Manchester United will feel right at home at Rodney Parade… the roof leaks – as Newport County stage a dress rehearsal for their money-spinning FA Cup fourth round tie

They came with their camp chairs and their flasks. They put on their thick coats and woolen hats and spent hours in the freezing cold making their way through the winding line to the ticket office.

Those who made it walked away from Rodney Parade with the prize in hand and called the family to tell them the good news. Those who were not forward before the shutters came down trudged home and returned the next day.

The first man there, knowing the chaos that had preceded, arrived at four in the morning. The ticket office was not supposed to open until 10 a.m. Another pleaded not to be photographed because he was supposed to be at work.

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

“I know it’s rubbish,” says lifelong supporter Chris Parry. ‘…but it’s Manchester United.’

Chris bought his ticket for the FA Cup fourth round tie online, as any Newport fan might do, but there’s just something he said about being there in real life and feeling part of it of felt. There’s nothing like getting a real ticket.

“I remember queuing for a ticket on New Year’s Day in 1979 when we played West Ham in the third round,” he adds. ‘We beat them 2-1. The following year they won the cup. I was 10 then. I’m in my fifties now. I wanted to feel that again.’

Newport are no strangers to big FA Cup matches on 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 had eliminated Middlesbrough and Leicester, and Pep Guardiola’s stars only went to bed in stoppage time. However, there is something different about Manchester United.

“The words on everyone’s lips are Manchester United, Manchester United,” Newport secretary Gareth Evans told Mail Sport.

‘There has been a lot of fuss since the draw. Everyone in town is talking about it. Newport playing against United is phenomenal. Also live on the BBC. It doesn’t get much bigger than that. It’s brought the magic back.’

Erik ten Hag’s side come to Wales next Sunday and Mail Sport was given exclusive access to see what they have in store.

A tour of the undressing room doesn’t take long. A small square with gray walls and beige tiles closes around Bruno Fernandes and Marcus Rashford. Plaster chips from one of the corners. In the center is a folding wooden table next to a single physio bench. A few spare chairs and a few bins. There is a small mirror opposite two urinals for any United star who wants to get their hair done. The shower tiles could use some fresh mortar.

United will also feel comfortable in the dugout. There are thirteen seats and only six look comfortable. They are also so close to the crowd. No blockage.

The 1,400 traveling fans can enjoy a pre-match drink in Rodney’s Bar, a small rectangle of corrugated iron in the corner of the away stadium next to a pair of Portaloos. Most will be in an uncovered position.

All this excitement too, while Hollywood Wrexham were the vanquished visitors of the Rodney Parade. In any other weekend, in any other season, this would be the big weekend.

The first all-Welsh league match to take place here in over a decade. A repeat of the 2013 National League play-off final against rivals now jealously dripping with stardust – and money – of Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney. This victory was usually something they talked about in the pubs for weeks, about Seb Palmer-Houlden’s winner, about Wrexham’s Will Boyle waving through the tunnel after his horror tackle on Shane McLoughlin, about the chants of ‘where were you when you used to be’. s***’ on the outside.

But at the end the fans were already singing ‘Manchester United, we’re coming for you.’

Wrexham was the dress rehearsal. How to deal with a large crowd. How to deal with the international media for United, with Wrexham bringing a documentary crew. How the new temporary stands, which increase capacity to 9,500, would hold up.

The fact that some reporters had to move because their seats were double reserved, and that there were frustrated season ticket holders, indicates that there are still lessons to be learned. So did the fact that tough souls, including a man in his eighties, queued for almost five hours on Thursday just for the ticket office to close before reaching the front. This caused such anger that the police were called.

But even that couldn’t take away the anticipation. United and Newport’s half-and-half scarves have already been flogged in a pop-up stall in the city centre.

All remaining tickets will go on general sale tomorrow. When that happened against City, a guy parked his camper outside the gate and slept there overnight.

Manager Graham Coughlan described United as the greatest game in Newport’s history. Others referred to the quarter-finals of the European Cup Winners Cup in 1981. Some referred to the play-off victory over Wrexham which put Newport back in the Football League. It was on this ground that Newport rugby club defeated the All Blacks 3-0 in 1963.

However, this is huge. While the £400,000 payday may be closer to the weekly wages of United’s top earners, for a side like Newport – a trust-managed club on the brink of a takeover by former Swansea owner Huw Jenkins – it is crucial.

It is also vindication for a club that went bankrupt in 1989 and was exiled to Gloucestershire. Its weight can still be felt here.

An old boy finished his breakfast in the greasy spoon of The Coffee Pot before kick-off and turned back to the door. “I hope you beat United,” he shouted to a group in orange.

Well, can they?

“You’ve been in the locker room,” Evans says. ‘You know how cold it is. Are the United boys ready on a bustling Sunday afternoon when there are 8,000 Newport fans shouting?’

The atmosphere in the freezing, rocking Rodney Parade against Wrexham showed just how difficult Newport will make it.

There is one reassuring similarity with Old Trafford. When it rains, the roof of the old stand also leaks. In that respect, United will feel right at home.