Who Are The League Two Managers? No.15: Michael Flynn (Newport County)

Stand up if you have heard of Michael Flynn. Sit down if you are a Newport County supporter. Thought so. Now name a player who has scored a Champions League goal against FC Porto. You might suggest Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Wayne Rooney and Robert Lewandowski to begin with, but I bet you would not name Michael Flynn if you kept guessing until August.

Local boy Flynn’s relationship with the reformed Newport club did not get off to the most auspicious of starts, being dismissed from the club’s academy for a breach of club rules. Newport changed their minds and reinstated the teenage midfielder, but after two years playing for the Exiles in the Southern League he was on his way to professional side Barry Town, which is where that memorable goal against Porto was scored. It came in the second qualifying round of the Champions League in August 2001 when a crowd of almost 2,500 assembled at Jenner Park to see Barry beat their illustrious opponents 3-1. Flynn scored in the 38th minute to put his side 2-1 ahead, and had also seen a goal disallowed a few minutes earlier. Unfortunately for Barry, they had lost the first leg 8-0 in Oporto the previous week in front of 55,000, but the 3-1 win did have a significant impact on European football: despite fielding a weakened team for that second leg, the powers that be were not amused by Porto’s defeat and sacked head coach Octávio Machado a few months later. His replacement was a young coach from União de Leiria called Jose Mourinho.

After two brief spells at Newport and helping Barry to two League of Wales titles, Flynn was picked up by Wigan Athletic in the summer of 2002 and made 23 appearances – many from the bench – as Wigan strolled to the Second Division championship in 2002-03. To have three championship wins by the age of 22 was no mean achievement, but Flynn was to feature less regularly in the First Division, making just 8 league appearances in 2003-04. He started the 2004-05 season on loan at neighbours Blackpool, but returned to Wigan after a month to make a series of appearances from the substitute’s bench as Wigan headed for a historic promotion to the top flight for the first time in their history.

Before that promotion could be secured, Flynn joined fellow Championship side Gillingham on a free transfer in the January transfer window. Stan Ternent’s side found themselves at the wrong end of the table though, sitting third from bottom, and faced a struggle against relegation. Needing a win at relegated Nottingham Forest on the final day, Gillingham could only draw 1-1 and went down on goal difference. Flynn became a fixture in the side as Gillingham secured two bottom-half finishes in League One, and was appointed captain for the 2006-07 season. After making a total of 105 appearances for the Gills, he rejected a contract offer in the summer of 2007 and rejoined Championship side Blackpool.

His stay at Bloomfield Road ended after one mediocre season, and Flynn’s former manager Stan Ternent took him to new club Huddersfield in July 2008. Ternent had a big budget to get his team out of League One and he invested heavily in 11 new players. Flynn started the season as a regular but lost his place in November when Ternent was sacked with Huddersfield in sixteenth place. He joined League Two Darlington on loan in December 2008 to recover from a hamstring injury before eventually reclaiming his place in the Huddersfield side under new manager Lee Clark. Clark then chose to bring his own players in, and Flynn departed for neighbours Bradford City in League Two.

His time at Valley Parade got off to the worst possible start as Bradford suffered their heaviest ever opening day defeat with a 5-0 hammering at the hands of Sven-Göran Eriksson’s Notts County in August 2009. They also lost the next three games without scoring a goal, including a 2-0 defeat at Lincoln, before moving off the bottom of League Two with an astonishing 5-4 win at Cheltenham. Despite a bottom-half finish in 2009-10, Flynn signed a new two-year deal with the Bantams in the summer of 2010. The 2010-11 season was another poor one for Bradford, as they narrowly avoided accompanying Lincoln down to the Conference after just two wins from their final eleven games. After another narrow escape from relegation in 2011-12, Flynn had his contract cancelled by mutual consent and he chose to return to his first club Newport, who had themselves narrowly escaped relegation from the Conference.

They say you should never go home, but the move turned out to be one of the best of his career. Defying the bookmakers’ odds, Newport finished third in the table and reached the play-off final with two 1-0 wins over Grimsby. A 2-0 win over Wrexham at Wembley in May 2013 took the Exiles into the Football League for the first time in their history. Newport performed reasonably well in their first season in League Two, finishing fourteenth. In the summer of 2014 Flynn took over as director of Newport’s youth academy whilst continuing his career as a player with the club. After finishing ninth in 2014-15, his playing contract was not renewed. It looked as though his career at Newport had come to a disappointing end, sent off on the stroke of half-time in his 100th and final appearance for the club in the 1-0 home defeat to Oxford on the final day of the season. Changes at the club also saw him leave his position at the academy.

Upon leaving Newport, Flynn became player-manager of League of Wales Division Two side Undy Athletic, but after only two months he was brought back to Newport as first-team coach by new manager John Sheridan. In July 2016 he was appointed to the new role of Football and Business Development Director, only to rejoin the coaching staff in October under the latest new manager Graham Westley. Flynn also made 5 appearances as a player in February. When Westley was sacked on 9 March 2017, Flynn was appointed caretaker manager to the end of the season with former Imp Lennie Lawrence as his assistant. It looked something of a poisoned chalice, as Newport were eleven points adrift at the foot of League Two with twelve games to play. The history books show an immediate upturn in form, with Flynn winning his first two games, both away from home to fellow-strugglers Crewe and Morecambe. Just one point was collected from the next three games, but five wins from the remaining seven games saw Newport survive by two points with a final day win over Notts County. The winning goal came in the 89th-minute from defender Mark O’Brien; had the goal not come, Newport would have been down on goal difference instead of Hartlepool. It came as little surprise when Flynn was appointed manager on a two-year contract on 9 May 2017.

Any doubts that Flynn was a one-hit wonder were dispelled early in 2017-18 as Newport appeared to mount a promotion challenge. They sat in the play-off positions as late as 19 January, only one point behind the automatic places. Unfortunately a downturn in form – probably not helped by an exciting run to the FA Cup fourth round – saw them slip back into the mid-table position they would retain to the end of the season. Keeping the club out of danger was probably the remit, so Newport over-performed in that sense. It will be interesting to see whether Flynn can build on a solid platform this time around.

After carving out a decent career as a player, it remains to be seen whether Michael Flynn can replicate that as a manager. His start in management was certainly dramatic, and he did a good job in taking Newport to a very comfortable mid-table position in his first full season. Despite the money generated from the FA Cup run and a lucrative tie against Spurs at Wembley, financial concerns are never far away. A substantial increase in rent and contributions for the upkeep of their ground mean that Flynn’s budget for 2018-19 is not as good as it might have been.

Key:

P = Promoted; R = Relegated; SF = Lost in play-off semi-final; F = Lost in play-off final; PO = Won play-off final; D = Demoted.

Figures are league games only; cup matches and playoffs are not included.

League position shown is either the position at the end of the season or the position at the time of departure.

Writer: Scotimp