Football will eat itself

[LEE]

Clearly the man has displayed gross incompetence.

He's also given great insight into the security measures used at football grounds.

Every arsehole now knows that a bit of pipe with a phone gaffer-taped to it will cause widespread panic amongst the security bods (and there's almost no way to prevent people bringing bits of pipe, phones and gaffer tape into a ground.

Didn't Heathrow security plant a big pack of drugs in a real passenger's suitcase (not even a dummy suitcase), to test the sniffer dog's abilities?.  Unfortunately the sniffer dog had a cold that day and didn't find it and the drugs never turned up.  That was one surprised passenger I bet.  I hope they had a nice relaxing evening after they unpacked (although I always thought it was a suspicious story).

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

Last year I reported a suspicious rucksack left outside a local sporting venue.  They took it very seriously at the time and I notice they post a security guard there now.  A bomb there would have been extremely nasty.

[madcow]

Quite rightly Old Trafford management have said that they would do exactly the same in the event of something similar.
Otherwise the real terrorists would make real bombs with the words "training device" plastered all over the outside and with a movement trigger inside.

[Veloman]

He's also given great insight into the security measures used at football grounds.

Every arsehole now knows that a bit of pipe with a phone gaffer-taped to it will cause widespread panic amongst the security bods (and there's almost no way to prevent people bringing bits of pipe, phones and gaffer tape into a ground.

Which is why the idiot needs ...............  What he did has far greater ramifications than  what happened on Sunday and 'copy cat' by the McTerrorism brigade will be saying "oh thanks for showing us that".

Quite rightly Old Trafford management have said that they would do exactly the same in the event of something similar.
Otherwise the real terrorists would make real bombs with the words "training device" plastered all over the outside and with a movement trigger inside.

And let us not forget it was the Police who evacuated and took control of the situation, not MUFC management.

[Peter]

It all looked very orderly but I wonder how much quicker the evacuation would have been if there hadn't been time added on?

[Jaded]

The patronising suggestion that a terrorist is thick enough to need this incident to give them an idea is laughable.

All they have to do is blow themselves up outside the stadium as fans arrive.

This isn't the IRA circa 1982.

[madcow]

Quote Jaded-  All they have to do is blow themselves up outside the stadium as fans arrive.

Which is what   happened at Stade de France , except the fans were inside.

Since that event, security at OT was ramped up , everyone going into hospitality undergoes bag and body searches and you can't even take in water.(not that you need to Manchester water is drinkable ,so I am told.)
I dont know what they do at the turnstiles as searching 70,000 people is pretty difficult. I suppose they take the view that a few MU fans are expendable. I do.

Veloman-of course the Police took control, I think that OT were supporting the police view and justifying the abandonment rather than trying to take  any credit .

[Veloman]

The patronising suggestion that a terrorist is thick enough to need this incident to give them an idea is laughable.

All they have to do is blow themselves up outside the stadium as fans arrive.

This isn't the IRA circa 1982.

Blowing themselves up is difficult as you need to get the explosives etc.  The clue to terrorism is in the title; you don't have to kill in order to terrorise, or disrupt, or make life a misery for others.  The McTerror brigade, or just idiots wanting to disrupt things, have been given a great idea courtesy of someone who was not only so incompetent as to not account for devices planted, he then went to show the type of device that would cause such evacuation.  Complete and utter idiot.

Next time your team are losing, phone-up with a bomb threat.  Next time you want a day off school, phone-up with a bomb threat.  Oh wait, that has already happened in the UK in the West Midlands.

Don't recall the killers of Lee Rigby blowing themselves up.  It isn't the IRA in 1982. It's available to anyone and can be very low tech.

[madcow]

We have moved on from 1982 and I hope that phone tracking technology and data recording of same would enable better detective work than was possible then.

Anyway back to football and the crazy money spinner of play-offs.

In the championship play-offs ,Sheffield Wednesday , who finished 15 points behind the third team Brighton, could get promotion to the Premier League if they beat Hull City in the play off final.
Brighton missed promotion by virtue of a poorer goal difference compared with Middlesborough.
Something's wrong.

[Peter]

Same thing happened to Forest Green, who finished nine points ahead of Grimspby and I don't think were out of the top two all season, except for games in hand situations.  Of course, it could  be argued by opponents that they all know the rules and that by the time the season drew to a close, the "lower" teams had reached a point where they were better than those above them.  It's a conundrum - and one that might have involved Newcastle staying up!

[Jaded]

The patronising suggestion that a terrorist is thick enough to need this incident to give them an idea is laughable.

All they have to do is blow themselves up outside the stadium as fans arrive.

This isn't the IRA circa 1982.

Blowing themselves up is difficult as you need to get the explosives etc.  The clue to terrorism is in the title; you don't have to kill in order to terrorise, or disrupt, or make life a misery for others.  The McTerror brigade, or just idiots wanting to disrupt things, have been given a great idea courtesy of someone who was not only so incompetent as to not account for devices planted, he then went to show the type of device that would cause such evacuation.  Complete and utter idiot.

Next time your team are losing, phone-up with a bomb threat.  Next time you want a day off school, phone-up with a bomb threat.  Oh wait, that has already happened in the UK in the West Midlands.

Don't recall the killers of Lee Rigby blowing themselves up.  It isn't the IRA in 1982. It's available to anyone and can be very low tech.

Fake devices have been known about for decades, not just a week.

[Jaded]

Same thing happened to Forest Green, who finished nine points ahead of Grimspby and I don't think were out of the top two all season, except for games in hand situations.  Of course, it could  be argued by opponents that they all know the rules and that by the time the season drew to a close, the "lower" teams had reached a point where they were better than those above them.  It's a conundrum - and one that might have involved Newcastle staying up!

