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Newcastle United give Watford fans 6,000 tickets for FA Cup but sounds like not exactly a travelling army

5 years ago
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It is Newcastle United v Watford on Saturday.

With the potential of the Magpies making it through to the FA Cup fifth round for the very first time in these 12 years of Mike Ashley’s rule.

Newcastle of course got their first win of the season against Watford, the NUFC goal led a charmed life thanks mainly to the visiting side’s poor finishing, then Ki Sung-yeung swung the game when coming on as a sub and driving  the home side on to that invaluable first PL victory of the campaign.

It was almost a double as Rafa’s side led for most of the away game only to concede late on, Newcastle almost able to take advantage of Garcia feeling he had to rest six of his first team in the festive period, after a tough game against Chelsea a few days earlier.

However, if Watford put out anything resembling a first team side it will be very tough, they are riding high in seventh place in the Premier League and having a great season.

They are in a great position to have a real go at the FA Cup as they are pretty much safe in the Premier League already.

Watford fans have been given a minimum of 6,000 tickets for the match.

However, anybody expecting to see a mass of red and yellow in the Leazes End are set to be disappointed.

When in League Two last season, Watford’s local rival Luton brought over seven thousand fans to St James Park for a 3-1 third round defeat.

Enthusiasm for the FA Cup isn’t quite so high for Watford fans despite their team’s efforts this season.

The official Watford website revealed that as of Friday, less than 600 Watford fans had bought tickets.

So it looks as though they will be lucky to bring even a thousand to the game.

Blackburn had around 3,000 at the St James Park match in a total crowd of 36,440, interesting to see how many Newcastle fans commit to this one. With supporters dizzy on success after two wins in a row and tickets remaining at £10 and £5 for concessions (double the price on the matchday), you would normally expect sales to be brisk. Although there is then another home game against Man City next Tuesday.

One thing I would say, is that surely in these FA Cup games that are never going to sell out, surely the away fans could be accommodated lower down than in league matches.Blackburn fans were the only ones up in Level 7 for that match and could have been accommodated lower down.

You might say so what, it is only the away fans, but then you can’t complain when similar is done to us. It was brilliant when we first played Barcelona away in the Champions League in November 1997 but not so brilliant was the fact that despite only 25,000 being at the game and Newcastle fans making up around half that total, we were all stuck up at the very highest point of the stadium. A very bizarre experience looking down at a stadium that was almost empty.

Watford Official site:

‘Tickets for the Hornets’ trip to St James’ Park to face Newcastle United in the fourth round of the FA Cup (Saturday January 26) are now on general sale.

The allocation available to travelling Watford fans will be at least 6,000. As of 10am this morning (January 18) just under 600 had been sold.’

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