GRAHAM Westley’s unveiling at the Newport Velodrome yesterday was appropriate because most managers know that at the first hint of trouble they will be on their bike.

But Newport County AFC need to end the cycle of defeats and disappointments, of hiring and firing that has been their lot since Justin Edinburgh departed for Gillingham in February 2015.

And after making a positive first impression at his inaugural press conference Westley shows all the signs of being the man to get the club back on track.

He has repeatedly been told that the only way is up from the bottom of League Two.

That’s not strictly true, of course, but relegation back to the Conference is not something Westley or the club can afford to contemplate.

And, in a 17-minute question and answer session alongside chairmen Malcolm Temple and Gavin Foxall followed by one-on-one interviews with press, radio and TV, he was oozing positivity.

He repeatedly talked about the need to focus on hard work, fitness and organisation but was also keen to emphasise that he will be listening to the players, learning and adapting.

Reaction to the news of Westley’s appointment at Rodney Parade varied hugely depending on club loyalties.

While County fans seem to be cautiously optimistic on the whole, followers of his previous clubs are divided.

Preston North End supporters are scathing about the man sacked by their club in 2013 after a disappointing 13 months in League One.

Peterborough United fans seem less vociferous but most were equally unimpressed by Westley and hardly sorry to see him sacked by Posh in April this year.

But followers of Stevenage, who he led from the Conference to League One in the second of three spells in charge, are backing their old boss.

Some are even envious and fearful that he’s gone to a League Two rival, with many hailing it as a ‘terrific appointment’ that guarantees the Exiles will stay up – possibly at the expense of Stevenage.

Hibernian fans who warned their County counterparts about Terry Butcher 18 months ago will argue that they were proved correct in their dire predictions for his time at the club.

But Westley has much more experience at this level and his League Two record is highly impressive – guiding Stevenage to promotion via the play-offs in 2011 and to the top six again in 2015.

Only time will tell and ultimately results are what he’ll be judged on but the 48-year-old says that the difficulties he experienced at Preston and Peterborough have changed him as a manager.

“What helped me to win in the past isn’t going to help me win in the future – I know that,” he told the Argus.

“I’ve got to change, learn and adapt.

“I’m a different manager from what I was a year ago or six months ago. You learn and evolve all the time.

“Life moves real quick and you have to adapt and change and learn and develop all the time if you’re going to succeed.

“I’m sure I’ll make mistakes along the way but I’m sure the club can rely on me to be a strong individual who gets himself back up and fights very hard to succeed.”

Westley gave the impression that he sees this job as a chance to redeem himself as he looks to return to managing at a higher level.

And he knows that to attract a bigger club he needs to create waves with little Newport County.

If, like Edinburgh, he can get the fans looking up the table rather than down and dreaming of promotion rather than fearing relegation then he can make himself a hero in this corner of South Wales.

He certainly won’t be happy with mere survival or mid-table mediocrity, as appealing as those prospects look in the club’s current situation.

“Yeovil went into the Championship, Burton are in the Championship,” he said.

“My Stevenage lads – the year I left [for Preston] I got them into the top six [in League One] and they ended up playing in the play-offs that year.

“So the art of the possible for smaller clubs has been shown by those kind of clubs.

“And maybe even you look towards Bournemouth who were sitting at the bottom of League Two not so long ago.

“So I don’t think you should ever limit your aspirations.

“Certainly if I’d arrived at the club and they’d said to me ‘a mid-table finish in League Two is our objective’ then I wouldn’t be standing here.”