woods, and go to more away games than most.

I spent a lot of time working in North Gwent and believe you me most cannot stand anything to do with Newport - pretty shitty City is how most comment.

Quick question for Stan - what would be the capacity of a fit-for-purpose stadium?

George Street-Bridge wrote:Quick question for Stan - what would be the capacity of a fit-for-purpose stadium?

Ffs not this again. In fairness to him he has answered this question numerous times

Justanordinaryfan wrote:I suggest he spends time working in the outposts of Risca, Ebbw Vale and Tredegar .... supporting anything remotely to do with Newport is far from 99% of their minds, in fact most despise us, and if he mentions re education, then I suggest the club gives him that role.

Grew up in valleys in 70s and 80s it was more County dominant in those days I lived in Risca Cwmcarn and Blaina

It's starting to come back slowly

Lived in Risca for first 30 years of my married.
Never met anybody who despised the County.
Next door neighbour went to every game at Moreton and Gloucester.
Numerous friends came to watch the boys in the Cup runs but certainly not regulars.
Regardless of trains most fans journey by car and the 151 bus runs every 10 minutes from Blackwood into town via Newbridge.
In fairness also have a big City fan as a good family friend.
He does use the train though from town or Risca
Despite that he is always interested in how the boys are doing and I do the same regarding the Bluebirds.

PS outpost of Risca?
Mrs Nouble has many times walked into town from Risca and does regularly from Roggie these days.

I used to live in Risca and my sis still does, everyone I know up that way supports c***iff city

In fairness the despise comment was more to do with EV Tredegar and the likes, I worked up there for 10yrs or so, through the awarding of city status and the Newport RFC investments, believe you me they despised everything about Newport .... admittedly the County were very much non league in them days ... just a point of ridicule.

We seem to have drifted way off the topic of the County not being able, or as I see it not being prepared to compete with £100,000 transfer fees plus £5,000 a week wages in League 2.

In my view, in our current state, the board are correct to steer well away from this and set our player budget at a sustainable level on a 2 year rolling basis as they do.

Of course, if like Swindon we were able to make year-on-year multi million pound losses covered mainly by one individual things might be different but while we are not, comparison of conurbation sizes etc seems irrelevant and deliberately ignores this elephant in the room.

One thing I took away from the open meeting last night is that the board seem to be of the opinion that they have a mandate to continue as a trust run club and ignore the hybrid model for the time being. While this situation continues I expect we will continue to refuse to compete for players at this level of cost. Having managed to beat Swindon twice this season on the pitch, I don't see this as a huge problem.

Exile 1976 wrote:

George Street-Bridge wrote:Quick question for Stan - what would be the capacity of a fit-for-purpose stadium?

Ffs not this again. In fairness to him he has answered this question numerous times

My view, as I have stated many times, is that a city the size of Newport should have a stadium with a capacity of at least 25,000.

As I have also said many times, it is not possible to do this over night, we need to develop that stadium. We should have started that 20 years ago. We didn't. The next best time to start is now.

I have also stated more times than I care to remember, that I believe our best chance to achieve this is to work in conjunction with the Dragons and Newport City Council.

Now a question for George Street Bridge.

Why do you keep asking me the same question over and over again?