“I was driving down the M1, between my family home in Sheffield and Newport, when my phone started going crazy,” explains the Newport County manager Graham Coughlan in his Dublin accent.
“Man United were playing Wigan, and my wife and kids called. They were shouting and not making much sense. It was all ‘Man Utd this’ and ‘Man Utd that’.
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“I support United — everyone in my family does, apart from one son who is a Sheffield Wednesday season ticket holder. I just assumed United had scored. Then my phone started going bang, bang, bang. I pulled over at the next services and read the messages. It was the FA Cup draw: ‘Eastleigh or Newport v Wigan or Man Utd’. I thought ‘Holy Jesus!’.
“It was surreal. I’ve been in professional football for 30 years as a player and a manager and waited for a draw against Man United. I continued my journey thinking, ‘This could be a once-in-a-lifetime experience, I’m not going to let that go.’ My players felt the same. We just had to beat Eastleigh — and we did.”
Newport’s 3-1 third-round replay win away to the non-League side set up a first-ever competitive meeting with United in the Welsh city this Sunday.
“My support for United comes from my dad,” says Coughlan. “He used to take us to Old Trafford a lot in the 1980s — by ferry or plane. I shed a lot of tears because there were so many tough moments as a United fan. I remember losing an FA Cup game to Bournemouth, a final defeat against Liverpool in the League Cup.”
The small matter of being a professional footballer, then a manager, limited his chances to attend matches.
“I still go to United games, just not as often as I’d like because I have a team to manage,” Coughlan adds. “I have a few beers and a sing-song, but it’s not like when I was younger. I’d play in the Leinster Senior League and the games (in that competition) were on a Sunday morning. I’d go to Old Trafford on the Saturday and my old manager used to go mad at me, as I’d often be late for the game on the Sunday morning. He was a United fan too. In the end, he’d say, ‘Look, just let me know when you’re going over’.”
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Coughlan going professional coincided with United becoming good again.
“I certainly wasn’t going to miss that period,” he says. “So I got over as much as I could. Then, in 1995, I moved to Blackburn Rovers, which isn’t a million miles from Old Trafford. I never got a chance with the Blackburn first team and that was tough. I thought about going back to Ireland so many times, then I met a girl, Tara, who I’m still with. She’s from Clitheroe, near Blackburn.
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“Then I started playing all the time, and watching United became harder. I played for Livingston in Scotland, then had four years at Plymouth (2001-05). But my time at Plymouth coincided with the cup finals being at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff (a shorter journey than to Manchester or Wembley), so it wasn’t too bad as I could see United play there.
“I remember going to Old Trafford to see the team lose to Arsenal, then going into training the next day and not being in the best condition after a long drive. I sailed close to the wind with my time-keeping several times, but Man United is part of me, my DNA. Watching United in full flow at Old Trafford is one of the great spectacles in life.”
In a professional career of almost 500 games, Coughlan rose as high as the Championship with Wednesday, where he was player of the season in 2005-06.
Now 49, he looks back fondly on his playing days and feels his experience as a player in the lower divisions helps him as a manager.
“It’s very hard to enjoy yourself as a player at that level because you are always thinking about the next contract, the next season, the future,” Coughlan says. “You don’t earn life-changing amounts of money to secure your future. There’s always a worry, and it’s important that you’re good with your finances.
“Luckily, I played five years in the Championship and that helped financially, but I can strongly relate to my players at Newport because I’ve been there (in their situation). I’ve had those worries and I feel for them, but I also respect them and I have their back. The players have run through brick walls for me at every club I’ve managed.”
Coughlan had eight years at Southend United, where he ended his playing career, learning the coaching ropes and moved to Bristol Rovers of League One as an assistant to Darrell Clarke in summer 2018. Within months, Clarke was sacked and it was Coughlan’s time to go it alone.
“First game was Sunderland away,” he smiles, remembering that match in front of a near-30,000 crowd. “We went ahead (after 11 minutes). I thought management was easy! I’d cracked it after half an hour. The goal was something we’d worked on in the 24 hours I’d had with them. They tell you to be calm, but inside I was doing somersaults.
