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‘Fiasco:’ Manchester United Game Postponed After Fake Bomb Threat, Left Behind From Security Exercise

By Anne Sewell
Published on: 20:43 PST, May 15, 2016

Manchester United’s final Premier League game of the season had to be abandoned after the discovery of what looked like an explosive device in the stadium. It turned out the fake bomb had been planted as part of a security training exercise.

In these days of terrorist attacks, it is always wise to run security exercises in an effort to handle any unexpected events, but in this case the company running the exercise left a fake bomb behind.

Reportedly, shortly before the football fixture was set to kick off at 3 p.m., staff from the football grounds alerted police to a suspicious item that had been found in the toilets of the stadium.

A statement advised that police quickly attended the scene and explosive experts were called in to assess the item, which was described as an “incredibly realistic-looking explosive device.”

According to the Premier League website, after an initial, partial evacuation of the stadium, a decision was made between the police and the Manchester United club officials to abandon the game, leading to a full, controlled evacuation of the stadium.

After the discovery of the fake bomb, army bomb disposal experts carried out a controlled explosion on the device. However, a later detailed examination found that the package, said to consist of a mobile phone attached to a pipe, was not “viable.”

Fake bomb threat in stadium
[Image by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images]
Some hours later, the Greater Manchester police issued a statement saying the package had been identified as a training device from a security exercise.

Tony Lloyd, police and crime commissioner for Greater Manchester, says they now want to find out how a security company could leave behind a bogus explosive device.

This error led to Manchester United’s home stadium being evacuated 20 minutes prior to their match against Bournemouth on Sunday after the “incredibly lifelike explosive device” was found in the stadium.

“It is outrageous this situation arose and a full inquiry is required to urgently find out how this happened, why it happened and who will be held accountable,” said Lloyd.

Lloyd went on to say that the “fiasco” caused “massive inconvenience to supporters who had come from far and wide to watch the match.” He also said it wasted the time of a huge number of police officers and the army’s bomb squad.

The discovery of the fake bomb also unnecessarily put people in danger, as “evacuating tens of thousands of people from a football stadium is not without risk.”

After the attack at the Stade de France in Paris, during the ISIS terror attacks on that city, Manchester United had reportedly beefed up security at Old Trafford, fearing a similar scenario.

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Reportedly, the incident happened around 20 minutes before the scheduled kick-off on Sunday at Old Trafford, the U.K.’s biggest stadium apart from Wembley, with a capacity of over 75,000 spectators.

According to a report by the Guardian, many supporters were not yet in the ground when the evacuation by security personnel was launched. Both sets of players were reportedly kept in the dressing rooms for around 40 minutes before being taken to a suite, where they were looked after by security and hospitality staff.

The fake bomb threat came just days after Britain’s home secretary, Theresa May, had announced that M15 had raised the threat level to Britain from Northern Ireland-related terrorism from moderate to substantial. May said this “reflects the continuing threat from dissident republican activity.”

Reportedly, next month marks 20 years since the IRA destroyed the shopping district of Manchester in a bomb attack.

Stating that the postponed game will be played on Tuesday at 8 p.m., the Premier League said, “The decision to abandon the Manchester United versus AFC Bournemouth match was taken after the police advised of the necessity to deal with a suspect package.”

“It is always the last resort to abandon one of our fixtures and while we apologize for the inconvenience caused to fans we are sure, in the circumstances, they will appreciate the need to do so.”

[Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images]

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