‘I don’t want to name- drop,” says David Hughes, the Newport County manager, mindful of his reply to a question about the coaches who have shaped his career to this point, and whether he canvassed their opinion before taking the job this summer. The 47-year-old has spent the past three seasons at Manchester United, in an instrumental academy role as a development-phase coach, and prior to that worked at Aston Villa, Cardiff, clubs for whom he also played, and Southampton. This may be his first real shot at frontline management – aside from a few months in charge of Barry Town more than two decades ago – but he is anything but inexperienced.
The close season always brings change but it is hard to imagine a starker shift than Hughes swapping a global institution for Newport, with one of the smallest budgets in League Two. He has added two performance analysts to his team but it is a skeleton operation compared to United’s academy structure, where he worked closely with Nick Cox, who is moving to Everton as their technical director. “Big, big clubs have huge numbers of staff, different levels of responsibility and accountability,” Hughes says. “But we’re really pleased with our small staff. We came back for pre-season and the goals were green from last season, so we went out as staff cleaning the goalposts and I’m thinking: ‘We’ve got a team here.’ Everybody’s prepared to muck in.”
Hughes, who was born in Wrexham, calls south Wales home and acknowledges Newport has never really been a place for bells and whistles. “Supporters expect to see some sweat on the shirt,” he says. “They expect to see positive body language: don’t throw your arms in the air, get on with it. Let’s not carry anyone. Supporters will definitely forgive a mistake if there’s a willingness and intent to press and engage and get after the ball and force mistakes and errors into your opponents.”
Did Hughes anticipate the opportunity to manage a senior team? “It’s a good question,” he says. “Did I think it would come? I suppose the older you get, possibly not.” His time at United, where he coached academy players on the pitch next to the one used by the first team, only enhanced his education. “In your first week or two, you go round Old Trafford, the Munich [memorial]the museum and see the history and heritage that’s attached to the club, and the individuals that have come through, and there is a responsibility. It’s just the most fascinating, incredible place. I don’t think there’s another place like it. In my eyes, it’s the pinnacle of youth development.”
Hughes tackles the sniffy perception of managers born in academy coaching. “Like it’s a bad thing,” he says. “I’m not sure there’s anything to be ashamed of in trying to help people evolve and improve. That’s commendable, right? And I would imagine every manager is trying to help their players develop and evolve to help them win. I’m quite proud of the fact that I’ve supported people to become successful … it definitely wasn’t down to me, it was down to them. And so that’s what we’re trying to do here. We’re trying to help the team become successful.” He insists there are many similarities between the roles. “What’s different now is ‘Saturday’, I guess,” he says.
This Saturday Newport host Notts County, who also have a new manager in Martin Paterson. Talking on a bench outside Newport’s training base at the University of South Wales campus in Treforest, Hughes is at ease in newish surroundings, citing a conversation with a loan player. “I went through a presentation we shared with our players on the first day and just said: ‘This is us, this is what we’ve got, and we’re really proud of it. It might not be what you’re used to where you’ve come from, but it’s ours.’ Let’s not look over the fence at what other people have got.”
Newport have done things their way in pre-season, completing a recovery session at the lido in Pontypridd and heading to the former boxer Jamie Arthur’s gym in nearby Rhydyfelin.
“It was almost like a mental toughness, conditioning session,” says Hughes. “It was just to try and take the group somewhere else … where you think about the skill set you need to be a boxer, they definitely suffer to win. And all we’re trying to do is have a culture where we understand and appreciate that winning looks different at times. To win games of football, at times you’ve got to suffer.”
That pain was apparent on Tuesday, when Newport overcame Barnet on penalties to reach the EFL Cup first round after squandering their two-goal lead in second-half stoppage time. That triumph represented Hughes’s first match and win, and it was a game in which Newport donned their striking new away kit – commemorating the 36 children who relocated to Caerleon from Bilbao after fleeing the Spanish civil war in 1937 – for the first time. The shirt is modelled on Athletic’s red-and-white stripes and on the label, beneath the flags of the Basque Country and Wales, a message reads: “In 1937, when the Basque people needed help, Wales responded.”
As for those who have helped Hughes along the way and whether he consulted them before signing a two-year contract at Rodney Parade, the answer is yes. Hughes, who credits his youth-team coach at Villa, Tony McAndrew, as a big influence, spoke to, among others, Rob Edwards, who swapped his role with England’s age groups for Forest Green Rovers in the fourth tier, the Wales manager Craig Bellamy and Sean Dyche, whom he worked alongside at Watford.
“We all see the game differently but there are pillars that underpin performance and hard work has to be one of those,” Hughes says, referencing positive conversations with the Newport chairman, Huw Jenkins, who completed his takeover 18 months ago. “Success will look different for us compared to other teams. We’re aware of the constraints we’re under, but those constraints are definitely not excuses,” Hughes says. “We know it’s going to be tough, we know there’s going to be some turbulence along the way. But, most importantly, we’re going to enjoy it.”
