It is just before midday on Wednesday and, in between Pontypridd United’s under‑16s and the University of South Wales’ (USW) women’s team using the facility, Newport County take to the 3G pitch inside the USW Sport Park off the Treforest industrial estate, a few miles north of Cardiff. Newport’s kit man, David Pipe, who played more than 150 games for the club, including memorable FA Cup upsets against Leeds and Leicester, drags in bags of balls.
The first-team coach, Daf Williams, puts mannequins in place and Scott Wickens, the head of performance, lays out cones. Inside the gym, fresh from a video analysis debrief, the squad limber up on roll mats with resistance bands. “Right, let the games begin,” Pipe says, as the players flood the turf.
Whereas most teams on these premises dream of winning university honours, Newport’s focus is on hosting Manchester United in the FA Cup fourth round on Sunday, a mouthwatering match widely considered the biggest in their history. Wickens leads the squad through a warmup – “nice and bright all the way through” – before Newport’s manager, Graham Coughlan, splits his squad into three teams of seven, each taking it in turns to retrieve possession.
Mark O’Brien, the former captain forced to retire at 27 and now the player liaison, feeds balls in to maintain intensity. Coughlan applauds his players’ hard work but halts the drill on halfway when the pressing team seize possession centrally. “Eleven and half minutes in and we’ve switched off and got punished,” he says. “That’s what good teams want: they want one second and boom.”
A handful of students peer through the glass to observe training in between lectures. “He’s my captain on Football Manager,” says one, referring to Adam Lewis, the full-back on loan from Liverpool. Upstairs, in an office overlooking the pitch, the analyst Conor McGaharan films the session. Later, he will send players two-minute clips of their likely direct opponents. For Newport’s right wing-back, Shane McLoughlin, that could be Marcus Rashford.
“I’ll have a look the night before or on the day of the game, just to let the information sink in,” McLoughlin says. “We have to enjoy the buildup because a tie like this doesn’t come around very often. We have to enjoy it, embrace it. All of the lads are buzzing and there are a few United fans in the team …”
In a parallel universe one of those, Nathan Wood, would have been in the stands, loyalties divided. The winger, who attended nearby Bassaleg school, was released by Newport at 16 but returned last summer, after four years at Penybont in the Cymru Premier League. He was a ballboy when Newport were in the sixth tier, went to their first match back in the Football League, against Accrington Stanley in 2013 – which Pipe played in – and was on the terraces when they did Cup battle with Tottenham. “I couldn’t get tickets for the Man City game [in 2019],” he says, smiling. This time, it is a different story. “I could have sold 200 if I could give one to everyone who asked!”
But Wood also has a United membership, which gives him priority ticket access, and last year he was at Old Trafford for their fifth-round victory over West Ham. Two years ago, he bought a United shirt with Rashford’s name and number on the back. “I scored in the Welsh Cup last year and I did the Rashford celebration,” he says. “What he does outside of football is something I’d like to emulate in my career, obviously on a much smaller scale. I admire the way he conducts himself, his heart for young people, his background and where he has come from. Hopefully, I can get his top but we’ll see because I’m sure he’ll be in demand.”
Newport are here because their regular training pitches, at Spytty Park, are waterlogged. Perhaps contrary to perception, the pitch at their stadium, Rodney Parade, has won best in class for the past two seasons. They have installed a temporary stand to increase the capacity to about 10,000. “There’s no point [United] coming down here expecting hot water and heating,” Coughlan says. Pipe knows a cauldron atmosphere is a given. “It will feel like 25,000,” the former defender says. “Some of their boys have played in World Cups but this is going to be a different taste for them.” The assistant manager, Joe Dunne, stresses the importance of not saturating the players with detail, likening the approach to giving them “a podcast, not an audiobook”.
It is 12.45pm, time to hone team shape in a training game. Coughlan is a boyhood United fan who has spent many days supporting them from the Stretford End. He attended their Carabao Cup final victory at Wembley last year and FA Cup final win in 2016. He pits those who are likely to start against an XI in red bibs because, Pipe says, Coughlan likes to imitate their opponents. “We’re playing a small side at the weekend,” Pipe says, deadpanning, “I think they play in red … I got the opportunity to come back and these big days have started to come around again and it just feels like old times a little, even though I’m not playing.”
After a group practise free-kicks, it is time for the twice-weekly circuit training. Coughlan and his goalkeeping coach, Jim Hollmann, adopt the boxing pads, the goalkeeper Nick Townsend and teenage defender Harrison Bright the first to put on the gloves for a 60-second blast. “It gets them fitter, stronger, mentally stronger,” O’Brien says of an exercise that gives benefits beneath the surface. “They come out dripping in sweat but mentally feel a million dollars,” Coughlan says. “You’re tapping into that side of them.”
Twelve months ago Wood, who turns 27 in April, was lining up against Aberystwyth and Airbus UK. This is his first season as a professional. “When you’re 21, 22, you think you’ve missed your chance,” he says. His rise is one of the heartening stories in a youthful squad doused with experience, including Scot Bennett, the longest serving player who has been here a few times. Until two years ago Will Evans juggled playing part-time for Bala Town with milking cows on his parents’ farm in Llangedwyn, mid-Wales. Last year, Kiban Rai, the son of a Gurkha, became the first male player of Nepali heritage to earn a professional contract in the British game. Seb Palmer-Houlden, the striker on loan from Bristol City, was a 13-year-old ballboy when his parent club beat José Mourinho’s United in the Carabao Cup in 2017.
Bennett, James Waite and the captain, Ryan Delaney, are among the United fans in the Newport squad. “We will try and make it as uncomfortable for them as possible,” Waite says. For Coughlan, too, it is the ultimate tie. “For 30 years I’ve been in England as a player, coach and a manager, and every time the draw has come around I’ve been willing Man Utd to come out of the hat,” says the Irishman. “Our detail, delivery and gameplan, I don’t see it changing too much. If I’m honest, I don’t think it can change, really. We are what we are. We wear our hearts on our sleeves and we represent the club with great pride. I’m sure Mr Ten Hag will know and understand our DNA as soon as he watches videos of us. We are not suddenly going to be playing tiki-taka.”
It is approaching three o’clock and Pipe, who collected the shirts of Kyle Walker, Kieran Trippier and Son Heung-min after previous Cup duels, loads up his amber-and-black kit van, decorated with a club crest. Coughlan hopes to pick Ten Hag’s brain on Sunday. “We’ll invite him up for a beer after the game,” he says. Amstel or another Dutch export? “Whatever we can get from Aldi or Lidl – if there’s anything on offer, we’ll have it,” he says, laughing.
Coughlan shoots off to the ground to tie up the signing of Luke Jephcott on a free. A couple of hours later, the former Swansea City chairman Huw Jenkins completes his long-awaited takeover. All week staff and volunteers have been working round the clock to prepare for a special occasion. “Everybody’s got to experience Rodney Parade once, isn’t that right, Pipey?” O’Brien says. United will want to make sure they do not remember it for the wrong reasons.
