sport news SPECIAL INVESTIGATION - Wembley Shambles: Sportsmail goes undercover to find ... trends now

Wembley Stadium on Friday suspended a firm supplying staff for Saturday's FA Cup final after a Sportsmail investigation exposed alarming security lapses.

The FA launched an urgent inquiry after our undercover operation revealed safety failures at three recent sell-out events at the national stadium.

It comes with Prince William attending Saturday's clash between Liverpool and Chelsea in the first showpiece final since the debacle when England were beaten by Italy at the Euros last July.

After 2,000 England fans without tickets stormed the Euro 2020 final, football chiefs were ordered to fix woeful safety failures following Baroness Casey's official inquiry.

But on Saturday, a Sportsmail investigation reveals how serious shortcomings still persist at Wembley and casts doubt on whether lessons have been learned.

A Sportsmail investigation has exposed alarming security lapses at Wembley Stadium ahead of Saturday's FA Cup final showpiece between Chelsea and Liverpool at the national ground

Sportsmail's investigation reveals how serious security shortcomings still persist at Wembley

Sportsmail's undercover operation revealed safety failures at three recent sell-out events

Sportsmail reporter Isaan Khan undercover working as a steward and made some shocking discoveries - including being offered a £1,000 bribe by a group wanting access to the VIP area

INSIGHT: 'It's all so lax. We don't have a clue what we are doing'

The lone Liverpool fan wore no colours but his accent gave him away at the food bar. The City supporters — scenting blood — circled back, and soon it was all kicking off at Wembley.

The fan took a hammering. He was lucky the punches were haymakers which seldom hit home. As an entry-level steward, I had to wait for the more senior stewards to arrive.

That seemed to take longer than it should have done. It was my first time stewarding at Wembley. As far as the agency was concerned, I could have been anyone.

I had given false addresses on the form and hadn't even signed it. That should have been picked up in the security checks. But two days later, I was sent a link to a two-hour Zoom training session.

I joined the session with about 10 other new staff, all of whom also had their cameras and mics turned off. None of us was asked to switch them on — we could have just been snooping to get an idea of the stadium layout and internal details.

There was a 'quiz' at the end, commissioned by Wembley, which required 18 correct answers out of 20 to work at the stadium.

But we had been sent a slideshow presentation to assist us with it, along with the reassurance that 'no one has failed it before'. Perhaps that is because, if you fail, you are allowed a second attempt at the same questions.

The quiz is so easy that one of the four possible answers to a question about the stadium's 'method of management' is 'the Fingers Crossed Approach'.

To a question about the stewards' dress code, options include 'fancy dress' and 'shorts and polo shirt'.

I passed the test and no interview was required. I was allowed to work at Manchester City v Liverpool three days later — the first time the firm would see my face. Anyone could have turned up.

Over three shifts, there were groans from supervisors when stewards were reallocated to other areas of the stadium, leaving some stairwells and exits sparsely manned.

One of my colleagues told me: 'You get paid to watch footy. If anything happens, you go to the people above you to sort it.'

Inexperienced stewards, mostly in their teens or early 20s, were oblivious to catering staff waltzing into stairwells to watch the game. That left the bay area exits crowded, a potential hazard in the event of an evacuation.

An entry-level steward on my shift said: 'It's all so lax. When you start, you have no clue what you are doing. I'm here just to watch the game and go.

'I've been put outside once on tickets and bag search in the past without any previous training, because they were short.'

At one event, I was guarding lifts that gave access to the VIP areas when a group pulled out a wad of cash and offered me £1,000 to let them through.

I declined. When I told a colleague, he begged to be allowed to guide the fans to his area so he could let them through for the money.

Our undercover reporter working as a stadium steward at recent Wembley events found serious shortcomings:

He was able to secure a job despite his application including false details which should have been picked up in the required security checks; He was not interviewed for the role or given any in-person training; No one searched his bag before he was allowed into supposedly secure areas; He was offered a £1,000 bribe for access to the VIP area - other stewards indicated they would have taken the money; Stewards, free to access much of the stadium, were largely unsupervised for hours before the matches began; Catering staff cluttered up stairways to watch matches - in contravention of safety rules.

Wembley said on Friday night: 'We are taking these allegations extremely seriously as they do not meet the high standards that we expect from our stewarding contractors.

'We have already begun an investigation into the matter and we have suspended the relevant stewarding contractor pending the outcome of this investigation.'

Julian Knight MP, chairman of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport committee, on Friday night said he would be