The Emirates FA Cup has provided Coventry City with an opportunity to chime with their supporters and the Sky Blues faithful are set to march on Milton Keynes this weekend.
Mark Robins’ side recorded a superb 2-1 victory over Premier League Stoke City in the third round in front of 14,199 supporters at the Ricoh Arena, a figure dwarfing Coventry’s average home League Two attendance of just under 7,600.
The Sky Blues’ allocation of 8,000 tickets for their fourth-round trip to MK Dons – Coventry have only reached this stage three times in the last nine years – sold out within three working days.
That was music to the ears of chief executive Dave Boddy, who is thrilled to see Sky Blues fans so enamoured with the grandeur of the Emirates FA Cup.
“The win over Stoke was one of the biggest-attended ties of the round,” he said.
“The BBC did the programme for the draw from the Ricoh on the Monday night, which continued the excitement, and then, to draw MK Dons away, which is a relatively local derby for us, has also captured the imagination of the supporters.
“The stadium holds 30,000 and they could allocate us 8,000 – we sold them within three days
“They didn’t get past going on sale to season-ticket holders and they didn’t make it to general sale, so we believe that we would have sold a lot more than that.
“The atmosphere is going to be pretty electric, I think. It’s a fabulous stadium and it will be 50-50 in terms of spectators, so I think it’s going to be a great atmosphere.
“The crowds are starting to go up for league games as well and as we get to the business end of the season, we’re expecting some pretty big attendances.
“We’re doing a community day on the 10th of February against Accrington Stanley, where we’re doing tickets for £5 in advance and £10 on the day, and giving tickets away to schools as well, and the crowd for that game is already topping 14,000.
“We’ve got some big games to come in the remainder of the season – against Lincoln City and we’ve still got Luton Town to come, too – so assuming that we continue in the vein we are in the field, we’re expecting some big crowds in the second part of the season.”
And has a run including that already includes a bona fide giant-killing also captured the imagination of those employed by the club?
Boddy added: “The manager is excited about it, the players are buzzing too and so are the staff. People are looking forward to the day immensely.
“For a league game, there’s always pressure to win points – there’s absolutely no pressure on us for this game.”
Emirates FA Cup history
Coventry won the Emirates FA Cup in the 1986-1987 season, Gary Mabutt’s 95th-minute own goal handing the Sky Blues a 3-2 win over Tottenham Hotspur after added time.
MK Dons, who this week appointed Dan Micciche as their new manager, had their best-ever run when they reached the fifth round in the 2012-13 season.
Did you know?
Coventry’s famous win over Spurs in May 1987 was their first-ever domestic cup final.
The prize
The winner of Sunday’s tie will earn £90,000 and a place in the fifth round.
