Newport County coach Michael Flynn says he's the ‘proudest manager in the country’ after Tottenham draw

Newport County manager Michael Flynn said that he was the “proudest manager in the country” after seeing his side draw 1-1 with Tottenham Hotspur in the FA Cup fourth round.

Newport were eight minutes away from a historic upset but Flynn was still delighted with how his players performed against Premier League opposite at Rodney Parade. “If you had offered me a draw before the game I’d have bitten your hands off,” he joked, “and then gone back for your feet.”

While Newport faded in the second half, Flynn said that he had to sit on the draw at the end rather than push for a win and risk being eliminated.

“I could maybe have been selfish and tried to be a hero, put strikers on and gone for it,” he said. “But I would never jeopardise the finances of the football club. I’m not selfish. Their goal was the only mistake we made all day, and we got punished for it.”

This FA Cup run will now take Newport to Wembley, for a replay likely to be televised, and has generated Newport more than one third of what they would normally make in a year. That represents a vital financial life-line to a club who was only recently reformed after financial troubles.

“It’s huge, it can save clubs,” Flynn said of the cash injection. “Not just keep them ticking over. We hope it’s on TV again, for an extra bit of money. This is not a sob story, it is what it is, for League Two or even a lot of League One clubs. It’s a nice position, being able to provide for the football club.”

“We turn over £2.2million a year, I would say. This FA Cup run has brought in excess of £700,000, it’s huge. It allows us to lay the foundations now for the future and to do things right. We have a good bunch of people on the board and I’m sure they’ll make the right decisions.”