Wembley ups security stakes
WEMBLEY will ramp up security for the FA Cup semi-finals this weekend — in a dress rehearsal for when it hosts the Champions League final.
Extra safety measures and monitoring of fan behaviour will be in force ahead of the clashes between Manchester City and Chelsea and Manchester United and Coventry.
Travelling supporters will be asked to show their tickets when arriving at the stadium’s perimeter.
Security lanes and extra signage will also be in operation to direct the flow of people to ensure they enter the stadium via the correct zone.
Extra patrols will be in force to stamp out fans drinking in the streets, ticket touts and anyone wanting to use pyrotechnic equipment around the stadium.
Anyone caught flouting the rules will be handed on-the-spot fines.
Wembley will stage the Champions League final on June 1 and authorities are desperate to make sure the biggest club game in Europe goes off without trouble.
Event
Stadium Director
Chris Bryant said: “Hosting a major event such as the UEFA Champions League Final involves a great deal of planning and change to our traditional matchday operations.
“We have been trialling many of the changes at events over the last 12 months.
“Now, as we approach the busy end of the football season, we will be putting in place the final pieces of the plan.”
Wembley’s reputation for hosting huge events was left in tatters in 2021, when violence ruined the Euros final.
BASTIAN Schweinsteiger believes Manchester United need to change their transfer policy — and look at Jurgen Klopp and Liverpool as an example.
The Red Devils have spent a record €1.39billion more on transfers than they have recouped through player sales over the past decade, with Paul Pogba, Harry Maguire and Jadon Sancho among the most expensive arrivals. Despite the vast amount spent, United have not had the required success on the pitch.
In fact, since Alex Ferguson left Old Trafford in May 2013, United have failed to win the Premier League.
They have won the FA Cup once, the League Cup twice and the Europa League in the last 11 years. It’s an appalling return for a club which spent that amount of money on transfers.
Impact
And Schweinsteiger, who made 35 appearances during his time at United, has told his former employers to look at how Klopp first revolutionised Borussia Dortmund before then having a similar impact at Liverpool.
The ex-Bayern Munich midfielder also highlighted eight players Klopp signed.
“Sometimes you spend money completely wrong,” he told The Overlap and Sky Bet. “You must adapt to how football is changing or not changing and the easiest example where [Manchester] United should have learned out of it — just look over there [Liverpool]. What did [Jurgen] Klopp do? Did he sign a lot of huge money transfers? No.
“Look where he got [Andy] Robertson and others from. He did the same at Borussia Dortmund, where he found [Robert] Lewandowski, [Mario] Gotze, [Mats] Hummels, [Lukasz] Piszczek, [Jakub] Blaszczykowski, [Ilkay] Gundogan, [Marco] Reus — all those players.
“All you need to do is look 45 miles over and see how Liverpool do it and how long they’ve been dominating for. They are stable, it doesn’t have the wave like United does.”
Integral
A boyhood Bayern Munich supporter, Schweinsteiger spent the majority of his career at the club, making 500 appearances and winning several major honours, before leaving to join
United in July 2015. He started off his United career as an integral figure under Louis van Gaal and won the FA Cup during his debut season.
However, Schweinsteiger was frozen out by new manager Jose Mourinho the following summer, leaving him to train with the Under 16s and not allowed in the first team dressing room.
The German eventually found a way back in but decided to depart Manchester for Chicago Fire in March 2017.
“I was training alone for at least three months with a fitness coach,” he said. “I trained before and after the (first) team. (Mourinho) never let me train with the first team. I guess they wanted to get rid of me. In that moment, I was still super happy at United, I loved to wear the jersey, I loved it.
“I was thinking that maybe it was just a period, I will train now and keep myself fit and maybe one day they’ll change their mind. My dream was to always step back out into Old Trafford.”
He added: “It was 2016 and I was with the German national team, we went far in the competition [Euros] reaching the semi-finals, so I stepped in a little later [at Manchester United] and the team were in the US for a pre-season tour. When I arrived on the first day, I trained with and thought it was great, a player who has the vision and is amazing to play with.
Allowed
“The next day, on my birthday, when I walked into Carrington [training ground], John Murtough was there and said that I wasn’t allowed to walk into the dressing room, the coach had said so. No warning, nothing.” Schweinsteiger revealed how his teammates could not understand the decision, saying his “heart was broken” due to his love for the club.
Mourinho did later apologise for his bizarre actions but ex-United right-back and pundit Neville said he was “stunned and embarrassed” as he explained: “That’s illegal [treatment of Bastian Schweinsteiger]. I was the PFA Union Representative, and you’re not allowed to do that, you can’t dismiss someone like that, it’s constructive dismissal in some ways.”