Newport County vs Manchester City: The Whatsapp group with Thierry Henry, Mikel Arteta and Michael Flynn
Flynn shared a coaching course with some of the biggest names in football, now he is preparing to share a dugout with the very manager he studied: Pep Guardiola
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Your support makes all the difference.Newport County manager Michael Flynn has been sharing ideas with Manchester City assistant manager Mikel Arteta, Thierry Henry and Freddie Ljungberg in the most unlikely Whatsapp group ahead of the visit of the Premier League Champions in the FA Cup fifth round.
The League Two side face the top-flight leaders on Saturday evening after beating Leicester and Middlesbrough on their remarkable cup win.
Flynn got to know the legendary players turned coaches while studying for his Uefa Pro Coaching Licence under the Football Association of Wales at Newport.
Newport City come into the game on the back of a 1-0 defeat against MK Dons, while City warmed up for this weekend’s tie with a 6-0 demolition job against Chelsea, something that made the chat livelier than usual.
“There were a few things after the Chelsea game, I think they were trying to do a bit of scaremongering,” Flynn told BBC Sport Wales.
"We still have the WhatsApp group from the coaching course and we all bounce ideas off each other and share in each others' success.
"It's brilliant because there are people from all levels, whether it's bottom or top, and people out of work or in work.
"Everybody is respected in the same way and that's what our course was about - we can all learn from anybody."
The course director, Wales assistant manager Osian Roberts, said that Arteta and Flynn often worked together during the course and the Spaniard had a lot of respect for the work he was doing at the League Two club.
While Flynn will be pleased to reunite with his former classmate, the honour of sharing a dugout with Pep Guardiola is also something he is looking forward to.
"Manchester City have probably the got the best manager in the world right now," Flynn said.
"I think it means a little bit more that he is coming down to Rodney Parade.
"He has been to the Etihad many times and to beautiful stadiums all round the world - but he has never been to Newport.
"For him to come to Rodney Parade, and to share the touchline with him, is something I'll be very proud of."
Flynn studied the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich manager during his coaching course. "The coach assigned to Flynny, as it happens, was Pep Guardiola,” Roberts revealed.
"They study all aspects of a coach - tactically, technically, touchline behaviour, what they are like with the media.
"Hopefully that might help Flynny on Saturday evening, although Pep won't be the one on the pitch of course."
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