Huw Jenkins has completed his takeover at Newport County to become the club's majority shareholder and chairman.

The club's Supporters Trust had agreed a sale to Jenkins in September.

The deal has now been sanctioned by the EFL just days ahead of the League Two club's lucrative FA Cup tie with Manchester United.

Former Swansea City chairman Jenkins said: "The main priority from day one is to very quickly get the club back on a better financial footing."

Fans had been warned last summer they did not have the funds to cover this season's budget after losses of £1.2m the previous year.

The ownership change has seen Jenkins invest an initial £500,000 in return for a 52% stake, while also taking over the day-to-day running of the Rodney Parade outfit.

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Jenkins says he wants the club to live within its means, and has outlined plans to increase commercial revenue, cut costs and improve relationships with their rugby landlords, the Dragons, while also saying he hoped to be able to add signings to manager Graham Coughlan's squad before the end of the transfer window.

"Nothing much can be achieved in football - especially at this level - if the club is not breaking even or getting near to that - and obviously that has not been the case for the last couple of years," he said.

"The initial challenge was to come in and try and put that right as quick as I can.

"Fighting this battle to be successful and positive in the EFL League Two is much harder when you are just fighting fires paying bills week in week out and not concentrating on the football field.

Jenkins added "he wasn't sure where the club would be" without financial assistance and that the club is in "a much stronger position" than the autumn.

Graham Coughlan celebrates Newport's 1-0 win over Wrexham
Graham Coughlan celebrates Newport County's 1-0 Welsh derby win over Wrexham at Rodney Parade
He did, though, admit the club's recent run to the fourth round of the FA Cup has been a significant factor and praised the work of manager Coughlan.

The club had been tipped to struggle to survive this season amid the financial difficulties, and Jenkins said: "It was a difficult period for the club on and off the field and I have nothing but respect for him and admire the great job he has done since the summer to get the club where it is today."

"Quickly bringing the finances to provide stability was important, but secondly providing one or two players to help the current squad move forward between now and May the 31st was important.

"Yes we will do our utmost to make sure one or two things happen between now and the first of February.

"But people must remember they have to be the right players coming into the club at the right time."

Jenkins says he will take an active role in the football side of the business as he returns to frontline football, five years after he stepped down from his role as chairman at Swansea having overseen the club's sale to US investors in 2016.

He spent 17 years at Swansea having been part of a local consortium that saved it from financial difficultly before going on to rise through the divisions to the Premier League and into European football.

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"I looked around for some opportunities to get back into football and didn't really find much that I would jump at," he said.

"But there were two things with Newport County, firstly the unique story how the club came through all those struggles to end up where it is today.

"Then having the opportunity to join forces with the Supporters Trust to stabilise the club and hopefully provide some hope and a better future.

"I thought that before I get too old that is something I will put all my effort into, and we will see where we go through over the next few years."

The club's Supporters Trust - who had owned and ran the club since 2015 - will retain a 27% shareholding as part of the agreement, as well as keeping two directors on a new-look board.

The Trust's Shaun Johnson and Park Marks will serve as directors before elections are held, while Peter Madigan, Mark Crook, Mike Everett and Bob Herrin have all stood down from their roles, although the club say "they will continue to assist and advise Huw during the transition."

A statement added: "New board members and staff structure will be confirmed in due course and the Supporters Trust will continue to play a major role in the running of the club."

League One side Shrewsbury Town have re-appointed Paul Hurst as head coach.

The 49-year-old re-joins The Shrews following the dismissal of Matt Taylor, after a run of seven defeats in eight games.

Hurst previously managed the club for 19 months from 2016 to 2018, leading Salop to the League One play-off final in 2018, which they lost to Rotherham.

He left Shrewsbury just three days later to replace Mick McCarthy as boss of Ipswich Town.

However, things did not got to plan as the Tractor Boys won just one of his 15 games in charge before Hurst was sacked after less than five months.

