Nouble hoping to create another piece of history
A EUROPEAN adventure. A financial collapse. A slow rise and, now, hope for the future. There will be few sides in the FA Cup this weekend that are closer to kindred spirits than Newport County and Leeds United.
For many teams in League Two, especially one that has spent most of their recent history in non-League, hosting a side like Leeds would be a major moment in their history.
That would ignore Newport’s legacy. The Exiles’ own world traveller, Frank Nouble, needed a brief history lesson when he arrived in the summer.
‘You always read about things, you know a bit about the history,’ said the former Chelsea and West Ham player. ‘Newport, I didn’t know too much about them. I was told about them by many fans, about certain players: “you remind me of this player”. This is before my time.’
Newport’s glorious past and subsequent fall is before the time of many modern football fans. They were one of the founding fathers of Division Three. They reached the quarter-finals of the Cup Winners’ Cup in 1980-81. And the club would go out of business in 1989.
Not willing to let a good thing die, 400 fans clubbed together and reformed their team. They spent their first season in Moreton-in-Marsh then returned to Newport before being exiled again. It was only in 1994 that they found a permanent home at the Newport Stadium.
They have played at Rodney Parade, the site of today’s game, since 2012. Recent history in football terms but a longer stint in one place than Nouble has had in his professional career.
The 26-year-old has represented 16 clubs. His first move came after he turned down a professional deal at Chelsea and joined West Ham. ‘I wouldn’t change anything,’ he said. ‘There was not a great path for young players to play in the first team at Chelsea. I just wanted to prove myself and get that opportunity to train with the first team on a regular basis. I thought that if I could go somewhere and get that chance earlier I would. Gianfranco Zola and Steve Clarke came calling and I went.’
He has since spent time with the likes of West Brom, Wolves and Ipswich Town. But it is his year in China with Tianjin Quanjian and Nei Mongol Zhongyou that marks him out.
‘I got a phone call while I was on holiday from an agent,’ he said. ‘He asked me if I wanted to go to China. I told myself, “I’m 24, why not? I’m still young enough”.’ His first three games brought a goal in each. The problem was he arrived in a league on a tipping point. ‘It was very eventful,’ he said. ‘The first six months were good but the last six weren’t that great. The big money came in and players were brought in and others sold. You can only have three foreigners that can play in the first team. So I left.’
He returned to England to play for Gillingham, then Southend before joining Newport. Leeds beat them 5-1 in the Carabao Cup at Elland Road in August but this is, in Nouble’s words, a more settled Newport. They are unexpectedly challenging for the League Two play-offs. Leeds, meanwhile, will rotate.
That could mean they are underestimating their opponents. Nouble saw what can happen when an unexpected contender rises when watching the darts this week. He said: ‘In the World Championship, Rob Cross came out of nowhere. He’s like the Jamie Vardy of darts. We take inspiration from that.’