I AM a little bit worried that if I write what I honestly think this week, I’m either going to earn myself a telling off from the gaffer Justin Edinburgh or the other players, but they should get their own South Wales Argus columns!

I have thought about saying this out loud, so to speak, but I’m going to do so because I have always tried to make these pieces as honest as I possibly can.

So here’s the situation as I see it. With the squad we have at Rodney Parade this season, I will be really disappointed if we don’t make the League Two play-off spots. There. I said it!

I speak to the gaffer regularly of course and I know he’s keen to limit expectations. And considering how few times we’ve made the third tier of English football in our history, you can’t blame him. He’s trying to create a true legacy here.

But I look around in training and can’t help but feel we’ve got the right players and the right staff to get us into that top seven this season after we fell away last year.

And difficult as it is to admit as a central midfielder, the key to my belief is the partnership of Adam Chapman and Mark Byrne, for my money as good as, or better than, everyone else in the division.

I know we are competing for places in midfield, but I just feel like the pair of them are a different class for this league and it really shows our quality that we went and won at a Bury side having a right good go at promotion despite neither of them starting.

It’s an indication of the quality we have and we’ve got the monkey off our back – not the one who was mayor of Hartlepool – by finally recording three points north of Birmingham, something the guys in the press kept reminding us about.

We should have done it before that, of course, we should have won at Hartlepool and some last season, but it’s another box to tick off and just adds to our confidence, especially ahead of another long trip, this time to Carlisle.

Unfortunately – especially for the boys on the bus who appreciate my banter – I haven’t travelled to the game today due to my hamstring injury, but that is really all about being careful.

In truth I am not so far away from returning and if we had a game next weekend, I’d probably be ok for it, but obviously we have a free weekend, so I can look to get fit for Stevenage in a fortnight.

Things are going so well with the first team, as we’ve only lost one in 14 and you just want to be a part of it, luckily a feeling that I think has filtered right the way through the squad.

We are hoping Joe Day has got the County bug because without disrespecting anyone else, he has been absolutely incredible since he arrived on loan, different class for us.

So we are hoping he will return in January and join on a permanent deal because he’s been like a Superman for us.

With no first team duties this weekend my focus will be on the youth team boys and we’ve got a Welsh Youth Cup match at Caerau Ely to prepare for.

It’s a strange one for us because the Welsh Youth Cup is like the total opposite to the FA Youth Cup for us; we go from being a little fish looking to pull off a shock or two to a big fish that everyone else wants to beat.

We found it at Ebbw Vale in the first round and I am sure it will be no different this weekend, so I will be demanding the boys are strong and focused on the job in hand.

We had a friendly with Bristol City this week and lost 3-1 but once again I have had to get onto the lads about their defending. They know that I expect better, because I know they are capable of it.

Away from the training pitch this week I was representing the club and my teammates at the Professional Footballers’ Association AGM.

I have been the PFA rep at three clubs now, Bradford, Gillingham and Newport and it is a task I take seriously because it’s an important role with an important organisation.

But there is a social side to it as well, it does provide a chance to catch-up with some old teammates and old foes you don’t often see and as ever I was interested to hear what PFA chief Gordon Taylor had to say.

Finally, I just want to remind everyone that my tip is for my mate Jimmy Bullard to win I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here this year and I see the bookies now agree with my confidence as he is their favourite.

I’ll be shocked if he doesn’t win, he’s off his head in a good way and he’s just such a character, you can’t help but laugh when you are in Jimbo’s company.

I think he’s also shown his compassionate side since he’s been in there and like I say; my old mucker is going to be a worthy winner and a cracking king of the jungle.