Newport County: The fraught 30-year journey from bankruptcy to FA Cup heroes

Formed in 1912 and nicknamed the Ironsiders due to their proximity to the local steelworks, County started out in the Southern League, eventually reaching the Fourth and Third Divisions, narrowly avoiding relegation out of the Football League in the late 1970s.

However, under managers Len Ashurst and then Colin Addison, County enjoyed a fantastic period of success in the 1980s, gaining promotion to Division Three in 1980 with a young John Aldridge and strike partner Tommy Tynan firing in the goals.

The Ironsiders also won the Welsh Cup, meaning entry to the 1981 European Cup Winners’ Cup, where they lost 3-2 on aggregate to Carl Zeiss Jena in the quarter-final, with the second leg played out in front of a crowd of almost 20,000 at Somerton Park. Only a questionable goal-line decision denied Newport a high-profile semi-final with Benfica.

The following season County came within four points of promotion to Division Two, but the bad times were just around the corner.

With Sherman now their owner – a man who promised much, delivered little and in 2007 went to prison in the US for defrauding the parents of a junior hockey team – County were relegated from the Third Division in 1987 and in 1988 finished bottom of the Fourth Division with just 25 points.

With their situation by then financially perilous, County sold Somerton Park to the council to try to ease their burden, but with no major assets to their name as their league position and financial status went into freefall, County were on the brink.

They failed to finish their first season in the Conference, and were expelled from the division with their results expunged as they went out of business on 27 February 1989 with debts of £330,000.

The club was officially dead, with an auction to sell off their remaining possessions the final indignity. It raised just £12,000.