I MAKE no apologies for returning to the subject of Newport County AFC this week, even though it will enrage at least one online reader of the Argus.

The next six days are too important for me not to use this column to make one final rallying call to the people of Newport, whether you are a football fan or not.

By this time next week, County will either be a football club owned by its supporters or it will be up for sale to the highest bidder.

Fan ownership or a play thing for an unknown rich person? I know which one I’d prefer.

That is why I have backed the idea of the County Supporters’ Trust taking control of the club from the moment it was first mooted.

I’ve ensured the Argus has been fully behind the takeover proposal, though we have asked tough questions about its viability both in print and behind the scenes.

We’ve donated a full page advertisement to the Trust, provided front page coverage of both public meetings, ensured the Trust has been given all the publicity it has needed when it has needed it, and last week I facilitated the presence of Trust committee members at the quarterly M4 Business Network breakfast - ensuring they could put their community share offer proposal to most major businesses in Newport and the surrounding area in one hit.

I’m fully committed to the Trust’s proposal because the people advising them - Supporters Direct - have an excellent track record, because the amount of transparency shown by the Trust has been commendable, and because the alternatives to fan ownership are just too unpalatable.

I’ve put £1,000 of my own money into the share offer fund because it would be wrong of me to write articles imploring people to donate to the scheme without doing so myself.

But my money is no more or less important to the cause than anyone else’s.

Those who can only afford £50, or who are putting in smaller amounts via schemes run by supporters’ groups like the County Choir, will have the same say as me or bigger donors in the club’s future.

I have every confidence the Trust will raise the £195,000 it needs to gain control of the club by next Wednesday’s deadline.

That is all that should matter to County supporters over the next six days.

Give what you can afford to get the Trust over the line.

As of today, £140,000 has been raised.

Success for the share offer means the Trust can pay off the club’s bank overdraft, clear the money it owes to Peterborough United for the transfer of goalkeeper Joe Day, and provide working capital for the rest of the season.

After that, there are agreements in place to repay loans owed largely to current owner Les Scadding and former director Howard Greenhaf, both of whom will gift their shares in the club if the Trust achieves its target by next Wednesday.

The repayment of these loans is a sticking point for some County fans. I get that.

Some are vehemently opposed to repaying money to a Lottery millionaire. I get that.

Personally, I would prefer to see both loans written off.

But that isn’t going to happen, and both men have every right to ask for the return of personal funds they have lent to the club to pay wage bills and the like.

The logic behind not wanting to pay back a loan just because it is owed to a rich person is flawed.

It’s a bit like refusing to pay back a bank loan because the bank isn’t short of a few quid.

Mr Scadding has put around £2 million into the club.

He wants £300,000 of it back over ten years with no interest.

Best of luck to anyone who thinks they can get a better deal than that from Wonga.

The reality is simple.

The Trust is (hopefully) taking over a business. In doing so, they will take on its liabilities.

That is pretty much standard practice in business.

But they won’t be running that business on a day-to-day basis. That will be the responsibility of impressive chief executive Jason Turner and his senior staff.

What Newport County AFC needs now is no bickering, no ludicrous online spats between supporters putting their egos before their club, and no more factions and cliques.

There will be debates, discussions and disagreements to come. But let’s do that as a supporters-owned club. Let’s not throw the baby out with the bath water for the dubious honour of being able to stand in the wreckage and say ‘I was right’.

County should have two targets this season: stabilising as a supporters-owned club with a democratically-elected board of directors, and staying in the Football League.

There is no reason why both cannot be achieved.

l Full details of how to take part in the community share offer can be found here: www.ncafctrust.org

l The Trust is staging share surgeries in the club shop at Rodney Parade today and tomorrow from 6.30pm to 8.30pm.