TOP scorer Padraig Amond says the Newport County AFC players want manager Michael Flynn to move on to “bigger and better things” – after he’s finished the job he’s started at Rodney Parade.

Amond has welcomed the news that Flynn has agreed a new contract to stay at the club ahead of tomorrow’s home clash with Carlisle United.

The new deal will run until June 2022 but Amond accepts that the manager, who held talks with League One Lincoln City last month, may be poached before then if he can guide the Exiles to promotion to the third tier.

“The new contract is great news and hopefully he’s here for a long time to come,” said the Irishman.

“Obviously, we want the manager to stay because he’s been successful since he’s taken over.

“Every year that he’s been here, the club has improved on and off the pitch.

“Every time a job does come up, I’m sure a lot of supporters are thinking ‘is this the one?’ and eventually the gaffer will move on to bigger and better things.

“And we hope he does because that means we’re doing our jobs right as players and it means we’ve been successful.

“When he’s linked with these jobs, it’s because things are going right,” added Amond.

“When he moves on there will obviously be people disappointed, but you have to look at the position of the club when the gaffer took over to where we are now.

“That’s how you judge success and when the gaffer does move on, there will be a lot more people interested in the job than there was the last time.

“The club is in a better position to be able to continue the success.”

South Wales Argus:

County could go top with a win this weekend, but Amond is not looking too far ahead.

“It’s going to be a tough game, they have some good players, but any game we play at home we feel we can win because we get such good support and we have a really good record here,” he said.

“Hopefully we get the victory and hopefully it puts us top of the league but it doesn’t matter at this stage of the season.

“It’s just about getting the win and making sure we keep winning and we’ll see where we are at the end of the season.”

Amond lost his starting spot to Tristan Abrahams for last week’s win at Swindon Town but he came off the bench to make the second goal for Jamille Matt and he’s ready to play the super-sub role again today if needed.

“I was disappointed but Jamma and Tristan did well and I’m ready to do a job again off the bench, if that’s what needs to be,” said the 31-year-old.

“I want to be starting and contributing to the team but we’ve got a lot of competition and the squad is stronger than it was last year in terms of strength in depth.

“I think we’ve got more competition in training and more options to come off the bench this year.

“Hopefully we can keep this run we’re on going and if we can make a couple of signings in January to reinforce the squad again in January, it will make us even stronger.”

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