Under circumstances that could very well have led to another Hillsborough, the Manchester United and Bournemouth EPL clash was called off minutes before kick-off because of a suspicious package found in the Old Trafford premises.

The device which was described to be ‘incredibly lifelike’ but ‘not viable’ was exploded in a controlled manner by the bomb disposal unit of the Greater Manchester Police.

‘The Sir Alex Ferguson Stand and the Stretford End were evacuated before the game and sniffer dogs brought in. Kick-off, due at 15:00 BST, was delayed and shortly afterwards the match was abandoned on police advice. A bomb disposal team carried out the explosion at about 16:30 BST,’ stated a BBC report.

After the discovery of the package, an ‘operation red code’ alert was sounded and the players evacuated the field while they were still warming up.

Fans were later told that as a result of “the discovery of a suspect package in the north-west quadrant of the ground, the match has been abandoned for today on police advice”. Subsequently it was reported that the match would be rescheduled for some other date in the near future.

The Old Trafford has a seating capacity of 75,000 people and an unfortunate situation was averted largely due to the timely and swift action of the authorities.

This incident coincided with increased chatter intercepted by European intelligence agencies about threats to sports stadiums and other targets which would draw considerable crowds.

Greater Manchester Police tweeted their last update almost an hour ago: