AFC don’t yet have a boss but they do know their schedule for the upcoming League Two season. The Exiles will get under way with their shortest trip of the league campaign when they travel to Cheltenham on August 10. They play 23 clubs home and away, with sadly no meetings with Wrexham or Forest Green Rovers, but here are five encounters that are the pick of the bunch.
.. County haven’t started a league campaign on home soil since drawing with Mansfield in 2019.
They are on the road for the fifth time on the spin but, after Scunthorpe, Oldham, Sutton and Accrington, this time it is a short jaunt. Cheltenham are back in the fourth tier after being relegated on the final day of last season and they have had a change in the hotseat with former Exiles boss Michael Flynn calling the shots. He enjoyed one win and a draw against County when with Walsall then masterminded a convincing 2-0 win in Swindon last season.
Flynn will want to keep that unbeaten record going while he won’t be the only old boy looking to get one over the Exiles. Left-back Ryan Haynes has headed for Whaddon Road along with County legend Scot Bennett, who will be keen to show Huw Jenkins that he still has plenty left in the tank after not being offered acceptable terms to stay. The Amber Army are sure to pack out the away end and will hope to see their team avoid a ninth successive defeat.
The last time Newport suffered such a miserable streak was when going out of the Football League in 1988. A first home .