Mike Flynn still believes in the romance of the FA Cup, but love has never paid the bills in football.
The Newport County manager will try and chase the dream but have an eye on reality when his team host Leeds United in Sunday’s third round tie – a game that could lead to the club chalking up £250,000 from their run in the competition so far.
The League Two club know what bankruptcy feels like and even when they found a EuroMillions lottery winner five years ago they discovered his arms didn’t quite reach the bottom of his pockets.
At 37, Flynn is a young manager whose integrity and enthusiasm shines like a light, but he admits: “You wouldn’t want to know some of the things we have to do to save cash. You really wouldn’t.”
With his arm twisted, Flynn reveals Newport have a strength and conditioning coach who doubles up as their kit man, use a GPS tracking system for training that was paid for by some fans clubbing together, and use unpaid students for video analysts.
He adds: “Those fans don’t want to be named as they are not doing it for the limelight. So, I won’t name them, but they don’t realise how thankful we are.
“These are the things people don’t see. Without these people, we would struggle. They all add something and they are part of the team.
“There is a friend of mine who comes in and helps out, free of charge – whether that be setting up the match day equipment or training ground kit.
“He adds value to the group. These are the things that we have to do and there are many more.”
Former County midfielder Flynn already has a place in Newport’s history thanks to his rescue act last season after taking over as boss.
He kept the club in the Football League on the last day of the campaign, having taken over just eight weeks before when they were 11 points adrift of safety.
“Let’s not beat around the bush, I think the club would have probably gone if we had dropped out of the Football League.
“The players deserve a massive amount of credit for that, they’re the ones who turned their form around.”
Flynn could bring on loan Swansea City midfielder Josh Sheehan back into his side, even though he has not played for nine months due to a knee injury.
Swansea boss Carlos Carvalhal said this week he was shopping for sardines because he couldn’t afford lobster, but fish are off the January menu entirely for Flynn.
“I was thinking about sardines, because I’m on rice and beans at the moment! Sardines would be a nice change.
“The money from the FA Cup will hopefully be used on moving towards our own training ground, but I would like a little back-hander to help me improve the squad. I am not sure we can stretch to lobsters though.”
Newport lost 5-1 to Leeds in the Carabao Cup in August after the game had been switched to Elland Road because of re-surfacing at Rodney Parade.
But Flynn scents an upset and will take his motivation from Wimbledon’s 1-0 win over Liverpool in the 1988 final.
“I remember that one as a seven-year-old, it wasn’t good as I was a Liverpool fan and I always remember Chesterfield’s run to the semi-finals.
“There’s load of upsets, twists and turns – Leeds won’t like coming here as it’s out of their comfort zone – so why can’t we be one of them?”
