The 'bomb scare' which caused Manchester United’s Premier League clash with Bournemouth to be abandoned, and triggered a subsequent controlled explosion, was in fact all caused by a dummy device left in the stadium following a security exercise.
The Daily Mail report that the ‘bomb’ was left by an external training company at the stadium in the days leading up to the fixture, through pure error, and was adjudged to be potentially dangerous when spotted by a steward earlier this afternoon.
The training exercise was held at Old Trafford midweek, and the device, designed to look authentic, was not returned when it finished.
Essentially, someone left the fecking thing in the jacks.
And so it remained in place before the match, causing the red alert on its discovery by a steward, who contacted the relevant authorities.
Police: ManUtd v B'mouth abandoned because of "a training device which had accidentally been left" at Old Trafford pic.twitter.com/dktNLjvrRB
— Dan Roan (@danroan) May 15, 2016
United's season has truly ended in farce, and such errors will surely be duly punished by opposition fans both away from home and in the East Stand of Old Trafford next season.
What an absolute clusterfuck, and you can't even blame Louis van Gaal.
