Wirral teacher misses FA Cup final after being booted out of Wembley

Jun 10 2009 by Luke Traynor, Birkenhead News

Wirral teacher misses FA Cup final after being booted out of Wembley

A WIRRAL teacher was kicked out of Wembley after sitting in seats allocated to him by the Football Association.

Everton fan Pete Lindberg and his nephew, 15, were ordered out minutes before the kick-off of the Cup Final.

The Birkenhead School chemistry teacher, 44, had acquired two seats at a cost of £186 for the big match through his role at Cheshire Schools FA.

The seats were situated in a section of the ground largely made up of Chelsea fans but also with large numbers of neutral spectators and also some Evertonians.

However Mr Lindberg said they were asked to leave their seats.

He said: “We were asked to stand in the corridor and were surrounded by four burly security personnel.

“A man wearing a headset said, ‘You are in the wrong part of the ground and you need to be removed for your own safety.

“I pointed out we were sitting next to the most unaggressive people you could wish to meet and there were lots of Everton fans in this section.

“He replied, ‘Shut up or I’ll throw you out now.’

“A minute later, I heard him say, ‘There is nowhere to move them so I’ll have to throw these people out’.”

Minutes later, Mr Lindberg and his nephew were escorted out of the stadium despite the Blues fan’s protestations that his tickets were given to him by the FA.

The pair were ordered to hand their tickets over or face arrest and were refused the names of those in charge.

Mr Lindberg added: “I despair at what took place.

“There was nowhere nearby to watch the match so we got the train home.”

Kirsty Ball, a spokeswoman for Wembley, refused to discuss the matter.

She said: “We reserve the right to eject any person failing to comply with the ground regulations or any person whose presence gives us significant concern for public safety.”