The standout tie of the second round of the Carabao Cup sees League Two outfit Grimsby Town host Manchester United on Wednesday.
The visitors will be going into the match as overwhelming favourites but will be wary of becoming the third Premier League side to lose to lower league opposition in the space of 24 hours after Leeds United and Sunderland were dumped out of the competition on Tuesday night.
Paired together for their first meeting since a 1-1 draw in 1948, a trip to Blundell Park will be an unfamiliar setting for Manchester United for a few reasons.
Aside from the 77-year gap since last visiting, Blundell Park will be a more intimate ground than Ruben Amorim’s squad are used to.
Originally built in 1899, before being turned into an all-seater stadium in 1995, the current capacity of the ground is a tad over 9,000. In comparison United’s iconic Old Trafford is more than eight times bigger at above 74,000 – and they have plans to build a new 100,000-seater stadium by 2032.
Blundell Park is a sell-out for Wednesday and such was the fans’ clamour for a ticket that the club’s website crashed almost instantly when the draw was made earlier this month.
Liverpool
V
Arsenal
*18+, excludes NI. Terms and conditions apply
‘We had to put a pause on the website until we regrouped on the Thursday morning,’ Grimsby Town chief executive Polly Bancroft told BBC Sport.
‘My phone went crazy. It was a pinch me moment for everyone connected to Grimsby Town.’
The Grimsby supporters will be looking to play their part as a 12th man, as the hosts look to gain any possible advantage they can over their lofty opposition.
The Mariners currently sit fourth in League Two – 56 places and three divisions – below Manchester United who are 15th in the Premier League.
If that gulf in standings isn’t enough, then consider the squad values on show.
According to Transfrmarkt, Grimsby’s squad value is worth £3.1million compared to United’s mammoth £765.1m. So just the ‘small’ matter of £762m between the two squads then.
So far this summer, Grimsby have signed five players – with four of them on a free bar Jaze Kabia who joined from non-league Truro City for an undisclosed fee. In comparison, United have signed four players for more than £200m with the Red Devils still keen to bolster their squad.
The financial clout of the two clubs is apparent when you consider their record signings. Grimsby’s remains Lee Ashcroft for £500,000 from Preston North End in 1998, their opponents is the £89.5m acquisition of Paul Pogba from Juventus in 2016 – a then world-record fee.
Pogba helped United win the League Cup in his first season at the club and the Red Devils have won this competition six times. In total they have won 68 major honours. Grimsby’s major honours? None.
Both teams have young managers at the helm with Grimsby’s David Artell, 44, just four years older than Amorim, 40. Their managerial career paths are very different though with Artell’s eight-year career seeing him manager just Crewe Alexandra and now Grimsby – winning promotion from League Two with the former in 2019-20.
Amorim is the more high-profile manager with his seven-year career largely having been in Portugal where he won six major honours – including two league titles with Sporting.
If United were to lose on Wednesday then social media will pile in on Amorim. The stature of the club’s can be measured there as well with United boasting a combined 178.4million followers across Facebook, Instagram and X, while Grimsby tally a 189,000 social-media following across those same platforms totalled.
While all those numbers are daunting, the only figure that will come late Wednesday night is the scoreline. Can Grimbsy cause an upset?
