FAW ‘Prosiect Cymru’ League Cup Update

Many of you will have seen the recent news and commentary about the FAW’s ‘Prosiect Cymru’ proposals in relation to an expanded Welsh League Cup involving the four Welsh EFL teams.

We thought it was important to set out the involvement we have had in discussions and consultations since the initial proposals were shared last October.

When the proposals from the FAW came to light back in October last year, the Club and Trust Directors had insightful discussions on the respective benefits and drawbacks of the new Cup. At this point, there was not sufficient information available for us to be able to run a full consultation process with the supporter base. This was driven partly by our wish to understand the opinion on the proposal from the various bodies including the English FA, and the Football Supporters’ Association (FSA) as our own membership body. The FA’s opinion on the proposal is particularly important as the governing body for the game in England and in whose league and cup competitions we participate, and which provide our current route to qualification for UEFA tournaments.

As part of the FSA’s own consultation, we were asked to provide input on fan opinion on behalf of Newport fans. On the back of this request, we put this to the wider fan base through communications on social media (see our social media feeds from 13th December 2024).

This enabled us to feed back the following points to the FSA:

• On the whole, the majority of Newport County fans who responded to the request for comment were in favour of an FAW League Cup proposal and the potential for qualification into UEFA competitions alongside the other Welsh EFL clubs.
• There was unanimous agreement that participation should be subject to guarantees that this would not compromise our participation in EFL competitions and the FA Cup.
• Some concerns were raised in relation to fixture congestion and the need to take the competition seriously, and additional representations were made concerning our turbulent history with the FAW in the 1990’s.

Following this consultation process, the FSA have published their response and letter to the English FA. These can be found here: https://thefsa.org.uk/news/supporters-share-concerns-on-welsh-league-cup-plans/

We continue to be in discussions with the Club, who have still not been provided with the full details on the proposal. Once these have been received from the FAW we will meet with the Club to discuss the proposal in full and subsequently commence a full consultation process with the supporters which will be taken into account when deciding next steps.

As ever, please do reach out if there is anything you would like to raise with us at info@ncafctrust.org or get in touch via our social media pages.