Newport County AFC’s fourth signing of the summer – Keanu Marsh-Brown – believes the chance to join the club has come at the perfect time for him to continue his development within the Football League.
The 6’1” winger put pen to paper on a two-year contract with the club yesterday, which will see Marsh-Brown stay at Rodney Parade through to the summer of 2020.
He brings to the club a vast amount of experience in the Football League – having played in League One and League Two for five previous clubs.
That also includes two successful promotions into League Two whilst plying his trade with Barnet and Forest Green Rovers respectively, starting in the play-off final on 14th May 2017 as Rovers triumphed 3-1 over Tranmere Rovers.
At international level, Marsh-Brown has been rewarded for his fine domestic appearances and has been capped at England ‘C’ level on three occasions. This goes alongside his appearances at England U16 and U17 level.
Here, read what Marsh-Brown exclusively told iFollow Exiles on his first day as a Newport County AFC player – including why he feels that playing for the Exiles will be the perfect opportunity to re-establish himself in the Football League, why he wants the taste of promotion again whilst with the club as-well as why signing before pre-season will give him the perfect chance to integrate within the squad ahead of the new campaign.
On joining Newport County AFC on a two-year contract…
“I come to this club with a great reaction to joining. Spoke to the manager quite a lot throughout the summer, he showed a lot of interest in me and I feel like it is the correct decision for me at this point in my career.
“Obviously, I just want to get my head down and play as many games as I can. I want to do well for this team and hopefully help them be pushing as high up the table as possible.
“Mike Flynn showed me a lot of love and I think that’s what you need as a player. He gives me a lot of confidence and he knows what he wants from me next season. That was the main reason that I wanted to come here to be honest.
“Got promotion with Forest Green, was there for three years and I had some good times there but now it’s time to move on and kick on.”
On what he can bring to Newport County AFC ahead of the 2018/19 campaign…
“Well I would like to think of myself as an exciting player. I like to play for the fans, the crowd, and get everyone off their seats.
“I like to score goals, long-range goals as you can see from before in my career, and I like to win games. I’m a matchwinner and I hope the fans will be happy with me signing here – I want to do well for this football club.
“Obviously I’ve seen who the club has signed previously. Jamille Matt is a good striker and they’ve also got a good striker here from last year in Padraig Amond. I’m looking forward to playing with them and hopefully providing the assists.
“It’s a huge thing for me as-well [to impress the fans.] I like to bring a lot of skill to the game and create things. I’m a player that likes to take risks – if you don’t take risks then you’ll never know what might happen.
“Hopefully, I can bring joy to a lot of the fans and they’ll be happy to watch me.”
On signing for the club ahead of pre-season training and the league curtain raiser at Mansfield Town on August 4th…
“You need that first month with the team to get that team bonding. We want a strong pre-season and then when the season starts, we want to hit the ground running.
“I’ve been to Mansfield at the beginning of a campaign with my past club Forest Green Rovers. They create a great atmosphere there, nice stadium and a nice pitch.
“It’ll be good to go there and play football – hopefully we can go there, play well, and get the three points.
“I’m not really too fussed about stuff like that [potentially making my debut away from home.] I just want to get on the pitch and do well – score goals, assist and win games. That’s all that interests me really.”
On what his two previous promotions and experience in League One can bring to the team…
“I can hopefully bring a lot of experience into the team because I’ve obviously played at a higher level and been involved with other big clubs.
“I will try to bring that experience into the team and if we can get another cup run then that would be great. It would be great for me and great for the boys so that’s the main thing – just to do well.
“I think it’s just about quality on the day. You just have to win games, and everyone has to be on point – that’s the main thing, everyone has to bring their ‘A’ game and then the team can achieve anything.
“You only have to look at last year, the teams that got promoted into League One might not have been expected to achieve that.
“You just have to be hungry. You have to be at it every day and you really need a squad that trusts each other. Things might not go great all the time, but you have to have belief in your team mates. You all need to have the same mindset of wanting that promotion – if you strive for that then it’ll happen at the end.”
On his hopes and aims for the new season…
“You can have a great cup run but the league is the most important thing. You want to push for that promotion – whether that be a spot in the play-offs or finishing high in the table.
“I think, looking at the play-offs specifically, it’s all about staying positive and building on that positive mindset.
“You have to believe in everything that you are doing and once you have that positive energy then the rest will come.
“It’ll be a long, long season so you just have to keep picking up points as you go on. You have to just keep ticking over and get as many points as you can.
“Keep strong and stay strong as a team. If we do that, the rewards will happen at the end.”
Your first chance to watch Keanu Marsh-Brown and all the other new signings will be away at Mansfield on the 4th August.