Following his exit from Ipswich, Hurst spent a seven-month spell as boss at Scunthorpe United before he returned to Grimsby Town, where he had started his managerial career, in 2020, guiding them back into the English Football League in 2022 via the National League play-offs.

His second spell at the Mariners ended in October, and he joins Shrewsbury with the Shropshire side sitting in 20th place in the table, four points above the relegation places.

'Long-standing relationship'
Shrewsbury director of football Micky Moore said sacking Taylor was a "tough decision" but he had recommended Hurst, who will bring Chris Doig in as his assistant once more, as the "outstanding candidate" to chairman Roland Wycherley.

"Having managed against Paul since 2009, we have a long-standing relationship," Moore said.

"I have followed his career carefully over the years and the discussions we have held over the last few days have been really positive.

"I look forward to having a great working relationship with both Paul and Chris going forward.

"We are delighted they have decided to return to the football club."

Hurst's first game back in charge is at Northampton on Saturday.

New Hartlepool United boss Kevin Phillips has said he wants to "put smiles on faces".

The ex-England striker, 50, was named as John Askey's successor on Saturday.

Pools were relegated from League Two last season and are seven points above the National League drop zone.

"I think the club needs a bit of a stability now, I think they've had four managers in the past 12 months or so and that's not good for anyone," Phillips told BBC Radio Tees.

"Hopefully I can bring that stability and the excitement back to this football club.

"There's been too much negativity and I could feel it even in the short spell when I met the players.

"I want to put smiles on faces and that comes through setting good standards, playing good football and creating an environment the players love coming in to.

"We want to put bums back on seats and we want fans to be proud of their team. They want to see hard work and that typifies the region. I get that."

Phillips knows the North East well after making his name during a six-year spell with Sunderland, where he scored 116 league goals and won the European Golden Shoe in 1999-00.

After spells coaching at Leicester, Derby and Stoke, he had his first spell in management with South Shields but left in April last year after leading them to promotion to National League North.

Phillips willing to prioritise substance over style
He was in the stands for Saturday's 1-0 win at struggling Ebbsfleet and will have a watching brief for Tuesday's home game against bottom side Kidderminster because of a touchline ban held over from his time with Shields.

Lennie Lawrence and Anthony Sweeney will again take the team for Tuesday's game and stay on as Phillips' assistants after.

Although Phillips says he wants his side to play attractive football, he acknowledged that they may need to be more risk-averse for the conclusion of the current campaign as they look to avoid successive relegations.

"At Shields, I wanted to play out from the back and play through the lines and I wanted pace, energy and leadership qualities. We managed to do that," he said.

"Me coming in here, it's clear that defensively we've been poor. Two clean sheets all season, three after Saturday's result, that's not going to get you anywhere. That's something that has to be addressed.

"I want to play but I get that the squad we've got, low on confidence... sometimes you don't want the ball, you just want to kick it long and fight for second balls.

"If that's going to get us results from now until the end of the season then it might have to stay like that but long-term I want us to play and dominate possession with a purpose.

"Believe me, when players get confident they'll want to get on the ball."

Hibs entertain Rangers in their midweek match at Easter Road. Whether or not they manage to entertain their fans is another matter entirely. Nick Montgomery is finding out that he can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear, certainly not with the pig's breakfast he has to work with. Watching Hibs at the moment is a bit of a boar (sorry ).

Hibs definitely need a miracle in the January transfer window, but so far we've had limited success and Nick thinks that he cannot depend on the Josh Doig bonus being available for incoming transfers. We'll have to wait and see what happens, but we need a new spine to the team, with the injury list not reducing.

I'm not expecting much from this game, other than a chastening lesson from Rangers. It's the same old story - hope for the best, but expect the worst. Surely Hibs have a good game in them, it just needs to surface soon and this would be the perfect scenario to silence the doubters (including me).

GGTTH

Not sure how many of these games will go ahead but put the predictions up anyway.


