Arsenal scouts were denied the chance to catch upcoming opponents Lincoln City in action… because there was not enough space in the ground for them.
After their win over Sutton United in the FA Cup fifth round the Gunners will host another non-League opponent in the last eight, with National League leaders Lincoln City due to travel to the Emirates early next month having vanquished Burnley at Turf Moor on Saturday.
Gunners scouts had hoped to attend Lincoln’s match against North Ferriby United on Tuesday night but a record attendance of 2,389 meant there was no room at the Eon Visual Media Stadium for representatives from the Premier League giants.
North Ferriby match secretary Andrew Frankland-Barnes said: “They rang up [yesterday] morning asking if they could send their scouts to watch Lincoln. But we had to tell them, 'Sorry, we're full up’.”
Lincoln manager Danny Cowley insisted that Arsenal’s travelling scouts did not miss much in his side’s 1-0 win.
“I heard the Arsenal scouts were not here - but it's quite different to the Emirates so I'm not sure what they would have learned if they had been allowed in,” he said.
Meanwhile Lincoln are awaiting confirmation on their ticket allocation for the visit to the Emirates clash. Under FA Cup rules they are entitled to 15 per cent of capacity, 9,000 tickets, though Arsenal have reduced this number for previous ties.
