No ticket? No problem! How Me And 200 Reds Stormed Wembley

While discussing our next move we saw a new crowd forming. At the centre of it was a guy who’d been similarly thrown out twice after trying the same manoeuvre. It was like Speakers Corner at Hyde Park as he spurred on a group which was about 200-strong now and his bright idea was to ambush an exit door when someone is next to be thrown out of the stadium. I liked this idea.

His words were reminiscent of a half-time team talk. He was the manager and he led the charge. We waited for the decoy to be taken out of the same exit door but the stewards went for another nearby. Thinking on his feet, the ‘gaffer’ spotted this and shouted ‘Let’s go!’ And go, we did.

The stewards, security and baton-brandishing police officers could do nothing to prevent this stampede and we pushed collectively until the break-through. We were all in.

Due to being pushed in many (including me) fell to the ground and I was inches away from police officers who were also knocked to the ground. It was do or die and as people piled in on top of me, I had to get away from the crowd or risk being arrested. I had no idea where I was and my shoe had come off but I picked it up and ran like the wind, shimmying hips similar to Messi’s later on in the evening. Stewards tried and failed to catch me.

I heard my brother calling me from behind but didn’t look back, avoiding eye-contact with anyone as I put my shoe back on and began walking calmly. I was in, and this time for good.
So was my brother and he caught up with me as the huge crowd dispersed all around the stadium.

It was 7.30 now and we watched the players warming up on the television monitors in the Wembley corridors as we tried to work out where we could find a seat. Kick-off was fast approaching and it was time to grab a seat and enjoy the game. So we thought.

While we had been looking for a seat, we saw another forceful pushing match between fans and stewards with a similar outcome. They had taken our lead and we were invading the stadium in our hundreds.

This was the distraction we needed as the stewards turned their attentions to this latest incident and we walked through to find what were probably the only two seats available. Luck or fate?

The match had kicked-off and we still hadn’t been removed from our seats. We were safe and could enjoy the two best teams in the world battle for the most coveted title in European football.

Despite the result, we’d seen our team in a Champions League final in our home town and we lost to arguably the best club side ever. We’d witnessed the greatness of Barcelona and done it all for free, overcoming all the odds. That made the defeat much easier to swallow. Strangely, I left the stadium with a smile on my face which I couldn’t comprehend at the time and I’ve only just realised now.

The buzz and joy I got out of breaking into the stadium and being able to see this great occasion and some footballing legends in action will stay with me for the rest of my life.

No tickets? No problem.

Follow Saad on Twitter- if you can catch him! Twitter: @saadnoor

14 responses to “No ticket? No problem! How Me And 200 Reds Stormed Wembley”

  1. Ben says:

    These comments are a disgrace, my girlfriend is suffering with breast cancer, she’s the youngest to be dianosed with it. ‘Typical scousers’- don’t start critising everyone about where they come from, I go to every liverpool game and pay, some unfortunate people can’t afford, and fair play to them for trying to get in. Mainly all the Liverpool fans pay for their ticket so don’t say we don’t because you’ve witnessed a few in your life.