Wembley security shambles
Less than a year after horrific Euros final violence, Sportsmail goes undercover to find shocking safety concerns and attempted bribes
WAre the FA gambling there won’t be disorder, crushes, fire, terror attacks?
EMBLEY Stadium yesterday suspended a firm supplying staff for today’s FA Cup final after a Sportsmail investigation exposed alarming security lapses.
The FA launched an urgent inquiry after our undercover operation revealed safety failures at three recent sell-out events at the national stadium. It comes with Prince William attending today’s clash between Liverpool and Chelsea in the first showpiece final since the debacle when England were beaten by Italy at the Euros last July.
After 2,000 England fans without tickets stormed the Euro 2020 final, football chiefs were ordered to fix woeful safety failures following Baroness Casey’s official inquiry. But today, a Sportsmail investigation exposes how serious shortcomings still persist at Wembley and casts doubt on whether lessons have been learned.
Our undercover reporter working as a stadium steward at recent Wembley events found serious shortcomings:
l HE was able to secure a job despite his application including false details which should have been picked up in the required security checks.
lHE was not interviewed for the role or given any in-person training.
lNO one searched his bag before he was allowed into supposedly secure areas.
lHE was offered a £1,000 bribe for access to the VIP area — other stewards indicated they would have taken the money.
l STEWArDS, free to access much of the stadium, were largely unsupervised for hours before the matches began.
lCATErINg staff cluttered up stairways to watch matches — in contravention of safety rules.
Wembley said last night: ‘We are taking these allegations extremely seriously as they do not meet the high standards that we expect from our stewarding contractors.
‘We have already begun an investigation into the matter, and we have suspended the relevant stewarding contractor pending the outcome of this investigation.’
Julian Knight, chair of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, last night said he would be writing to the FA to call for Baroness Casey to be brought back in to investigate.
He said: ‘This is completely unforgivable on every level. Have no lessons been learned from the near tragedy of last summer?
‘I am particularly concerned to read about the lack of checking, vetting, and security that presents itself through this investigation. There are serious questions the FA has to answer.’
One leading football supporter liaison officer said: ‘None of it surprises me. It’s a huge concern. The FA must know about this. They can’t not know. The more pertinent question is: are the FA gambling with our safety? Are they gambling on the fact that there won’t be mass disorder, crushes, fire, terror attack, stadium collapse or any of those things?’
After drunken fans breached security last year, Baroness Casey’s inquiry identified a ‘collective failure’ in planning, including a ‘vulnerable’ stewarding operation lacking experience. Her damning report found stewarding problems during the Euros tournament were ‘known to’ football chiefs ahead of the final.
But when Sportsmail’s undercover reporter applied for a job as a steward at Forward Security, using a bogus home address, a faked invoice and an employment history naming businesses that do not exist, he was given the role without even an interview.
Forward Security is based in Towcester, Northamptonshire. It is one of about 20 firms Wembley uses to supply stewards, and operated at the Euros.
While the reporter supplied a correct passport number and national insurance number, the glaring holes in his application included a failure to sign the form. He was given a link to join an online training session two days later, and during the two-hour session on Zoom, he did not even have to show his face or speak.
The reporter was then sent out to work at the two FA Cup semi-final matches at Wembley, between Liverpool and Manchester City, on April 16, and Chelsea versus Crystal Palace the next day. He also helped marshal fans attending the world championship boxing fight between Tyson Fury and Dillian Whyte on April 23.
At the Chelsea versus Crystal Palace match, the reporter’s bag was not searched as he arrived, and other staff members were able to bring in rucksacks, despite stadium policy insisting a plastic bag and brown paper lunch bag are the only items permitted. The reporter’s bag contained a glass bottle — which is strictly prohibited — but it could have contained even more lethal material.
At all three events, the reporter witnessed numerous catering staff being allowed to crowd the stairwells to watch the match action — a major hazard in the event of a potential evacuation.
Among the hundreds of stewards at the three events, the vast majority were aged between 18 and 24 and limited in experience. Every shift had at least a handful of new starters, with entry level stewards at Forward Security paid the equivalent of £10.85 an hour.
Peter Houghton, director of operations at the Football Safety Officers Association (FSOA), said the Mail’s findings ‘are absolutely a concern’.
A Wembley spokesman said: ‘Every contractor we use are contractually obliged to carry out appropriate reference and background checks on anyone that they recruit to work at Wembley Stadium.
‘The journalist provided correct passport and national insurance details. However, we understand that some of their other personal information, which they provided to our contractor, was false.’
Wembley confirmed an investigation was under way, and the stewarding organisation had been suspended.
Forward Security did not respond to the Mail’s request for a comment.