BIRD WANTS TO FLY
Newport County striker Ryan Bird believes the Exiles can soar
HE MIGHT not even know his team-mates’ names yet, but Ryan Bird has already seen enough of Newport County to be convinced they will haul themselves to EFL safety.
When you’re part of a team of strangers – as Bird was by becoming Newport’s 12th signing of the month after joining from Eastleigh on January 24 – you have to do everything you can to endear yourself to your new side.
Scoring a goal 15 minutes into your debut will do that.
And, when that goal helps end a 12-game winless streak, you start to approach folk hero status.
Bird nodded in from closerange after 15 minutes at home to Hartlepool last weekend and then crossed for Aaron Williams to double the Exiles’ lead en route to a 3-1 triumph.
That victory may not have brought the club off the foot of League Two, but it took them within striking distance of safety.
A previous loan spell with Pools made it all the more special for their newest striker.
“I definitely couldn’t have asked for a better start to life at Newport – it was a great day for me, the fans and the players as well,” explained Bird, 29.
“It was against my old club Hartlepool and I also scored against them last year when I was at Yeovil.
Contribute
“I knew quite a lot of their players and I was really up for the game. It seems to be lucky for me and unlucky for them, really.
“I’m enjoying it at Newport – all the staff and lads have been top-class. I’m still trying to learn people’s names at the moment because there are a lot of new boys! It’s a fresh bunch of lads.
“Everyone is still getting to know each other, how you can contribute on the pitch and what style of play your teammates have.
“We’re all in the same boat but it was a great start for me and, hopefully, we can carry on where we left off.”
Having netted 114 goals in 297 league games during a nine-year spell at Non-League Burnham, Bird finally got his crack at the professional game with Portsmouth in 2013.
Spells at Cambridge and Yeovil, via Hartlepool on loan, swiftly followed, but in the summer he opted to join ambitious National League club Eastleigh, despite overtures from other League Two sides.
A solid, if unspectacular, five-month foray in Hampshire followed, so Bird jumped at a chance to return to the EFL, Newport’s treacherous position giving him barely a moment’s hesitation. “I spoke to a few people who told me it was a great club that shouldn’t be where they are in the league,” added Bird.
“The gaffer (Graham Westley) was saying he didn’t get a transfer window when he joined the club, so now he’s put his own stamp on it by bringing in 12 players and, hopefully, we’ll start climbing the table. “There definitely is a confidence around the club. No-one is down and out. It’s not actually the worst situation to be in because teams come to us and think ‘they’re bottom of the league, we’ll beat them easily’.
“That’s great for us because it feeds us. You saw it against Hartlepool – they didn’t look like they wanted to be out there.”
Stronger
When it comes to experience in turning around tricky situations, you can hardly do better than Exiles boss Graham Westley, and Bird admits his new manager had a big part to play in taking him to Wales.
“The gaffer tried to get me to Stevenage a couple of years ago, so I knew he liked me,” said the Slough-born forward.
“I came down, met him, had a good long chat and, as soon as I left, I knew what I was getting into.
“Our training sessions are hard but I enjoy that. It’s the sort of thing that will help us become stronger as a team.”