I think the manager lost the dressing room, the quality of football over the last three months has been poor. Play-offs are interesting - in the old days if you were 2nd, and to go up, you'd go up. Now what matters more is your ability in a knock-out match, and your form at the time of the play-offs. Our form was poor, even though we were 2nd.

It would have been good to see Newcastle stay up 

[LEE]

The patronising suggestion that a terrorist is thick enough to need this incident to give them an idea is laughable.

All they have to do is blow themselves up outside the stadium as fans arrive.

This isn't the IRA circa 1982.

I'd like to take this opportunity to apologise to all terrorists for implying they may be stupid*
*Like none of them ever set fire to their own underpants and genitals.

I'd go as far as to suggest that many terrorists (or would-be terrorists) ARE stupid. 
It's incredibly easy to cause maximum disruption to a western city, with minimum risk and with out that much loss of life actually.

I'm actually surprised that there aren't daily events/disruptions.

4 people and 4 empty, but "suspicious", Transit vans, and one phone call, could gridlock London for 24 hours.

No loss of life but huge disruption and publicity.

"Just blowing yourself up" involves explosives, and that raises the game significantly. 
The security forces will have undercover operatives monitoring that level of activity.  That's why they keep finding "Bomb Factories".
Almost every incident involving Bombs and guns also involve people being monitored (OK, unsuccessfully) by security forces.  That implies they know the "hard-liners".

It's actually reassuring how few incidents there are.  It tells me this isn't a war with Islam, it's a war with just a few nut-jobs.

[trekker12]

Quote Jaded-  All they have to do is blow themselves up outside the stadium as fans arrive.

I dont know what they do at the turnstiles as searching 70,000 people is pretty difficult. I suppose they take the view that a few MU fans are expendable. I do.

I'm not a soccer fan but have attended Wembley with 70,000 others for the NFL games there for the past two years and both times had my bag searched. Each entrance gate had a queue (quite orderly) at the turnstile and we went through and they inspected every single bag¹ and scanned each of us with an airport type explosive (I assume that's what it is) hand scanner. I don't know if this is a Wembley thing or if it happens at all large stadiums but it's quite clear they expect you in good time for the game to ensure such a process can happen.

The mass of people waiting in the tunnel for the tube station after game would be another matter however.....

¹ I misread the rules and took my DSLR camera the first time. They held us back out of the way until they realised they didn't want the problem any more and let us through with it in the end with a warning not to use it!

[Jaded]

We've had daily bomb alerts. Bag searches going into shops. Disruption to public transport in spades.

[Mr Larrington]

Somebody set up us the bomb.

[rogerzilla]

The patronising suggestion that a terrorist is thick enough to need this incident to give them an idea is laughable.

All they have to do is blow themselves up outside the stadium as fans arrive.

This isn't the IRA circa 1982.

Blowing themselves up is difficult as you need to get the explosives etc.  The clue to terrorism is in the title; you don't have to kill in order to terrorise, or disrupt, or make life a misery for others.  The McTerror brigade, or just idiots wanting to disrupt things, have been given a great idea courtesy of someone who was not only so incompetent as to not account for devices planted, he then went to show the type of device that would cause such evacuation.  Complete and utter idiot.

Next time your team are losing, phone-up with a bomb threat.  Next time you want a day off school, phone-up with a bomb threat.  Oh wait, that has already happened in the UK in the West Midlands.

Don't recall the killers of Lee Rigby blowing themselves up.  It isn't the IRA in 1982. It's available to anyone and can be very low tech.

ISTR that causing people to think there is a bomb threat is a very serious offence which carries a heavy prison sentence.  Urban legend has it that this used to be a common trick for delaying a flight if you were running late - but the last few people to check in are always the prime suspects.

[Andrew]

I honestly didn't know it was the FA Cup Final today.

[Jaded]

You'll hear about the Scottish Cup final, I don't doubt.

[mattc]

You'll hear about the Scottish Cup final, I don't doubt.

... and we may hear more about the FA VASe final than usual:

PETA's concerns over Hereford FC's Ronaldo the bull at Wembley
18 May 2016 Last updated at 17:01 BST
An animal rights group is calling for a "cruel" plan to parade a bull at Wembley ahead of the FA Vase final to be stopped.

[sg37409]

Man U get Jose. Does this confirm them forsaking any last grasp on being a football club rather than a business franchise or did that happen a long time back ? I suspect the latter.

He'll win things I'm sure but I'm glad I'm not a real fan. His arrival would leave a real bad taste in my mouth. Pretty sure the Glazers know what theyre doing though, for their tenure of Man U.

[Andrew]

Personally, I think it's a mistake (Mourinho to Man Utd, that is). I don't think he's a fit for the club and it'll end in tears as he starts to stamp his feet. He'll have success initially as the players enjoy a new dawn (sounds like a near player mutiny at Old Trafford at the moment) but I think he's  too much of an egotist to belong.

I'm not fan of Van Gaal (nothing against him either) but I reckon he's been treated shoddily - for all his reported faults.

[hatler]

Two seasons of glory (or something approximating to that), then slight disillusionment and he'll be out the door mid-way through his fourth season.

[Mr Larrington]

What Andrew said.  I predict: this will not end well.  Especially for Ryan Giggs.

[Veloman]

Pretty sure the Glazers know what theyre doing though, for their tenure of Man U.

It has been reported that 1300 announcement by MUFC has been timed to coincide with opening of NY Stock Exchange.  So yes, in a business sense the Glazers know what they are doing.

As for treatment of LVG, I would ensure JM's agent was suitably briefed not to repeat such indiscretion.  Of course, he knew there would be a media frenzy and it all smacks of very poor taste which implicates JM.