ManU's game against Bournemouth was rescheduled for Tuesday following the abandonment of Sunday's game at Old Trafford, according to Simon Rice of the London INDEPENDENT. The teams' final match of the season "was called off following the discovery of a suspect package at the Theatre of Dreams." ManU plays next Saturday in the FA Cup final at Wembley "while some Bournemouth players are due to meet up" with their int'l squads ahead of the European Championships. ManU Exec Vice-Chair Ed Woodward has spoken with Premier League CEO Richard Scudamore (INDEPENDENT, 5/15). In London, Siddique, Taylor & Pidd reported supporters in the north and west stands "were told to leave shortly before the scheduled 3pm kickoff." A "short time later, fans in the remaining two stands were also evacuated." The game "was delayed for 45 minutes, before the club announced it had been abandoned." A "routine search discovered the unidentified item" in the northwest quadrant, "sparking the alert message 20 minutes before the game was due to kick off." Many fans "never managed to get into the stadium at all, and diverted instead to the beer garden at the Tollgate pub by Trafford Bar tram stop." Pub landlord Steve Kerr "was trying to look on the bright side." He said, "The sun's shining, everybody is in good spirits. But we've really not been happy all season but this puts the final nail in the coffin." Matt Crew, a fan who had come up from Leek in Staffordshire, said, "It sums up our season, that. Just fizzling out -- something and nothing" (GUARDIAN, 5/15). The BBC reported a "controlled explosion has been carried out at Old Trafford after a suspect package was found." Greater Manchester Police described the device as "incredibly lifelike" but confirmed it "wasn't viable" (BBC, 5/15).
