NEWPORT County AFC are finally safe from relegation and the planning for next season has to start with Saturday’s final home game of the campaign against Notts County.

Manager Warren Feeney has already stated that he will look to give some of the youngsters a chance to show what they can do.

And it will be very interesting to see how far he goes in showing his hand when the team sheets are handed out at Rodney Parade before kick-off.

With nothing riding on the game for either side, and a similar situation looking likely for the last away trip of the season to AFC Wimbledon, there is nothing to stop Feeney experimenting.

Pre-season matches have their uses but when else is the Exiles boss going to get the opportunity to see what his fringe players are made of in competitive games without worrying about the result?

Feeney has said that there is the opportunity for some players to change his mind and earn a contract for next season.

But if they haven’t done enough to convince him by now then it is safe to say that there will be better options out there this summer.

For my money there seems little point in the manager persevering with players who he has, in all likelihood, already decided won’t be here next season.

And that includes loan players like Ben Davies, Janoi Donacien, Tommy O’Sullivan and Saturday’s goal hero Souleymane Coulibaly.

Feeney may like to keep one or more of them in an ideal world but they are not County players and he would be better off looking within the club for the last two games.

In goal I’d like to see young Joe Green given a chance to show if he’s got what it takes to become a Football League stopper.

Joe Day is one of three senior players signed up for next season – the others being strikers Lenell John-Lewis and Tom Meechan – and we know what he can do.

Green deserves the opportunity to extend his playing time beyond the 60 seconds he got after Day’s stoppage-time red card in the FA Cup against Blackburn in January.

And his level of performance will let Feeney know for certain whether he needs to add ‘back-up goalkeeper’ to his summer shopping list.

In defence it would be good to see Scott Barrow return to the left-back position after proving that he can do a good job on the left of midfield.

And in the middle why not give Kieran Parselle and Liam Angel some minutes alongside an experienced older head like Darren Jones?

Parselle impressed when thrown in at the deep end by Terry Butcher at the start of the campaign – particularly in the narrow Capital One Cup defeat at Wolverhampton Wanderers.

And Angel, who made the bench against Oxford United last week, would get a big confidence boost if he was handed his Football League debut in the coming weeks.

The 17-year-old signed his first professional contract last month and is highly rated by Feeney – just as he was by former England centre-back Butcher.

Angel played a key role in Wales’ 2014 Victory Shield triumph before being released by Cardiff City – just like his County predecessor Regan Poole, who is now at Manchester United.

The likes of Parselle and Angel are aiming to follow in Poole’s footsteps and those of Aaron Collins, who made the bench for Wolves’ Championship clash with Rotherham United on Saturday.

Another youngster who looks to have a very bright future is midfielder Tom Owen-Evans and he will almost certainly be back in the side in the next few weeks.

The academy graduate was one of the few bright spots in the gloom of Butcher’s brief reign back in August and September and caught the eye again with a superb display as an early substitute in that FA Cup third round clash with Rovers.

Since then he’s been restricted to cameo appearances from the bench and the fans at Rodney Parade would love to see him get a proper run out this Saturday alongside inspirational captain Mark Byrne.

And up front it has got to be time to blood Tom Meechan who so far has just two short substitute appearances to his name.

Meechan is no youngster at 26 and the former maths teacher will be eager to make up for lost time and prove he has what it takes to make it into the equation for 2016-2017.

Feeney has always said he was keen to experiment once League Two status was assured and the time is now.

As well as the players, Feeney, his assistant Andy Todd and coach Mike Flynn, County must be thankful to John Sheridan for the part he played in staving off the very real threat of relegation.

But some fans will not forget or forgive the timing or the manner of his departure to Oldham Athletic in January.

And it’s hard not to smile at reports on Monday that he is being courted by Bolton Wanderers.

Just days after securing Oldham’s League One status, Sheridan is being heavily backed to jump ship again to another of his former clubs.

Given the way that the Latics went about luring him away from Newport there will be a fair few Exiles supporters chuckling into their Costa coffee cups at that news this morning.

The main reason they have to smile, however, is that their club will once again be competing in the Football League next season.