Newport’s David Hughes: ‘to Win Games Of Football, You’ve Got To Suffer’

“I don’t want to name-drop,” says David Hughes, nan Newport County manager, mindful of his reply to a mobility astir nan coaches who person shaped his profession to this point, and whether he canvassed their sentiment earlier taking nan occupation this summer. The 47-year-old has spent nan past 3 seasons astatine Manchester United, successful an instrumental academy domiciled arsenic a development-phase coach, and anterior to that worked astatine Aston Villa, Cardiff, clubs for whom he besides played, and Southampton. This whitethorn beryllium his first existent changeable astatine frontline guidance – speech from a fewer months successful complaint of Barry Town much than 2 decades agone – but he is thing but inexperienced.

The adjacent play ever brings alteration but it is difficult to ideate a starker displacement than Hughes swapping a world institution for Newport, pinch 1 of nan smallest budgets successful League Two. He has added 2 capacity analysts to his squad but it is simply a skeleton cognition compared to United’s academy structure, wherever he worked intimately pinch Nick Cox, who is moving to Everton arsenic their method director. “Big, large clubs person immense numbers of staff, different levels of work and accountability,” Hughes says. “But we’re really pleased pinch our mini staff. We came backmost for pre-season and nan goals were greenish from past season, truthful we went retired arsenic unit cleaning nan goalposts and I’m thinking: ‘We’ve sewage a squad here.’ Everybody’s prepared to muck in.”

Hughes, who was calved successful Wrexham, calls southbound Wales location and acknowledges Newport has ne'er really been a spot for bells and whistles. “Supporters expect to spot immoderate sweat connected nan shirt,” he says. “They expect to spot affirmative assemblage language: don’t propulsion your arms successful nan air, get connected pinch it. Let’s not transportation anyone. Supporters will decidedly forgive a correction if there’s a willingness and intent to property and prosecute and get aft nan shot and unit mistakes and errors into your opponents.”

Did Hughes expect nan opportunity to negociate a elder team? “It’s a bully question,” he says. “Did I deliberation it would come? I suppose nan older you get, perchance not.” His clip astatine United, wherever he coached academy players connected nan transportation adjacent to nan 1 utilized by nan first team, only enhanced his education. “In your first week aliases two, you spell information Old Trafford, nan Munich [memorial], nan depository and spot nan history and practice that’s attached to nan club, and nan individuals that person travel through, and location is simply a responsibility. It’s conscionable nan astir fascinating, unthinkable place. I don’t deliberation there’s different spot for illustration it. In my eyes, it’s nan pinnacle of younker development.”

Hughes tackles nan sniffy cognition of managers calved successful academy coaching. “Like it’s a bad thing,” he says. “I’m not judge there’s thing to beryllium ashamed of successful trying to thief group germinate and improve. That’s commendable, right? And I would ideate each head is trying to thief their players create and germinate to thief them win. I’m rather proud of nan truth that I’ve supported group to go successful … it decidedly wasn’t down to me, it was down to them. And truthful that’s what we’re trying to do here. We’re trying to thief nan squad go successful.” He insists location are galore similarities betwixt nan roles. “What’s different now is ‘Saturday’, I guess,” he says.

David Hughes issues instructions to his squad during nan pre-season friends astatine Torquay United. Photograph: Frankie O’Keeffe/PPAUK/Shutterstock

This Saturday Newport big Notts County, who besides person a caller head successful Martin Paterson. Talking connected a chair extracurricular Newport’s training guidelines astatine nan University of South Wales field successful Treforest, Hughes is astatine easiness successful newish surroundings, citing a speech pinch a indebtedness player. “I went done a position we shared pinch our players connected nan first time and conscionable said: ‘This is us, this is what we’ve got, and we’re really proud of it. It mightiness not beryllium what you’re utilized to wherever you’ve travel from, but it’s ours.’ Let’s not look complete nan obstruction astatine what different group person got.”

Newport person done things their measurement successful pre-season, completing a betterment convention astatine nan lido successful Pontypridd and heading to nan erstwhile boxer Jamie Arthur’s gym successful adjacent Rhydyfelin. “It was almost for illustration a intelligence toughness, conditioning session,” says Hughes. “It was conscionable to effort and return nan group location other … wherever you deliberation astir nan accomplishment group you request to beryllium a boxer, they decidedly suffer to win. And each we’re trying to do is person a civilization wherever we understand and admit that winning looks different astatine times. To triumph games of football, astatine times you’ve sewage to suffer.”

That symptom was evident connected Tuesday, erstwhile Newport overcame Barnet connected penalties to scope nan EFL Cup first information aft squandering their two-goal lead successful second-half stoppage time. That triumph represented Hughes’s first lucifer and win, and it was a crippled successful which Newport donned their striking new distant kit – commemorating nan 36 children who relocated to Caerleon from Bilbao aft fleeing nan Spanish Civil War successful 1937 – for nan first time. The garment is modelled connected Athletic’s red-and-white stripes and connected nan label, beneath nan flags of nan Basque Country and Wales, a connection reads: “In 1937, erstwhile nan Basque group needed help, Wales responded.”

As for those who person helped Hughes on nan measurement and whether he consulted them earlier signing a two-year statement astatine Rodney Parade, nan reply is yes. Hughes, who credits his youth-team coach astatine Villa, Tony McAndrew, arsenic a large influence, said to, among others, Rob Edwards, who swapped his domiciled pinch England’s property groups for Forest Green Rovers successful nan 4th tier, nan Wales head Craig Bellamy and Sean Dyche, whom he worked alongside astatine Watford.

Michael Reindorf celebrates scoring Newport’s equaliser against Barnet successful their Carabao Cup preliminary information match. Photograph: Kian Abdullah/Huw Evans/Shutterstock

“We each spot nan crippled otherwise but location are pillars that underpin capacity and difficult activity has to beryllium 1 of those,” Hughes says, referencing affirmative conversations pinch nan Newport chairman, Huw Jenkins, who completed his takeover 18 months ago. “Success will look different for america compared to different teams. We’re alert of nan constraints we’re under, but those constraints are decidedly not excuses,” Hughes says. “We cognize it’s going to beryllium tough, we cognize there’s going to beryllium immoderate turbulence on nan way. But, astir importantly, we’re going to bask it.”