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Wembley security yesterday

Something I raised earlier in the tournament was the pathetic security arrangements. After the shambles of last night, quite frankly... we do not deserve to host a home tournament in this country  until the security at Wembley is giving a complete overhaul.

When we went to Russia, you had private security,  Fifa volunteers, the police and the military all carrying out proper ticket/person checks on everyone at certain checkpoints. It all went very quickly and without fuss.

The scenes yesterday at Wembley were truly ridiculous, from how easy it was for people to get into the stadium for free to random fights breaking out between stewards and fans. What's the point in collecting the caps now when you can just waltz in un-challenged? It was good to see some honest England fans challenging these free loaders but it shouldn't be their job.

The current security arrangements are not fit for purpose. Something needs to happen.

128 Replies

  • michael ryan

    In reply to Lynne Ogden:

    The hierarchy at the Met Police was a let down yesterday.Surprised no one seriously injured.
  • Kerry Gillen

    In reply to Gordon Taylor:

    Amuses me that Wembley claim that it has never happened before. Well it happened at the Champions League final in 2011. While the violence never reached these levels in 2011 the jibbing wasn't far off the same levels with thousands storming in mostly through disabled entrances , doubling up and old fashioned steaming. There was even a tunnel from the toilets outside the stadium going into the roof void and exiting inside the stadium. The difference between then and now is that both the covid check and the ticket activation cordon should have turned the stadium into a safe area for those with tickets to enter the stadium in an orderly fashion. It did not work. Questions have to be answered
  • Frances Mcquarrie

    In reply to Graham Morrison:

    Not at all. I will be writing to highlight the weaknesses and the disorganisation in the hope that lessons can be learnt. I had hoped for a memorable night of attending a final but it's memorable for the wrong reasons - aggressive behaviour, people trying to double up with us at the turnstile, trying to grab mobile phones, verbally abused but when I reported it to the steward was told they can't do anything, it is down to security who haven't turned up yet! These weren't football fans they are scumbags who want kudos. We spoke to some young lads who had paid four figures for their tickets can you imagine what it feels like that people can show no respect and just think they can get what they want.
  • Steve Coupland

    In reply to Kerry Gillen:

    We arrived at Wembley around 2-30pm. Bottom line is that the crowd was already out of control.

    The Police did nothing. despite clear public disorder happening in front of their eyes. There was zero crowd control, but plenty of police just sat idle in their vans. By the time they did react it was too late. Whoever was in control of the policing needs to answer some very searching questions.

    Our entry to the stadium is similar to many on this thread. Clueless and overwhelmed staff but those of us who go to Wembley regularly know the stewarding and crowd operation is pathetic...... unfit for purpose (and not just football, but other events I have attended it has been as equally bad).

    The Police, Wembley and the FA..... you failed miserably!!! You either were naive and oblivious to what most of us could predict, or you simply didn't care!!!

    What should have been a wonderful day, which I have waited for for over 50 years, was an utter mess..... what should have been a day celebration became a day of excuse for louts and drunks to behave disgracefully. For me, result apart, it was completely ruined.
  • Mark Hargate
    Absolute shambles. I had a ticket but at around 6.30 just walked up Wembley Way and all the way up to turnstile. At no time at all was there any attempt to check anything, If another fan had not shown me the double tap to activate trick I don’t know what would have happened. I will be emailing Wembley to complain
  • Matthew Isle

    I'd like to add that the 'progress' of having entry requirements on apps, rather than paper tickets, actually added to the issues:

    Allowed the sharing and stealing of ticket screenshots causing confusion for stewards and gave idiots the opportunity to get close to the ground.

    The NHS app going down meant that huge amounts of unticketed people got close to the ground when the decision was made to allow everyone in.

    The lack of proper checking of the tickets meant some fans with tickets didn't have theirs activated meaning this caused the confusion and congestion opportunities these interlopers were looking for.

    Progress my ***.

  • Mark Hargate

    In reply to Matthew Isle:

    Agreed
  • Stephen Holmes

    In reply to Matthew Isle:

    What totally amazed me was the lack of Police......apart from the obvious crowd control issues...the game yesterday was surely a high risk terrorist event.

    I know the terrorist threat has been reduced...but by god yesterday could have been a hell of a lot worse.

