From The M.E.N.
Around 250 supporters turned up at Maine Road with forged tickets attempting to get into the away section of the north stand. But police and 400 stewards were aware of the danger after a member of the Maine Road staff had purchased a forged ticket and all staff were able to study it so they could stop mainly United fans with the fake tickets getting into the match.
Peter Fletcher, the ex GMP Superintendent who is the Maine Road Stadium and Safety Manager said: "We would have had a big problem if we'd ended up with 250 extra fans in the United section without seats. It would have been an awful safety issue but thanks to some good team work between stewards and police we were able to prevent any problem.''
Mr Fletcher said: "A decision was made that unless we could prove that individuals had printed the tickets then we would just let them go. It was a very successful stewarding operation with considerable co-operation from the police. We got the right result on the field and the right result off the field. We had an effective plan and are entirely satisfied how it worked out.
Around 400 stewards - 50 more than for other premiership matches at Maine Road were on duty. They had two briefings on the forged ticket menace. Twenty four supporters were ejected from the ground mainly for being in the wrong part of the ground and there were two arrests - one for alleged drunken behaviour and the other fan was arrested for climbing the perimeter wall. Police took the unprecedented step at Maine Road of keeping the 3,100 away supporters back until the majority of the home supporters had left.