Man Utd forced to play FA Cup fourth round tie in modified stadium due to last minute change

3 months ago 22

MANCHESTER UNITED will play their FA Cup fourth round tie in a modified stadium.

The Red Devils will travel to face Newport County after the League Two club were victorious over Eastleigh in their third round replay.

Newport County are adding 1,000 seats to Rodney Parade with a temporary stand[/caption]

Newport boss Graham Coughlan is excited at the prospect of facing the Red Devils in front of a bigger crowd[/caption]

Newport have announced they will be building a temporary stand at Rodney Parade to add 1,000 extra seats for the game.

The new stand will be erected in time to hold fans for both the Man Utd fixture and Newport’s face-off against Wrexham this weekend.

The club announced the plans in a statement on their website that read: “Another 1,000 passionate members of the Amber Army will get the chance to back the Exiles against Wrexham and Manchester United with the erection of a temporary stand behind the North Terrace.

“Construction of the uncovered stand will get underway on Wednesday afternoon in time for the League Two clash with Wrexham on Saturday after the Welsh derby sold out last week.”

The Welsh outfit also revealed that the additional ticket sales will only just cover the cost of building the temporary stand.

But explained they wanted as many fans in the stadium as possible to support the team.

The additional home seats also forces Newport to increase the away end allocation in the stadium to meet FA Cup ticket allocation guidelines.

The 17th placed League Two outfit announced they will be adding a further 400 seats to the away end alongside the addition of the 1,000 seats offered in the temporary home stand.

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Newport are expecting to make around £400,000 from their bout with Premier League heavyweights Man Utd.

The fixture will be shown on BBC One and Exiles boss Graham Coughlan is excited about facing one of the biggest teams in world football.

Speaking to BBC Sport Wales, he said: “It will be a hell of an occasion, It’s a fourth round tie against Manchester United, for me the biggest club in this country, in Europe and in the world.”

Coughlan added that it will be extra special for him with his family all staunch Man Utd fans.

He explained: “We’re a big Manchester United family, we’ve been to FA Cup finals with them, I can’t get my head around it to be honest, they are unbelievable names.

“Just to have Manchester United coming to Rodney Parade is a hell of an achievement.

“I don’t know when it will sink in, I’m sure my family are doing Irish jigs around the house at the moment.”

It will be a big game for Manchester United too as they look to keep their hopes alive for their last remaining chance at a trophy this season.

Erik ten Hag‘s side are languishing in seventh place in the league and have crashed out of both the Carabao Cup and the Champions League.

Their FA Cup clash with Newport on January 28 represents the last chance for the Dutch boss to get some silverware in what has been a torrid season so far.