THOUSANDS of football fans had to be turned away yesterday after high winds blew part of the roof off the main stand at Tranmere Rovers’ Prenton Park stadium.

With winds almost reaching gale-force proportions, Tranmere’s League One Boxing Day game against Rochdale was postponed, 90 minutes before kick-off time, following consultations between the police, club staff and match officials. Rovers chief executive Mick Horton said: "The priority had to be public safety."

Match-day staff, players and officials were evacuated from the ground and thousands of supporters turned away by police as they approached.

A structural engineer was called in yesterday to assess the damage, and Tranmere officials said they will do everything they can to make it possible for Friday night's holiday game against Bury to go ahead. Mr Horton described the chain of events that began shortly before 1pm yesterday as a "nightmare scenario".

He said: "A piece of the Main Stand roof came off and we noticed two or three other sheets were moving in the wind.

"Our priority in that situation has to be public safety. We had discussions with the police match commander and the match officials, and decided we had to call the game off.

"The last thing you want is a piece of the roof blowing on to the pitch."

The Main Stand is the oldest section of Prenton Park. It was built in the late 1960s. The other three sides of the ground were redeveloped in the 1990s.

Mr Horton added: "The Main Stand is 40 years old and, considering its age, it is in quite good condition.

"The winds came from nowhere in the morning and increased in strength. We have contingency plans for most eventualities and we were able to evacuate the stand in quick time."

While catering and hospitality staff, stewards and match officials left the ground, the players, coaching staff and manager Les Parry transferred to the club's indoor recreation centre to start a training session.

Mr Horton arranged for an inspection by the structural engineer later in the afternoon. Tranmere will not want to lose the second holiday fixture, against Bury, if they can avoid it.

He said: "We will do everything we can to get Friday's game on. We will even consider closing the Main Stand if needs be."

Christmas holiday fixtures often attract bigger than average crowds to Prenton Park and an opportunity to pull in extra numbers through the turnstiles was lost by the club yesterday.

It is the third year in succession that Tranmere's Boxing Day fixture has been called off. In 2009 and 2010, games at Oldham Athletic fell victim to the freezing weather.

Last night, the Met Office said the strength of wind over the higher ground of North Wales had contributed to the ferociously windy weather.

Met Office forecaster Michael Laurence said the wind, which reached around 40mph, could rear its head again tomorrow.

He said: “It was close to gale force and the higher ground over North Wales aids the wind coming down to the surface.”