Newport City F.C.
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| Full name | Newport City Football Club | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | The Steelmen | ||
| Founded | 1963 (as Spencer Works AFC) | ||
| Ground | Newport Stadium, Newport | ||
| Capacity | 5,058 (3,246 seated) | ||
| Chairman | Sam Houldsworth | ||
| Manager | Sam Houldsworth | ||
| League | Cymru South | ||
| 2024–25 | Cymru South, 3rd of 16 | ||
| Website | http://www.newportcityfc.co.uk | ||
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Newport City Football Club (Welsh: Clwb Pêl-droed Dinas Casnewydd) is an association football club based in the Llanwern area of the city of Newport, South Wales. The club plays in the Cymru South.
History
[edit]The club was formed in 1963 as Spencer Works AFC and joined the Newport and District Football League.
The club eventually moved up to Gwent Premier League, winning it in 1970–71 and 1971–72 and then elected to the Welsh league for the 1972–73 season.
They spent most of the next twenty seasons in the middle division of the league until 1988 when they changed their name to Llanwern AFC to reflect the change of name of the steelworks on whose ground they played. This change coincided with a change in the club's fortunes and they gained promotion to the top division in 1992–93.
Newport spent a number of years between the top two divisions, and in 2002 they won the Welsh Football League Cup.
In 2003, they re-located to the Newport Stadium, at the time sharing with nearby neighbours Newport County, where they have played ever since.
League re-organisation led to Newport City dropping to Division Three in 2010–11, spending two seasons there before promotion back to Division Two for the 2014–15 season.
In May 2016, the FAW agreed that the club could change its name to Newport City FC for the 2016–17 season.[1]
With the club being saved at the last minute by Matthew Rake (now Honorary President) they had to look at a rebuild with the squad not at a level to compete in League 2. The club at the time was being led by Crawford Chalmers, who was also a Director of Football at Oxford United. With no experience in Welsh League football, Crawford's tenure saw the side drop to rock bottom of the division. The club bought in Sam Houldsworth as joint manager after a successful period as Assistant at Pontypridd Town. Houldsworth helped land an unexpected 3–2 victory away to Abergavenny Town in his first game, the team's first win in seven games. A huge revamp of players and staff was not enough to save the club from relegation from Division 2 after a valiant attempt at survival, being adrift by 16 points of safety when Houldsworth was appointed.
In the two seasons to follow, the club bought in more players to help the club stay in Division 3 and off the pitch more backroom staff were appointed to help take the club from being a senior men's team and turn it into a club with over 100 players.
A successful 2023–24 season saw the side win the FAW Trophy after a 5-4 win over Penrhyncoch.[2] City finished second in the 2023–24 Ardal South East and qualified for a Playoff against Ardal South West side Cefn Cribwr. Played at the home of Penybont, Newport beat the Bridgend-based side 2-0 to earn promotion to the second-tier Cymru South for the first time in their history.[3]
In 2024-25, the team achieved their highest ever finish by placing third in the Cymru South.[4]
Current squad
[edit]- As of April 2025.
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Staff and board members
[edit]| Position | Staff |
|---|---|
| Chairman | Sam Houldsworth[5] |
| Manager | Sam Houldsworth |
| Assistant Coaches | Tom Hooper
Laurie Marsh, Craig Sampson |
| Physio | Harriet Williams |
Honours
[edit]- Ardal South East
- Runners-up: 2023–24
- FAW Trophy
- Winners: 2023–24
- FAW Youth League South East
- Winners: 2024–25
References
[edit]- ^ "Llanwern FC change name to Newport City". South Wales Argus.
- ^ "Newport City win entertaining Dragon Signs Amateur Trophy Final". FAW. 20 April 2024.
- ^ Kirwan, Chris (25 May 2024). "Newport City promoted to Cymru South after play-off victory". South Wales Argus.
- ^ "JD Cymru South round-up". FAW. 13 April 2025.
- ^ "Teams". Archived from the original on 2019-10-06. Retrieved 2019-10-06.