MANAGER Michael Flynn believes Newport County AFC need their own training ground and, ultimately, their own stadium to progress as a football club.

Flynn said earlier this week that he now has the best squad he’s ever had as County boss, despite the playing budget being cut in the summer.

And results on the pitch bear that out with the Exiles second in the League Two table as they head to sixth-placed Oldham Athletic tomorrow.

But Flynn knows there is still plenty of work to do to ensure that the club continues to progress on and off the pitch.

“We’re trying to get things together off the pitch,” said the manager.

“We are where we are as a football club. We’re not the only team without a training ground – Accrington didn’t have one, Morecambe haven’t got one, Crawley struggle with one.

“I’m not one for excuses but it is a reality and sometimes it affects you, or it can work in your favour, depending on what type of players you have and what manager you have.

“You either get on with it and make the best of it or you sulk and let it affect you.

“The chairman and the board of directors are working hard behind the scenes and getting the Ivy Bush Bar Amber up and running is important because it is another cash revenue.

“But the biggest thing for me is a training ground,” he added.

“We’ve got to try to have our own base, our own training ground and our own stadium.

“We’ve got to try to do that to be able to kick on as a football club.

“Otherwise, you’re always in somebody else’s hands and it’s difficult.”

Flynn saved his hometwon club from relegation in 2017 before earning an 11th-place finish and an FA Cup fourth-round place last season.

“If we’d gone out of the League I couldn’t see us coming back for a long time and 25 years was long enough before that so it would have been hard to take,” he said.

“You’re not going to get cup runs every year and the board know that,” he added.

“That’s why there have been cuts in areas. They’re trying to be responsible, which is frustrating but understandable.

“I’ve always said that the club comes first and that’s just something we’ve got to manage.”