NEWPORT County neither worthy nor capable of Football League status? Of course they are.

If clubs like Accrington, Hereford, Barnet, Cheltenham, Dagenham and Redbridge and Macclesfield are then so are Newport, so I don't quite know where the doubters are coming from.

Part of the problem, it's true, is some from within believe and act as though they are there already when they are not even in the Conference and wallowing, as chairman Chris Blight puts it, in the Blue Square South League.

But a place in the Conference is the minimum aim, as the chairman's statement in Saturday's Argus indicated, and so it should be.

Yet for the second year running the County failed to even make the play-offs. A ninth placed finish is clearly unacceptable for a club with their aims, with their support - nearly 1500 present for the Fisher game on Saturday - and with their finances, having earned the princely sum of £100,000 for winning the FAW Premier Cup.

In view of all that it was inevitable manager Peter Beadle would be sacked after having a good go at it, but coming up short even if it was the players who failed to produce the goods. But they were Beadle's players and questions have to be asked, like what happened to the money and why were there so many ageing players in the side?

For all that the final club statement lacked a certain courtesy. No mention of the good work Beadle put in to rescue them from relegation when he took over, no thanks or recognition or anything like that.

But that, as they say, is show business or football and the future is what matters now. A new manager, a new squad, new hope. It's all to play for.