    A lot of top brass should be in fear of losing their jobs today.
  • Stephen Haslam

    In reply to Shaun Godman:

    My experience of football tournaments run in Germany is that the police there take no nonsense from the idiots and if they cause any trouble at all, then their stay in that country will be very brief indeed.
    The trouble in England, as I understand it, is that the authorities have delegated far too much responsibility to the stewards because they are far cheaper. But the stewards can't be expected to deal with the situations they faced on Sunday. Many of them are quite young boys and girls and elderly people. Football clubs say the costs of providing a large police presence is too great, but that excuse is feeble when you see the wages and transfer fees the Premier League clubs pay.
    We can't seriously expect to get the World Cup, or another Euro, after what happened, within the foreseeable future. Everyone should be grateful that Wembley 2021 did not become a tragedy on a level with Heysel 1985 or Hillsborough 1989.
    It is such a pity that words have to be written in this vein when, on all other levels, Gareth Southgate and his players set such a fine example to the nation's young people, in team spirit and good play from a young squad who came so close to triumph and can only get even better.
    I would also like to give grateful thanks to the England Supporters Travel Club who worked so hard to provide members with as many tickets as they possibly could and also to members themselves who, via this Forum, were always ready to give valuable advice on how to make ticket applications etc in the digital age.
  • Peter John-Baptiste
    I've come late to this thread so haven't read through all of it. I will later after work.

    All I can say is the stadium is not fit for purpose now due to all the building work that has put flats, shops and bars/pubs/restaurants right up against it.

    I'm sure we've all been to large grounds on the continent where they can put a proper security cordon around the stadium a little distance away from it. Unfortunately they can't do that at Wembley anymore. They could have done three years ago or so but that option has now gone.

    The problem is now insurmountable.

    It shouldn't be a problem for most games. The country briefly went football mad and thousands of people who wouldn't normally be anywhere near the stadium came down for some fun and a chance of getting in at both the semi and the Final.

    Its like the difference between England's normal away support for a game, who go to places like Bulgaria, Croatia, Poland etc and our support who turn up to places like Amsterdam.

    This may sound a bit snobbish but its true.
  • David Lilley

    In the context of the serious disturbances on Sunday, I want to add a point that appears trivial but which could have helped to reduce the mayhem. UEFA gave us various instructions about what to do but they never bothered telling us why or giving any detail.

    They could have explained better how the ticket activation system worked. It used bluetooth to connect your phone to a gizmo which added the QR code. This only needs proximity. So, all those people who were told by the police to go through the ticket barrier without stopping probably had their tickets activated as they passed through. The screen tapping at the turnstile didn't activate the ticket - it only caused the activated ticket to display. Why weren't we told this, as it could have prevented the congestion at the turnstiles caused because people's tickets weren't displaying the QR code.

    Another instruction from UEFA was to make sure your phone was set to the local time zone. Why ? Well, what is to stop some scally getting through the ticket activation checkpoint and then sending a screen shot to someone else. The answer is that in the middle of the QR code was a tiny digital clock. No doubt, when the QR code is scanned at the turnstile, the ticket reader can check that the time shown is the current time. A screen shot of a ticket would show the time when the screen shot was taken, not the current time, and so security could be alerted. I saw one guy thrown out for using a screen shot ticket. From his vehement protestations, it was possible that he had a genuine ticket but had screen shotted it as some sort of protection against loss of signal.

    Then, there was the congestion caused because people at the ticket check couldn't get their covid status to display in the NHS app on their phone. They couldn't get an internet signal. Here, a screen shot taken before arriving in the vicinity would have been just fine. Why weren't fans given advice to do this ?

  • Russell Osborne

    In reply to David Lilley:

    Genuinely didn't know this about the QR code and the proximity of the stadium. As you say, could have been mentioned by UEFA. Thanks for this.
  • Peter John-Baptiste

    In reply to Jonathan Davies:

    To be fair the incidents were pat a cake compared to what happens in Hungary and Poland.
  • Diana Cole
    I'm not sure I will feel safe at Wembley again without the resignation and serious revamp of the security proceedings. It was just luck that there wasn't a major terrorist incident with catastrophic loss of life. When they surged in the disabled entrance they could of got anything through (I just wish they bought a sofa). the FA were in charge of what little security we had but finding out how to complain is impossible. In the end I went through consumer rights chap Martin Lewis site. link below

    www.resolver.co.uk/.../contact-details

    Hopefully if enough people complain they will do something.........
  • Peter John-Baptiste

    In reply to Alan Sutton:

    Having stewarded at Lords cricket ground for 19 years I know for a fact that you're TOLD to never get into a physical confrontation with spectators.

    Legally you're on a hiding to nothing.
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