LONDON • Manchester United have stepped up their security operation around Old Trafford by becoming the first club in England to employ a full-time counter-terrorism manager.

It is understood that the Red Devils have appointed a former inspector in Greater Manchester Police's Specialist Search Unit to the new role and that he started earlier this season.

Car boots are now searched upon entry to the site and staff have been equipped with car bomb mirrors to search under vehicles. Bag and body searches are also carried out on fans who attend games.

A review is continuing into an incident in which two supporters slipped away from a tour group inside Old Trafford and spent the night inside the stadium in an attempt to watch United's match against Arsenal in November.

United also had to abandon a Premier League match against Bournemouth at the end of last season, after a suspicious package was found strapped to the back of a toilet door in one of the executive suites at Old Trafford.

It later emerged that the package, which had wires sticking out of it, had been left there by accident after a training exercise involving sniffer dogs the day before the match.

THE TIMES, LONDON