Nottingham Forest's secret mission to prepare for facing Man United at Old Trafford

Nottingham Forest have done their best to prepare their Under-18s for walking out in front of a record crowd at Old Trafford on Wednesday night.

More than 62,000 tickets have been sold for the FA Youth Cup final between the Reds and Manchester United, with almost 5,500 to away fans. That will make it the highest final attendance in the competition’s history, while only United first-team home games and matches held at Wembley have had bigger crowds this season.

Warren Joyce’s side had a little taste of what to expect when there was a strong turnout for their semi-final victory over Chelsea at the City Ground. But the Forest head coach says there is an element of the unknown for both sides about how they will handle the atmosphere when the trophy is at stake.

“I don’t think anybody can prepare for what it’s going to be like for both sets of teams. Even though they (United) have already played at Old Trafford in front of some crowd, if it’s a full house and you walk out onto the pitch, it’s quite a loud noise,” said Joyce, who spent almost a decade at United.

“That will be a new experience for both sets of teams. It’s who handles those kinds of situations the best.

“We’ve tried to prepare them the best we can. But I’m not telling you how!

“We have tried a little bit, in our own small way to do that - a bit jovial, but a bit serious. I know what that noise is like. All the players there don’t know what that noise is like, barring the odd one who might have played in the first-team.”