NEWPORT County chairman Chris Blight has defended the club’s extraordinary revolving door transfer policy after the shock release of Paul Hall and Justyn Roberts this week.

The pair became the 11th and 12th players to leave the club since the season began a little over two months ago, following an exodus in the summer.

Blight claims the high squad turnover since manager Dean Holdsworth took charge in May is nothing out of the ordinary and suggested that the departures of Hall and Roberts were necessary to create room for more new arrivals.

“Players come and players go,” said the chairman. “Dean discusses everything with me and we have to constantly rev-iew the size of the squad and the budget.

“I felt it needed trimming a bit if we were to bring new players in. We had a few too many in midfield and up front and we needed to concentrate on the back.

“Paul and Justyn were both travelling long distances to get here and the decision to release them was very amicable on all sides.”

With Roberts gone and captain Ashley Vickers suspended, Holdsworth is left with no recognised central defenders for the trip to Basingstoke on Saturday and Blight confirmed that a move for former favourite Paul Cochlin is on the cards.

“Paul has been told by Bath he can find another club and I know Dean is keen to take him back,” he said. “He perhaps didn’t know Paul that well when he came in and wanted to give the London boys a go but I’m sure he will have had him watched at Bath and as he’s a local lad we would be pleased to have him back.

“Dean was at a disadvantage because he has had to assemble a squad almost from scratch and it’s inevitable there are casualties along the way.

“He has our full support as a board. It’s our job to help him put the tools in the box.”

Blight also took the opportunity to set the record straight on his stint as general manager at the club this summer, insisting he was never paid a wage for the role.

“I was general manager on a full-time basis from July to September,” he said. “That was the crucial time in terms of organising sponsorship, advertising and signing players.

“It was a full-time job and I did it for three months, seven days a week, and I never took a penny from the club because there isn’t the money there,” he said.

“Officially I am no longer general manager as I’ve started employment elsewhere but I am always on the phone to deal with whatever comes up during the week.”