Police confirm Old Trafford ‘bomb’ was “incredibly lifelike” hoax

Better safe than sorry.

We doubt anyone will complain about the reaction of Manchester United, the Premier League or the Greater Manchester Police, after they divulged further details of the 'suspicious package' that led to Sunday's game with Bournemouth being abandoned due to serious safety concerns. Such was the concern over the discovery, that a bomb disposal unit was called in to destroy the package in a controlled explosion within the stadium. But after extremely careful investigation, it emerged that the suspected bomb was an 'incredibly lifelike explosive device' that 'wasn't viable'. GM Police's full Twitter update reads as follows:

'Bomb disposal experts carried out controlled explosion at Old Trafford on what is described as incredibly lifelike explosive device. Full assessment now concluded and found device wasn’t viable. A full search of the stadium is ongoing. Full update to follow.'

https://twitter.com/gmpolice/status/731894268323889152 https://twitter.com/gmpolice/status/731896751821586437 Manchester United were quick to echo the update via their official club account: https://twitter.com/ManUtd/status/731895279188905984 https://twitter.com/ManUtd/status/731896836697522176 The reference to an ongoing 'full search of the stadium' caused some rumours of other possible devices within the ground, but they were quickly dismissed: https://twitter.com/MikeKeegan_DM/status/731901722260574208 In the end, Piers Morgan was one of those who was uncharacteristically bang on the money with his reaction to the dramatic events of the day: https://twitter.com/piersmorgan/status/731899804771614721 https://twitter.com/mufc_dan87/status/731898945778110464