As news broke that Old Trafford was being evacuated on Sunday, there was understandable concern about what exactly was going on at the home of Manchester United.
A matter of hours later, with the final game of the season long since cancelled, it emerged that the device found was nothing more than an “incredibly realistic” hoax bomb.
Then, later on Sunday evening, a report by the ‘Daily Mail’s’ Mike Keegan explained that the reason that the “suspicious package” looked so realistic was because it had been designed to look that way – and had been planted and accidentally left in the stadium during a safety exercise carried out by an external company days before.
“It is understood that in what appears to be a staggering blunder, the ‘bomb’ was left by an external training company at the stadium in error in the days leading up to the game on the final weekend of the Premier League season.”
A controlled explosion was carried out on the device and an urgent inquiry is due to take place after Greater Manchester Mayor and Police and Crime Commissioner Tony Lloyd labelled the event a “fiasco”.
Although embarrassing for United, the club was praised for implementing safety procedures so quickly after the discovery of such a perceived threat.
With the game rescheduled for Tuesday, the club sent emails to supporters on Sunday evening (seen below) informing them that they will be refunded for the match.
According to the BBC, the gesture is set to cost the club around £3m.
Although United supporters on Twitter appeared to be happy enough with the decision, some suggested more refunds should be on the way.
Good of @ManUtd to refund us for yesterday's game but do you not think you should be refunding us the the whole farcical season?? #MUFC 😀
— Mark Kelly 😎🇾🇪🇬🇷 (@MachineGun1967) May 16, 2016