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“As a manager, you experience totally different emotions to being a player, where you can influence directly on the pitch. Less so as a manager, you’re at the mercy of the players. But we played well. I got the players onside. We lost 2-1, but even the Sunderland fans applauded us.”
Coughlan did things his way.
“We got to fourth in League One (the following season) and I thought we could push on and get into the Championship. The lads had organised their Christmas party after one of the games. They’d booked a hotel, got a bus; fancy dress or whatever. But we were 2-0 down at home to my old club Southend. I was fuming at half-time. I told them they would be coming in training the following morning if I had another 45 minutes of the same crap and that I didn’t care about their Christmas do.”
Rovers went out and scored four second-half goals.
“I walked into the changing room and the lads sat there silent,” Coughlan recalls. “Then they all jumped up and started dancing around celebrating. I told them never to put me through that again. They had their Christmas do.”
Coughlan left soon after to manage Mansfield Town in League Two, then took charge of the under-21s at Sheffield United in early 2021.
“I was supposed to have a break after Bristol Rovers, then after Mansfield Town, but I went straight into new jobs,” he says. “A break because I’d been living away from home for so long — something like 14 years away from my family in Sheffield. The kids were growing up and I missed them. I was seeing my wife once a week. I was changing nappies one minute, the next they (his children) were driving cars. They grow up so quickly and I missed so much of it, some good years of their lives that you don’t get back.
“I have regrets. I also have an unbelievable wife and I try to make up for it with family on holidays. And when I do have time with them, I go out with them. I go to bars in Sheffield with my daughters, who are aged 22 and 19. I still think I’m 21. I just want to be with my kids. But I have to do this. This is football, the game can chew you up and spit you out. It can be horrible at times, so you need to work.”
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Since October 2022 he’s been at Newport, just over the Severn Bridge from his old stomping ground in Bristol. They are currently 14th in the 24-team fourth tier, playing in front of average home crowds of just over 4,000 at Rodney Parade.
“When I arrived, there were a lot of people worried about the future of the club,” Coughlan says.
He lifted them from 19th to finish 15th in that debut season, almost doubling their average points per game from 0.8 to 1.4, and they are now enjoying their best run of form under him: unbeaten in seven matches, the latest a 1-0 win over fellow Welsh side Wrexham at the weekend in a game which used the temporary stands erected for the United tie. Almost 10,000 were there, the same number as will get in on Sunday. Many of Coughlan’s family, including his parents, are coming.
“The people (at Newport) have been good to me and the players,” he says. “They’re realistic, we don’t have mad, crazy ambitions. They’re supportive, and there have been many occasions where the fanbase have put their hands in their pockets to provide equipment, kit, or trips for the players. Win, lose or draw, that brings the bond together with the players and the fans.
“These fans just want to see their players run through brick walls for that badge, for their club. I feel the community. We live in it. The ground is five minutes from the centre and you can have a little pub run along the way. And to give the fans the cup run is wonderful.”
There’s a buzz in Newport, Wales’ third-biggest city, as the 12-time FA Cup winners are set to roll in. As a United fan rather than as an opposing manager, what does Coughlan think of them this season?
“Very frustrating,” he says. “There’s been a disconnect between the club and the fans in recent years. The recruitment — which was one of Sir Alex Ferguson’s strengths — has not been great. United shouldn’t be second-, third- or fourth-choice for players; it should be the dream to play for Man United. United are not getting the best players for their money, but the fans will always be there, through thick and thin. It needs to be better.”
Is he optimistic Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s involvement will bring improvement?
“Oh yeah, things can only get better,” he says. “To be fair, United have been reaching cup finals and finished second in the league recently. It’s not too far away. It needs that one per cent extra from every player, fan, board member, and I’m sure the good times will return.
“I don’t see why not under (counterpart) Erik ten Hag. He’s got good players there and plenty of young players coming through. Alejandro Garnacho is a special talent, Kobbie Mainoo too. He looked like a seasoned pro with 300 games to his name when he played at Everton on his debut (at age 18). I’d take that all day long, and I can’t wait to see him develop.”
Coughlan will likely have another chance to watch him on Sunday when he sends Newport out to try to beat the club he supports.
(Top photo: Harry Trump/Getty Images)