NEWPORT County legend Len Ashurst has backed John Relish to fill the void left by the sacking of Peter Beadle.

Despite Relish playing down any link to County in the Bath Chronicle, Ashurst, the most successful manager in the club's history, claims his former player is the perfect man to get the Exiles back into the Conference.

Now living in Sunderland, the 69-year-old, who went on to manage the north east club as well as Cardiff City, is working as a match delegate for the Premier League but he still keeps as eye on events in south Wales.

"The demise of the club is very sad," he said. "They've never really recovered from the 1980s but I always look out for the results. It was disappointing that they missed out at the weekend.

"If they are going to get back in the big time they need to do it quickly because the longer they are in the doldrums the more people will begin to lose interest and after two near misses it would be unthinkable to miss out on promotion for a third year running."

Ashurst, manager in the glory years of 1978 to 1982, led the club to promotion from Division Four of the football league and won the Welsh Cup, leading to a famous run in the European Cup Winners Cup.

His side knocked out Crusaders of Northern Ireland and Haugar FC of Norway before going out 3-2 on aggregate in the quarter finals to eventual finalists Carl Zeiss Jena FC of East Germany in front of 18,000 fans at Somerton Park.

One of his star performers was Relish, now manager at the Exiles' Blue Square South rivals Bath City, and Ashurst urged the club's directors to give him the job: "John would be absolutely perfect, he's got Newport County in his blood and I don't see any reason why he shouldn't get the job.

"I'm still in touch with a lot of the players from that time and John knows the club, knows the local scene and he's cut the mustard at that level already having led Bath to 8th in their first season in the Conference South.

"He's been in the game for a long time, he's right on the doorstep and he's got all the credentials. I'd love to see him back there and I'm sure he'd do a fantastic job."