Manchester United will feel right at home at Rodney Parade... the roof leaks

They came with their camp chairs and their flasks. They put on their thick coats and woolly hats and for hours they nudged their way down the winding queue in the freezing cold towards the ticket office.

Those who made it strode away from Rodney Parade clutching the prize and phoned family to give them the good news. Those who didn’t get to the front before the shutters came down trudged home and returned the next day.

The first man there, knowing what chaos had come before, arrived at 4am. The ticket office wasn’t meant to open until 10am. Another pleaded not to be photographed because he was meant to be at work.

This is what happens when you support Newport County and Manchester United are coming to town.

‘I know they’re rubbish,’ says life-long supporter Chris Parry. ‘…but it’s Manchester United.’

Chris bought his ticket for the FA Cup fourth-round tie online, as any Newport fan could, but there’s just something he said about being there in the flesh, feeling a part of it. There’s nothing like getting your hands on an actual ticket.

‘I remember queuing up on New Year’s Day in 1979 for a ticket when we played West Ham in the third round,’ he adds. ‘We beat ‘em 2-1. They won the Cup the next year. I was 10 then. I’m in my 50s now. I wanted to feel that again.’

Newport are no strangers to big FA Cup ties at Rodney Parade. They were minutes away from a famous win over Tottenham in 2018 until Harry Kane forced a replay. Manchester City arrived in the fifth round a year later, after Newport knocked out Middlesbrough and Leicester, and Pep Guardiola’s stars only put it to bed in stoppage time. There’s something different, though, about Manchester United.

‘The words on everyone’s lips is Manchester United, Manchester United,’