NEWPORT County AFC supporters will be able to pay tribute to Len Ashurst when the legendary former manager’s funeral is live streamed on Monday.
The ex-Ironsides boss died last month at the age of 82 and his funeral is being held in Sunderland, where he made 458 appearances for the men from Roker Park.
A County contingent from his celebrated side are heading to the north east of England to pay tribute and so will Exiles fans in Wales with a YouTube stream starting at 1.55pm before ‘kick-off’ at 2pm.
“Monday will be a celebration of everything that he achieved,” said Newport great John Relish, who was Ashurst’s assistant at Weston-super-Mare and will be at the funeral with former teammates Gary Plumley, Neil Bailey, Keith Oakes and Kevin Moore.
“Most of those that played under him will say that he had a massive influence on their career.
“Len was a big character and an excellent manager. He knew the game inside out to get his teams organised, ready and motivated.”
Ashurst was in charge at Somerton Park between 1978 and 1982, guiding them to the quarter-finals of the European Cup Winners Cup.
He led County to a double in 1980 when his team earned promotion to the third tier of English football and won the Welsh Cup.
The following season they made it to the last eight of Europe when edged out by Carl Zeiss Jena 3-2 on aggregate.
Ashurst was sacked the following year but went on to win promotion with Cardiff City in 1983.
He is a Sunderland great and holds the record for appearances for an outfield player with 458.
Ashurst played for England at youth level and signed for Wolves after being released by Liverpool.
He then moved to Sunderland and was a mainstay of the team from the late 1950s through to the early 1970s.
He was player-manager at Hartlepool and went on to manage Gillingham, Sheffield Wednesday, County, the Bluebirds and Sunderland.
Ashurst manged the national sides of Kuwait and Qatar, as well as Al-Wakrah in Qatar and coaching in Malaysia.
After management, he was influential in helping the FA create the academy system and spent many years assessing match officials in the Premier League.
No log-in is required for the service on YouTube: https://youtu.be/zwRgkUuTkmk
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