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Manchester United travel to Newport County this weekend for the FA Cup fourth round tie at Rodney Parade.
Erik ten Hag’s men will be desperate to avoid slipping up against the Welsh side who are one of the lowest ranked teams left in competition.
The League Two club are naturally delighted to be welcoming the biggest football club in the country to their humble abode on Sunday with the Newport fans gearing up for a day to remember.
BBC Wales report the “buzz” around the town with the highly anticipated game already a registered sell out.
It will be the first meeting between the two sides with the fixture worth a reported £400,000 to the club that is thought to have the lowest budget in League Two.
However, it isn’t the first time United have helped out the side from south Wales with a classy gesture from the Red Devils back in 1976 keeping Newport afloat.
As reported by BBC news, United sent a team of stars to play a ‘south Wales XI’ so that County could raise some funds to ease some of the financial pressure they were under at the time.
United, then managed by Tommy Docherty, took a strong side on the day which included internationals such as Alex Stepney, Sammy McIlroy, Lou Macari, Steve Coppell and Gordon Hill.
United lost 0-1, but it was the £8,000 raised that helped ensure Newport survived financially in a season which saw them narrowly avoid relegation from the football league that was the real success.
However, the old club did finally go out of business in 1989 after being in existence for 77 years but Newport County AFC was formed from the ashes and this weekend’s fixture could well represent the biggest fixture in their history.
United are looking to reach back-to-back finals in the Cup and Ten Hag will be hoping a good run in the competition can ease the pressure currently heaped on his shoulders.
Having been dumped out of Europe and well behind the chasing pack in the Premier League, the FA Cup represents United’s last chance of scooping some silverware in what has been a season to forget so far.
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