Former Hull City stalwart stands on verge of Europa Conference League as job gamble pays off

Win on Saturday and his reward will be a place in the qualifying round of the Europa Conference League.

His search took him to Welsh Premier League Haverfordwest County, who play Newtown at 5.15pm on Saturday live on S4C in a European play-off final.

Important in itself, it will help plans to push the part-time club to the next level.

"You're probably looking at a couple of hundred thousand pounds minimum just to get into the first qualifying round," said Pennock, manager of the month twice in the season County recorded their highest finish with most points and goals scored. "At our level, that's a big thing.

"It would be a big achievement for the club, they've not played in Europe for over 20 years so it would be something special."

Newtown won both regular-season games before the Bluebirds went into the bottom half of the table when the league split. But they won it, plus a semi-final penalty shoot-out against Cardiff Met to set up the decider.

They have big plans as a club.

"The most frustrating part for me has been players' unavailability due to other commitments," admits Pennock. "I have found that hard to get my head around and it's something we as a club are looking to change for next season.

"Well have three training nights next season instead of two. The aim is to go full-time and if we go to three you're not far off a full-time environment. Those clubs probably do four sessions.

"We're also building a gym under the stand.

"Where we're located it's difficult to attract players but we're a club that's moving forwards and people want to be part of it. We've got accommodation to bring in people from further afield.

"The chairman wants to turn it into as close to a full-time squad as he possibly can.

"A lot of the teams we'll be facing play their football in the summer and they'll be playing their season while we're out of season so it is tough for the Welsh clubs to get through that first round.

"I'm planning for two different pre-seasons. If we get through the first leg of the qualifier is July 13 so pre-season will start in early June, whereas if it's the option I don't really want to think about, pre-season will start at the end of June.

"A few wives and families might be a bit disappointed but we've worked all season for this."