Tuesday

Fylde 0-2 Halifax
Aldershot 1-0 Bromley
Chesterfield 2-0 Woking
Dag & Red 1-2 Dorking
Gateshead 2-0 Solihull Moors
Hartlepool 1-0 Kidderminster
Maidenhead United 2-1 Ebbsfleet
Oldham 2-1 Barnet
Oxford City 2-0 York
Wealdstone 0-2 Southend
Altrincham 1-0 Rochdale

Wednesday

Boreham Wood 1-1 Eastleigh



League Table After Matchday 31

Spireitematt - 616
SaltergateBorn - 602
Amelia - 516
St Charles - 484
Dancing - 477
Lord Snoots - 473
Devon - 379

2 points for correct result
4 points for correct score
2 points for each correct scorer
Correct joker doubles your score   (correct score on a joker would give you 8 points)
Wrong joker result gives you minus 2
Correct Random Badger gives you 2 points

The random badger is used for any random prediction used once in each matchday sequence. For instance, a scorer at a particular match, the number of red cards in the matches or yellow cards or own goals or owt you want really within reason, I do need to be able to check whether it's correct or not. Please don't put stuff like....."Commentator says...."  
The joker   is played for one match in each sequence and if correct you get double points. So if you've predicted 1-0 and it finishes 2-0, you get 4 pts, but if you've predicted 2-0, that's 8 pts. But if you get it wrong, it's minus 2.
Jokers and badgers are optional. You don't have to play one if you don't want.

The prize for winning the league is one rep point.

Cup games: In the event of a draw, it's half the points if you've predicted a draw when it gets to 90 mins and the full points if it's still a draw after extra time. Half the points will be awarded for correctly predicting the winner of the match if it goes to penalties. Similarly with the badger, if your random prediction is affected by this, it'll be half the points.

Random score generator: I will be using the random score generator again for those who miss predicting, so we shouldn't get some people too far behind that after missing a couple of weeks they lose all interest, because I know it's not easy getting on here every week.
To be fair to everybody, this is going to be like, say if three people in one week miss their predictions, the first one in the table will be given all 0-0, the second one down the line will get 1-0 and the third will get 0-1 and so on, like if there's four missing the 4th will get 1-1, then 5th 2-1, 6th 1-2. and if there are so many missing, might as well pack in.
And if you miss two weeks on the trot, I'll stop until you come back on again. Not doing it for half a season like I did t'other year.  

End of season Play Offs: The one who finishes top of the league will still be champion, but after the season finishes there will be Play Offs between the top 4, with 1st v 4th and 2nd v 3rd. This will take in stuff like the EFL Play Offs, FA Cup Final, final day of Prima Donna League, European Finals etc. It will be one matchday for the semis and one for the Final. It will be the individual scores for each matchday against the allotted opponent, with some kind of tie breaker for a drawn match.

The prize for winning will be enormous. Another rep point.

1. jjamez = 82 pts
   
2. ritchiebaby = 80 pts
   
3. St Charles Owl = 80 pts
   
4. Lord Snooty = 76 pts
   
5. themaclad = 64 pts
   
6. Baggiebob(BBB) = 62 pts
   

Championship:
Saturday 27th January:
Millwall v Preston North End

Sunday 28th January:
QPR v Town (13:30)
Town scorers:
QPR scorers:

Tuesday 30th January:
Coventry City v Bristol City

Wednesday 31st January:
Sheffield Wednesday v Watford

FA Cup 4th round:
Thursday:
AFC Bournemouth v Swansea City

Friday:
Tottenham Hotspur v Manchester City

Saturday:
Leeds United v Plymouth Argyle
Leicester City v Birmingham City
Sheffield United v Brighton & Hove Albion

Sunday:
West Bromwich Albion v Wolverhampton Wanderers (11:45)

Monday:
Blackburn Rovers v Wrexham

Scottish Premiership:
Saturday:
Kilmarnock v Hibernian

Premier League:
Tuesday:
Aston Villa v Newcastle United
Fulham v Everton
Nottingham Forest v Arsenal

