Cup tie will 'clear club's debts'

Exeter City has sold 7,000 tickets for the replay

Cup fever is mounting in Devon as Exeter City prepare to take on Manchester United in an FA Cup replay.

The home tie will be played in front of a worldwide TV audience and the expected £750,000 revenue will be enough to clear City's immediate debts.

If the Conference side beat Manchester United, it would be among the biggest upsets in the history of the FA Cup.

A local cinema is showing the match and has already sold more than 500 of the auditorium's 700 seats.

'Superb atmosphere'

Manchester United will field a much stronger side, to avoid a cup embarrassment, but Exeter City fans are confident their team can go forward into the next round.

Andrew Payne, the duty manager at the Odeon Cinema in Exeter, is a fan who is not always able to go to matches.

He said: "It's quite hard with my work, so I came up with the idea of the cinema showing the game and fortunately the manager agreed.

"It's amazing and all the staff are really excited. I reckon the atmosphere just before kick-off will be superb."

Mr Payne says as St James' Park only holds 7,500 it is great to be able to have another 700 fans just a few minutes away in the cinema.