Newport County: FA Cup run will increase season's income by £900,000

Close to 7,200 Newport fans travelled to Wembley for their side's fourth-round replay against Tottenham

Newport County expect their FA Cup run to add around £900,000 to their income for the season.

County held Tottenham to a 1-1 draw at Rodney Parade before losing 2-0 in the replay at Wembley in front of almost 40,000 fans.

County will earn over £1m this season thanks to TV revenues from their cup run, gate receipts and a 15% sell-on clause for former midfielder Lee Evans.

The Exiles reached the fourth round for the first time since 1979.

"We turnover £2.2m, the cup run will probably bring in around £900,000 for us," CEO Alex Tunbridge said on BT Sport's TV coverage of the game.

"That's nearly 50% of our overall turnover. The club has only been in the Football League for four years and the infrastructure is probably not where it needs to be compared to some other clubs.

"It allows us to develop some of the training facilities, it allows us to structure some new ticketing systems and just generally raise the profile of the club further, professionalise it a little bit more and cement ourselves as a Football League club."

Newport County played their home games at Spytty Park from 1994 to 2012 before moving to Rodney Parade

The Exiles train at their former ground, Spytty Park, but have been unable to fully use the facility in recent weeks after a tumble dryer caused a fire.

Newport manager Michael Flynn, who has signed a deal to remain with County until 2020, is now hoping to use the money to improve the club on and off the field.

A former player as well as a coach of the Exiles, Flynn took charge with the Exiles 11 points adrift of League Two safety, before turning the clubs fortunes around as they survived relegation from the Football League with almost the last kick of the 2016-17 season.

Newport's Mark O'Brien scored with just seven minutes remaining against Notts County on the final game of the season to keep the Exiles up.

"New training facilities would certainly be the priority," Flynn told BBC Sport Wales.

"We can improve our training facilities, it will be ideal if we have another pitch, and obviously we need a training base because the last one caught fire.

"The Velodrome and Dragon Park are great, but it would be really good to have our own base.

"It's what we need as a football club and it would be nice if the budget was increased a little bit next season as well. All these things are possible now because of this FA Cup run.

"I want to help build the club and the run we have had helps us with that."