Newport’s clash with Man Utd is biggest game in club’s history – Graham Coughlan

Newport manager Graham Coughlan says playing Manchester United in the FA Cup tie will be the biggest in the club’s history (Robbie Stephenson/PA)

Newport manager Graham Coughlan has described hosting Manchester United in the FA Cup as the biggest game in the club’s history.

County booked a money-spinning fourth round date with the 12-time winners at Rodney Parade on January 28 by winning 3-1 at non-league Eastleigh on Tuesday.

The Sky Bet League Two outfit have become used to entertaining Premier League big guns in recent years, welcoming Manchester City and Tottenham among others, while the old Newport County played in the European Cup Winners’ Cup in the 1980s before going out of business.

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But Dubliner Coughlan, a massive United fan who joked his family would be “doing Irish jigs around the house” after Newport beat Eastleigh, insisted the visit of Erik ten Hag’s side will top those occasions.

“It’ll be a hell of an occasion,” Coughlan told BBC Sport Wales ahead of the first-ever meeting between the two clubs.

“It’s a fourth round tie against Manchester United, for me the biggest club in this country, in Europe and in the world.

“I know some people would lean towards the fifth round game against Manchester City (in February 2019), but I’d say Manchester United all day long.”

Newport played Manchester City in the fifth round of the FA Cup in 2019 (Nick Potts/PA)

Coughlan recalled before the Eastleigh replay how United had left him in tears as a four-year-old when Arsenal beat them 3-2 in the famous “Five-minute final”