Football clubs in 'terror summit'

There has been no specific chemical threat

Professional football clubs are meeting police and firefighters to discuss planning for a chemical, biological or nuclear attack.

Thirty clubs including Premiership teams Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City are at the summit at Stoke City's Britannia stadium.

Organisers want football clubs to write a contingency plan to prepare for any terrorist attack.

There is no specific threat but they think an attack is a real possibility.

In April, security was tightened at Old Trafford when Manchester United played Charlton after media claims the match was to be the target of a terrorist attack.

Manchester United representatives were not expected to be at Stoke's all-day summit.

But Greater Manchester emergency services were attending, along with Home Office staff and emergency planning officers.

A dirty bomb is always a possibility but the easiest thing for a terrorist to do would be to make a sarin gas attack Malcolm Millichap Emergency planning consultant

The day will include reconstructions and demonstrations to look at emergency procedures for attacks on sports grounds.

Stoke City Council emergency planning consultant Malcolm Millichap said while it was impossible to check all spectators entering a ground, procedures could be put in place.

"What you can do is have a plan, have a contingency plan that will deal with the possible problems that could arise," he said.

Modern football grounds were designed to evacuate quickly and in the case of the Britannia stadium in Stoke, which can hold up to 28,000 people, the time set for this was eight minutes, he said.

But clubs needed to prepare for the event of a chemical attack and possible contamination risks.

"A dirty bomb is always a possibility but the easiest thing for a terrorist to do would be to make a sarin gas attack, as they did in Tokyo on the underground system.

"It's not difficult to make such a device. It's fairly cheap and why attack a military installation when you can attack a sports stadium?

"So clubs need to carry out a risk assessment to determine what kind of contingency plan they need to make."