Wednesday:
Liverpool v Chelsea


*** scores for ***
*** scores for ***
*** scores for ***

1. theo_luddite = 69 pts
   
2. Devongone = 65 pts
   
3. neonfoxinthebox = 60 pts
   
4. SHEP_HTAFC = 55 pts
   
5. Amelia Chaffinch = 38 pts
   
6. WakeyTerrier = 24 pts
   

Championship:
Saturday 27th January:
Sunderland v Stoke City

Sunday 28th January:
QPR v Town (13:30)
Town scorers:
QPR scorers:

Tuesday 30th January:
Leicester City v Swansea City

FA Cup 4th round:
Friday:
Bristol City v Nottingham Forest
Chelsea v Aston Villa
Sheffield Wednesday v Coventry City

Saturday:
Ipswich Town v Maidstone United (12:30)
Everton v Luton Town
Fulham v Newcastle United (19:00)

Sunday:
Watford v Southampton (14:00)
Liverpool v Norwich City (14:30)
Newport County v Manchester United (16:30)

National League:
Saturday:
Chesterfield v Southend United

Premier League:
Tuesday:
Crystal Palace v Sheffield United

Wednesday:
Manchester City v Burnley
Tottenham Hotspur v Brentford


*** scores for ***
*** scores for ***
*** scores for ***

Premier League

Blue B 18
Zinman 13
Minizin 11
Lady J 8
B.B.B. 7
Dingle 7
Derby 6
Stairs 4

After a few really good weeks the PL dropped its standards and ended up back in mediocrity again.  Can't say that of Blue Baggie though, he amassed 18 points as his excellent run of form continues.  He managed 3 CSs this week (only two other players managed 1, the rest got none!!) including one on his Bonus and scored on 6 games.  Bit of a drop to Zinman on 13 points and Minizin on 12 points, better week for Minizin after struggling for a few and it certainly helps when you are the only one who remembers to take the blue tinted glasses off when predicting on a WBA Gamball!!!  Zinman keeps himself near the top of the weekly table after scoring on 5 games including one CR.

Lady Jane, BBB and Dingle occupy mid table.  BBB scored on 5 games while the other two only scored on 3, but BBB missed on his major balls while LJ and Dingle avoided the negative penalty on the Bonus.  After a couple of good weeks Derby drops to 7th spot with just 6 points and Stairs is once again keeping the bottom step warm!!

Derby and Lady Jane get an extra Scoreball next week after using it on the postponed Notts County fixture.

291 Zinman
275 Blue Baggie
234 Minizin
230 Derby
221 BBB
203 Stairs
193 Dingle
173 Lady Jane

Just one positional change with Minizin taking back 3rd place from Derby.  At the top Blue Baggie has narrowed Zin's lead don to 16 points. so now its definitely closed to about the difference between a good week and a bad one!!  The gap to Minizin in 3rd is now over 40 points, the top 2 continue to roll!!  Stairs is the 6th player over the 200 mark, Dingle might follow him next week.

A couple of stats, at the start of the season it was decided to remove some of the jeopardy from getting the Gamball wrong by changing the scoring to -1 for an incorrect result.  It was felt that this would see more players play as we had some players who rarely played it because of the points loss it caused.  Well it certainly achieved that goal, as it has been played every week by 7 of the 8 PL players with BBB skipping it just once and that cost him 2 points!! 

Scoring wise the points gained were also reduced but still Zinman has amassed 63 points on that one ball this season!!  Blue Baggie has 40 points from it and Minizin is 3rd with 31.  Two players have really struggled with it, Lady Jane only has 7 points but Stairs, who typically rarely played it under the old scoring, has now played it every week and yet even with only -1 for getting it wrong he is sat on -2 for the season overall!!  By my calculation he has been incorrect on the Gamball 18 times of the 22 played so far causing him a deficit of 65 points compared to Zinman!!

