IT’S that most wonderful time of the year.

With four days to go until the start of Newport County AFC’s adventure in the Football League, there really is nothing else to discuss today.

It’s the standard time of year in this column where predictions are made and appetites are hopefully whetted for the season ahead.

Only this time it’s different. I know it, you know it, the whole city of Newport knows it.

It’s much like Texas really, everything is bigger. Life as we knew it, the football scene we’ve known nothing but for 25 years, it’s gone.

Before I delve into the prospects for the coming season, a personal moment of context, specifically aimed at those who seem to think that as a reporter, crisis and drama is preferable to progress and glory.

In my first season covering the Exiles, they kicked off their campaign at Spytty Park, thrashing Carshalton 4-1 with new hope Mark Draycott scoring on debut.

“This is pretty good,” I thought.

Newport were beaten in their next five successive home games and had accrued a total of four points by the end of October before a vital 1-0 win over (now Isthmian Premier League outfit) Bognor Regis Town.

“This is actually brutal,” I thought.

As it was, the 2005/06 season was transformed by the arrival of Peter Beadle and the Exiles escaped relegation back to the Southern League by the skin of their teeth.

I watched those dismal home games in a press box where only I and club photographer Colin Jeremiah (if it rained) ever sat.

Whereas other journalists share quips and helpful information in press boxes across the land, I was reliant on the supporters who sat in front of the dilapidated press box. Ron in his shorts with his radio was my line to the outside world.

If I misreported anything, there would never be any evidence other than fan recollection that I was wrong, no internet highlights, no other match reports.

By October, County were struggling to attract crowds of 650.

Fast forward to Saturday. Thousands upon thousands at shiny and lovely Rodney Parade with the new £100,000 pitch.

A millionaire chairman, a manager with a Midas touch, two days at Wembley, a team of true calibre, excitement in the city and kids wearing County shirts all over Newport.

Move over Liverpool and United. Finally.

The Football League. The elite 92. The dream.

County’s media day last week saw four representatives of national newspapers and three different TV companies in attendance. We have entered an entirely different universe and to that end the Exiles have appointed a new secretary and media officer, Tim Lane, who joins from the FAW.

To be part of all that, to watch at close quarters as the club fulfilled its dream, and to now get a ringside seat as they start their second coming in the Football League, it’s nothing short of a privilege and, I assure you, infinitely preferable to the days of Draycott and mass player sackings and pantomimes on and off the field. Interest in the club has never been higher.

If I sound uncharacteristically positive and wistful then it’s because I am; I am genuinely enthused by Newport’s prospects this term.

It has nothing to do with the unbeaten pre-season – Anthony Hudson’s Newport beat Cheltenham and drew with a strong Stoke team, I invest no stock in pre-season whatsoever other than as a public fitness drill – I just feel the Exiles have a sound basis.

Newport are currently impressive from top to bottom. They’ve gone from light years behind where they should be off the field to catching up fast, making professional appointments to positions that simply can’t be filled by people with day jobs. Off the field they might make mistakes, but there is a badly needed solidity finally in place and the early signs are encouraging. In comparison with anything in the past, their handling of a delicate situation recently with goalkeeper Lenny Pidgeley was exemplary.

On the field I mark them out as, at the very least, extremely competitive. It’s a relatively small squad but with at least two players competing for each position, even if I make County short of at least one central midfielder, the situation is good. But utilisation of the loan market is an absolute must in the coming weeks, especially with Mike Flynn injured.

However, as a fully paid-up member of the ‘In Just we Trust’ brigade, I can’t pretend that I don’t think County’s manager is the real reason to be truly optimistic.

His record at Newport is simply stunning and needs no repeating. Does he make mistakes? Of course. It’s easy to quibble at a substitution here, a failure to change a formation there. But doing that ignores the wider picture.

Edinburgh isn’t pitching into battle against Jose Mourinho or Alex Ferguson... yet. Based on his accomplishments so far, I back him to continue his and the club’s extraordinary trajectory.

I don’t foresee relegation worries for Newport and the safe bet is to plump for a mid-table finish, the bookies’ odds of 50-1 for the Exiles to win the division and joint fourth odds of 14-1 to finish bottom reflecting that even a mid-table prediction is an optimistic one.

But there is an increasing squeeze in League Two.

The gap last season between finishing in the play-offs and as low as 15th was only nine points, and the cushion between 15th and relegation was also nine points.

The little things really do matter in a division like that, and having heard Edinburgh talk so positively about his long-term plans for the club, I’ll assume he’s here for the whole campaign and have no reason to doubt he’ll get the little things right more often than not.

And more often than many, indeed most, of his rival managers.

The play-offs aren’t inconceivable.

The Exiles have a squad with plenty of Football League experience, plenty of pace and, most importantly, bags of goals with Aaron O’Connor, Christian Jolley, Chris Zebroski and Danny Crow all with huge points to prove. Having seemingly transformed physically from boy to man, don’t count out Conor Washing-ton contributing too.

Washington went from being a big fish in a small pond at St Ives Town in the United Counties League to a small fish at a professional club last term and it’s only natural it’s taken some adjusting to. And that’s a good metaphor for Newport County this season.

For 25 years you’ve been a major attraction in non-league football, but now you’re entering a different stratosphere. Just like Washington last season, Newport are now ready to live their dream and mix it with the big boys.

We wouldn’t have it any other way. Your time is now.