FORMER Newport County coach Jimmy Goodfellow has died at the age of 76.

Goodfellow played for Port Vale, Workington, Rotherham and Stockport before hanging up his boots in 1979.

He started his coaching career at County as an assistant to manager Len Ashurst and spent three successful seasons in Newport.

The duo masterminded promotion from the old Division Four to Division Three and winning the Welsh Cup before the famous run to the quarter-finals of the European Cup Winners Cup in 1981 when edged out by Carl Zeiss Jena at Somerton Park.

“We send our deepest sympathy and condolences from everyone at the club, to Jimmy’s family and friends,” said a Newport County statement.

Ashurst was appointed as Cardiff City boss in 1982 and Goodfellow followed him to the capital.

He was named as joint-caretaker of the Bluebirds in 1984 and had a short spell as permanent manager.

Following time at Sunderland and Plymouth Argyle in varying roles, Goodfellow returned to Ninian Park under Frank Burrows as the Club’s physiotherapist in 1986 and undertook a number of responsibilities until the late 1990s.