Cheers
SCO


Championship

Sanjay        18
Themaclad  15
AAA            11
BaggieOne  11
SCO            10
Snooty          8
Twerton        7

A decent week for the Championship with a couple of unusual stats. For the first time this season, everybody got at least one correct score and we also saw a full set of scoreball points - only the 3rd time that's happened. Less unusually, the gamball proved problematic (sorry, I try to avoid the Albion game as I hate the added pressure - not sure I can avoid choosing us again soon!) with very mixed results from the bonus. One match postponed so Themaclad will get to play an extra bonus ball next week.

It was also an unusual sight at the top of the week's league with 2 of our regular strugglers heading the table. Sanjay clearly benefited from his mid-season break to come back refreshed and achieve his equal highest score with a week's best of 6 correct results, including a maximum bonus. Themaclad lies 3 points behind with a positive gamball amongst his 5 correct predictions.

AAA and BaggieOne are tied in 3rd place, AAA with 2 correct scores but failing with his gamball and bonus, BaggieOne with one fewer correct results and scores but at least securing the extra bonus points. SCO scrapes into double figures - just 3 correct predictions but helped by a bonus maximum. Snooty chose to play his bonus on a thumping for Huddersfield so at least can be satisfied that the bonus curse worked! His correct gamball prediction keeps him 1 point ahead of Twerton at the foot of the table - Twerton turned 2 of his 3 correct predictions into maximums but lost out on the major balls to completely reverse his table position from last week.

237 SCO
225 Twerton
210 AAA
198 Snooty
185 BaggieOne
176 Themaclad
147 Sanjay

No positional changes this week as AAA becomes the 3rd player to pass 200.

Some stats: AAA now has a run of 6 consecutive double figure scores as he edges closer to the leaders. SCO and BaggieOne have positive scores on their last 4 bonus balls while Themaclad's run of scoreballs now runs to 5 weeks. The gamball isn't having a dramatic impact on overall points as 4 players are separated by just 3 points from it - only Sanjay is really suffering with it - he has amassed just 2 points from the gamball compared to Themaclad and Twerton with 39.
Quite a different story with the bonus. 5 players have scored between 6 and minus 9 from it but Twerton has 15 in contrast to Themaclad where it has so far cost him 33 points - it's now 7 weeks since he scored from it.

Zin

Sorry.
Gamball:
WBA - Wolves

Others:
Everton - Luton
Sheff U - Brighton
Fulham - Newcastle
Leeds - Plymouth
Millwall - Preston (League)
Port Vale - Portsmouth (League)
Watford - Southampton
Newport - Man Utd
QPR - Huddersfield (League)

Lai having missed multiple deadlines to return the £5million leant to his company Wisdom Smart.

As well as the £3.7m leant to the club’s holding company under Jeremy Peace which was inherited by the Chinese businessman, along with interest, I am surprised that Peace hasn't said ok I'll pay that debt considering her connned Lai out of £190 million.

I am further surprised he hasn't paid that considering he was so IN TO WBA for a number of years.. Is he till allowed into the Hawthorns?

Any thoughts on this?

Hibs travel to Station Road in cold and windy Forfar tomorrow for their opening Scottish Cup game. There shouldn't be any great danger from a Scottish League 2 side, but this is Hibs we're talking about. I'm hoping for a full-strength Hibs side to play and hopefully they've not had too cushy a jaunt away to Dubai - Doha and Muscat are far better places to visit if you're ever in that area IMO. Almost 3,000 Hibs fans will be making the trip, in what will be a magnificent atmosphere in a small stadium.

The Loons are mid-table-ish in League 2, the lowest of four teams covered by 3 points. They play on an artificial pitch which many don't like but we've coped fairly well on those in previous games.

Monty on the game
“It’s a fantastic competition and one that the supporters have fond memories of. We know it’ll be a tough game. Forfar deserve to be in this round. It’s a good opportunity for us to take our fans there and for it to be a big occasion. Forfar will be prepared, but the most important thing is we go there prepared, professional and get through to the next round. We have to make sure we’re ready for the game.”