TERRY Butcher says he’s excited by the prospect of building a club and “exceeding expectations” at Newport County AFC – just like he did at Inverness Caledonian Thistle.
Butcher guided minnows Inverness to promotion to the Scottish Premier League in 2010 and into the top six before leaving for Hibernian in 2013.
He wants to inspire County to similar success and carry on the good work of his predecessors Justin Edinburgh and Jimmy Dack, who leads the team for the final time against Oxford United tomorrow afternoon.
“There are similarities between Newport County AFC and Inverness,” said Butcher.
“It appealed to me because at Inverness I built the club up and that’s what I want to do here.
“We had that mentality at Inverness that it was so far away that nobody wanted to play us and we want to get that same mentality here.
“At Inverness we far exceeded expectations and that’s what we want to do here. The teams that I’ve build generally do pretty well.”
Butcher is confident that the club matches his ambitions and he believes he can help the Exiles continue their progress.
“I talked to [director] Howard Greenhaf and it’s great to meet [chairman] Mr Scadding today,” said Butcher.
“They are ambitious and the club is ambitious but I’m not going to make targets; we want to get off to a good start and then build from there.
“I’m not starting from the bottom,” he added. “This club has had a good season so it’s nice to come into a club where you’re not having to fight fires.
“Usually you come into a club where things have gone drastically wrong but they haven’t gone wrong here, they’ve gone very much right.
“I’ll be watching the game [today] and I must say that Jimmy and Justin have done a great job here this season.
“They’ve made great progress and the position the club is in is frustrating having been in the play-offs for so long.
“Saturday is all about Jimmy and the players and hopefully they’ll win and the players can show me that they want to be at this football club.”
But he added: “There could well be a lot of transfer activity. I’ll assess the squad and then go from there.
“I’ve got all summer to look at everything behind the scenes and build a football team.
“I’m not worried about next season in terms of a hangover.
“It’s a new manager, a new way of thinking, new coaching staff and new principles and ideals.
“Everything is new and everything is fresh and sometimes for a club to progress you need to get rid of the dead wood, strip it right back and start again.”
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