The name is Baker-Richardson, CBR, a star, who has come in from the cold to shake and stir a cocktail that hoists battling Newport into a mid-table Quantum of Solace.
Courtney Baker-Richardson is the strapping Coventry lad with a chiselled look, who has graduated from football's school of hard knocks, a striker sometimes bruised, but always with a secret blueprint.
Treading the steps of his long-time Sky Blues' mentor West Ham and former England international predator Callum Wilson, Baker-Richardson is primed to fire the golden bullets that will blast his beloved Exiles away from any League Two white water.
The brave attack leader, whose catalogue of injuries halted a top-flight career and might have finished the weaker of spirit, clutches a license to kill off any club that threatens Port's assignment to re-stamp their Football League credentials.
County's manager Christian Fuchs waxed lyrical about CBR's interventions in last Tuesday's stunning emphatic 3-1 victory at promotion-seeking Salford - and statistics prove the target man has already made crucial contribution this campaign. The former Crewe attacker's four goals has triggered eight precious points - not to mention the punishing body blows he attracts in Newport's cause.
Opening up exclusively, Baker-Richardson has told of the crippling set-backs which hampered his very realistic drive to become a Premier League icon at Swansea City nine years ago revealing, "At Swansea I was named in the club's 25-man Premier League squad. I made my debut in the Championship under Graham Potter.
"I'd come straight out of non-league at Leamington. I made scored four goals from nine starts. Graham Potter gave me an opportunity, even getting sent off in my first match I managed to turn the narrative back on itself.
"Now, I don't see myself as a League Two player. I knew I had the ability to play in the Championship, I could still play there. But I can't cry over spilt milk. If I did, I wouldn't be anywhere. The injuries have made me who I am. I wish they hadn't been there, but they have been. All this has made me more resilient. Take the injuries away, I'm a consistent double-figure striker".
War horse Baker-Richardson tells of his torment saying, "I have had both my hips operated on, my tendons, the hamstring has been completely restructured after 75% of the muscle erupted. Three times in the last year my right calf has gone. Then it's the right hip and right hamstring. It's never the pain, it's the frustration. I am trying to get on top of it now. I have seen an orthopedist . Got some insoles. They feel good, feeling really refreshed, two days after a mid-week game [at Salford]. I'm trying to maintain fitness and help the boys out of the situation we find ourselves in."
Baker-Richardson is a gargantuanly positive influence on a County team that would easily strike mid-table sanctuary over 46 matches if he had enjoyed full fitness, results over the 21 league games he has influenced prove this.
The big raider, who dons a lion throat tattoo and a stunning King Leonidus of the Spartans arm-mark, makes his 99th Exiles appearance when Cambridge United visit Rodney Parade for a vital crunch this Saturday. He reflected, "Without being egotistical, I do know what I bring to the table, both in attack and the defensive line. Also linking play. I am not a one-dimensional striker. I am a strong physical player with pace, that as the Exiles' fans know, can produce a wide variation of goals. A spartan has to lead. If I have to wear two centre-halves down over 60-70 minutes, that's what I will do. I will take the blows for others. Pain is a mind over matter thing. You'll feel the pain for a moment. I don't mind pain. It's a bit weird, but I will touch an iron to ensure it's hot!"
Baker-Richardson's inner strength comes from the deep love he has for his mum. It was his grounded and culturally-diverse upbringing amongst Coventry's cluster of Hillfields high rises - plus those years in the muck and nettles of non-league football at Tamworth, Nuneaton, Redditch and Leamington that shaped the man today.
He remembered, "At Coventry I played with James Maddison in the youth team - I wore nine and he was the ten. Madders was a great lad, who has really gone on to have a fantastic career at Norwich, Leicester, Tottenham and, of course England. He was a year below me.
"You touch on role models. Mine was Callum Wilson. I base a lot of my game strengths from him. Used to watch him closely from the dugout and side of the pitch when he was at Coventry. He is one of the best movers in terms of a Premiership striker. You can't argue with me because he has scored at every club he has been at."
Ex-Bournemouth, Newcastle and English cap Wilson, 33, is now an Iron in Stratford - the raider has fired 146 goals in 416 matches and cost £25m-plus in the transfer markets. The marksman is a long-term mentor and friend to Baker-Richardson, who revealed, "When I was growing up much of my game was modelled on Call. I told myself him and the likes of Troy Deeney was the player I wanted to become. I am still in touch with Call, quite a lot. I don't really talk to Madders [James Maddison] now - careers move on, as in life doesn't it? "
The much-travelled Jonson Clarke-Harris, 31, once of Bristol Rovers and Peterborough, currently firing goals for top Turkish club Pendikspor, is another valued confident of Baker-Richardson.
He said, "Jonson is a 150-goal striker throughout the EFL system. He is my inspiration, even though he is less than two years older than me. He has taught me much - inside and outside football. He is a key person for me. I ain't scared to tell anybody I love them. I am blessed, everyone around me was there for a purpose."
No more so than Baker-Richardson's mother. The raider admitted, "She is my angel. When I played non-league she charged me £50 a month rent. She said, 'Go and follow your dream, do what you have to'. But it wasn't easy, of course. I was a kid playing in the non-league, you tend to stick out. At Leamington I played under my legend Paul Holleran and managed to find form. I was only 18 or 19, but I was a big lad who took no stick. It was a man's game. I was wasn't scared to get scars and for my face to get wounds.
"But I loved this chapter in my life. It was tough because I was working as well. I delivered white goods for a while and was getting up at 7am to go and do ground work with my cousin - then playing football on a Tuesday and Saturday. But I am so proud to be from Coventry CV1. There is love for me there, I have just bought a house in the city."
Baker-Richardson will break 50 goals for the Port shortly and is totally charged to haul Newport out of any bother in their section saying, "I will lead and put my body on the line for the club. There is an emotional attachment. Injuries are negatives. There is nothing worse than sitting on the side lines watching the lads from a distance knowing you can do anything about things.
"I just turned 30 on December 5th. Mentally I feel unbreakable, the best I have ever felt. I know I do the boss' head in [Christian Fuchs]. I come in and put the music on straight away. If you don't laugh you'd cry, nothing surprises me anymore. Most players hit their prime between 26 and 30. I feel mine will now be 30-34. "
Asked if he hadn't notched the amount of career matches he had desired, Baker-Richardson responded, "Possibly, but there have been a lot of factors. Right now I am hoping and praying I can stay injury free to help Newport get the job done - this is my main focus at the moment. I came back to the club [Newport] because I have an emotional attachment . When I left Swansea I was out injured for around 18 months.
"But Newport's then manager Michael Flynn gave me a chance. I love the club, the atmosphere. I was in a team that maybe wasn't the best technically, but a team full of fighters and grafters. The last year has been tough because I haven't recognised the Newport I love.
"I said to the boys after we beat Chesterfield [2-1 at Rodney Parade last month], maybe the the following results didn't go our way. But it is the willingness to fight, heart and grit is what's required to be a Newport player. This is what our fans want to see and deserve. Winning is a luxury, but you have to earn it and it's earnt through doing the basics first and foremost."
