READING Graham Westley’s staunch defence of his brief reign as Newport County AFC manager I was reminded of David Brent’s three golden rules of management: “It was like that when I got here, I didn't do it, and (to your boss) I like your style.”

Westley has been saddled with unfavourable comparisons to Ricky Gervais’ cringe worthy creation for some years now and his tumultuous time in Newport has only added fuel to that particular fire.

After the pathetic showing against Leyton Orient he had lost the confidence of the vast majority of the fans and it looked like he’d lost the players as well.

And it’s easy to see why the board felt they had no option but to part company with the former Stevenage, Preston and Peterborough boss.

Writing in the Football League Papaer, Westley said he was relieved to have left County behind and, judging by the reaction of most fans, the feeling is mutual.

The atmosphere in the stands (and the press box) before, during and after the game at Gresty Road couldn’t have been more different to that at Rodney Parade a week earlier.

And on the pitch the attitude of the players as they defended for their lives and attacked with heart and courage was again in stark contrast to the shambles they served up against Orient.

One win does not prove anything, of course, but caretaker boss Michael Flynn has enjoyed the perfect start to his tenure.

In a matter of days he’s ensured that everyone is pulling in the same direction and got players and fans believing that the battle to beat the drop is not over quite yet.

Flynn knows that he and the players have a mountain to climb if they are to somehow drag themselves out of the bottom two between now and the end of the season.

And it’s important that nobody rushes to judgment on the new man.

He has been handed the reins until the summer and the next two months will act as an audition period for the 36-year-old.

If the hometown hero manages to pull off a miracle and keep the Exiles in League Two then the job (and a statue in the city centre) will surely be his.

And, even if the season does end in relegation, if County at least show the desire they did on Saturday to go down fighting then Flynn will have a good case for losing the word ‘caretaker’ from his job title. Whatever happens, the directors need to take plenty of time and plenty of advice to ensure that they get the next appointment right.

In my 10 years covering the club for the Argus I’ve now seen nine managers come and go from Spytty Park and Rodney Parade – not including interim bosses Tim Harris, Lee Harrison (remember him?) and Sean McCarthy.

The only sustained periods of success have come under the longest-serving managers – Dean Holdsworth (two years and nine months) and Justin Edinburgh (three years and four months).

Obviously if a manager sticks around it’s because he’s doing well but both Holdsworth and, to a lesser extent Edinburgh, went through periods when there were calls for them to be sacked.

But the club stuck by them and was rewarded with success on the pitch until both left for pastures new.

And County desperately need some stability in terms of the playing squad and in the dugout – something that has been sorely lacking since Edinburgh’s departure in February 2015.

After Jimmy Dack, Terry Butcher, John Sheridan and Warren Feeney came and went in quick succession I backed the decision to appoint Westley back in October, as did most fans at the time.

South Wales Argus:

But at least two former players advised the board against hiring him and were ignored.

As has been pointed out by the likes of Will Foley and Nathan Blake in the past week – the club desperately needs more football expertise in the boardroom.

And the day before Westley was sacked I was contacted by former County boss Holdsworth who confirmed that he wanted to help the club before the Trust takeover from Les Scadding.

“I had two meetings with the board in 2015 and I wanted to do something with them but it didn’t happen,” said Holdsworth, who is now chief executive at Bolton Wanderers.

He added: “I’m still fond of the club and I always will be because of how hard we worked to win promotion back in 2010.”

In its current predicament the club needs all the help it can get but honorary president David Hando, a man who knows all about helping County bounce back from adversity, remains optimistic.

“If we are [relegated] it is not the end of the world,” he said.

“We've been relegated and promoted before and we'll do it again.

“Football is all about promotion and that implies relegation, you have to accept that.

“But it will make life difficult. We are doing all we can to try to save our league status because it is important to the area.”

And chairman of operations Gavin Foxall added: “We don't want to be going out of this league.

“For a club like us to go down is a very, very difficult position to be in.

“Lots of things change from a funding perspective. It will be extremely difficult to bounce back if we go down.

“But we're up for the fight. Newport is used to it.”

That is the attitude that the players showed on Saturday and we can only hope they carry that into tonight's match at Morecambe and the 10 further cup finals between now and May 6.