MIDFIELDER Alex Rodman says team spirit will keep Newport County AFC in League Two after a traumatic campaign on and off the pitch.

Rodman believes most teams would have struggled to cope with a fans’ takeover and two managerial changes in less than four months.

Terry Butcher was sacked immediately after the Supporters Trust took control of the club in October.

And Butcher’s replacement John Sheridan was lured to Oldham Athletic last month, which led to his assistant Warren Feeney taking over the top job at Rodney Parade.

But Rodman says the strength of the bond in the dressing room will help the Exiles stay above the bottom two.

“It’s a first for me having three managers in a season but it seems worse than it is,” said Rodman ahead of today’s home clash with Carlisle United (kick-off 1pm).

“Everyone’s pulling in the same direction, everyone wants to win and dig ourselves out of the position we were in and when everyone is pulling and fighting the same way then it makes life easier.

“Having three managers in a season is a big turnover but it’s been seamless really.

“Obviously Terry signed me and then John came in and the transition from John Sheridan to the gaffer now has been perfectly seamless.

“There’s been no hiccups. The gaffer has just taken over from exactly where John left off.

“He’s just tweaked a few things and some of the performances and the results we’ve got have shown there’s been a steady improvement.

“That’s testament to all the managers and to the fact that we’ve got a good team spirit and a togetherness.

“It could have been a lot worse,” he added. “I felt for Terry because a lot of his key players were injured so he wasn’t able to play his strongest side.

“Obviously things didn’t work out with the supporters taking over. They felt a change was needed and then John came in and did a fantastic job.

“We went on that incredible run and then he had the chance to move on.

“And the transition from him to Warren Feeney has been great. They expect a lot of the same things – high standards and a good work ethic in training.

“And when you’ve got that and the changing room we’ve got – professional and disciplined and hard working – then it’s not as difficult as it appears probably from the outside.”

Rodman has no doubt that Feeney will finish the job and keep County up.

“I know that we’ve got enough in the squad and if we do our job and perform how we can we’ll be fine,” he said.

“I think we’re seven points clear of the bottom two and we’d like it to be more but if we keep pushing on and keep pushing forward the way we’re set up now then I think we’ll be fine.”