I received a bit of fan mail from a Manchester City fan that I wanted to share with you.
From the get-go, I covered an announcement of our upcoming FA Cup opponents on Wednesday (February 25, 2026).
That official announcement from Man City to Manchester City fans: ‘The Club has received an initial allocation of 4,893 tickets, including 24 wheelchair spaces and a number of tickets for ambulant fans. Newcastle United is currently liaising with the Safety Advisory Group and relevant local authorities. Depending on the outcome of these discussions, the initial allocation of 4,893 away tickets may be increased. Further details will be communicated as soon as possible.”
The rules for the FA Cup are that away fans are entitled to 15% of the stadium capacity, so for St James’ Park with over 52,000 seats that equates to around 7,500 tickets that Manchester City fans would be entitled to. Clubs like Luton have been given that allocation for FA Cup matches at St James’ Park in the recent past and have brought those figures with them.
Anyway, I pointed out that the competition rules for the Carabao Cup mean that supporters are entitled to 10% of the stadium capacity and that Manchester City fans were allocated 4,893 tickets for their semi-final match at St James’ Park last month, only to have a number of blocks of tickets returned because Man City supporters had not bought them. A third or more of the tickets were returned, with only around 3,200 Manchester City fans in the SJP for the Carabao Cup semi-final.
In response to this news article that I posted on Wednesday, I/we received the message below.
It’s from Stan the Manchester City fan:
Re: Joe Dixon on city ticket allocation
Exeter City took more fans to The Etihad than Newcastle United. Exeter city!! Fact.
Can you please let Joe know about this?
Why would any sensible fan travel to Newcastle at 8pm for an FA Cup match, which could go to ET and penalties? I live in Barnsley, there are no trains back to York, Doncaster or Wakefield that are suitable. Furthermore, as you know, parking on the ground is extremely limited and Q Park is fully booked for this match. So the fans who will attend will largely be those who travel by supporters bus or those with more money who can make a weekend of it.
3pm KO would generally be much more desirable.
Stan
A few…facts
Of course, much of what Stan says is true.
Newcastle United fans, better than any other Premier League fanbase, know the demands of traveling to away games. Especially when matches are moved to the most inconvenient dates/times and there are no return trains etc. etc. The distances Newcastle United fans have to travel the following season compared to that of Manchester City fans and virtually every other PL fanbase, perfectly summed up by the fact that last season the nearest away Premier League match for Newcastle United fans was a nearly 300 mile round trip to the Etihad!
However, we are only talking facts here, so here are a few.
Having just looked at several Manchester City sites, they are struggling to sell this initial allocation of 4,893 tickets for the FA Cup match at St James’ Park. Manchester City fans say they hope they can sell most of the initial allocation, but they certainly won’t need any more tickets.
My buddy Stan is right when he says that (this season…) ‘Exeter City took more fans to the Etihad than Newcastle United. Exeter city!! Fact.’
Exeter City received 7,800 tickets for their FA Cup match at the Etihad in January, 15% of capacity under FA Cup competition rules.
While for the Carabao Cup semi-final on Wednesday 4 February 2026 at the Etihad, NUFC supporters were allocated 5,359 tickets (10% of capacity under Carabao Cup competition rules) and 5,359 Newcastle United fans who bought 5,359 tickets (as opposed to Manchester City fans who only bought around 3,200, less than two-thirds of the tickets they were allocated for the first leg at SJP).
Less than two years ago, Newcastle United fans traveled to the Etihad for an FA Cup match against Manchester City on March 16, 2024. NUFC supporters were given a ticket allocation of 7,800 (15% of capacity under FA Cup competition rules) and United took 7,800 fans to the match, quickly selling out the entire allocation.
Who knows how many Newcastle United fans would buy tickets if they could?
Tickets for the FA Cup match in Newcastle are now on sale to all Manchester City fans who are members.
There are over 100,000 Newcastle United fans who are members and none of them can buy tickets for any away match…
#received #fan #mail #Manchester #City #fan