Wrexham football club has backtracked on a ban which the Daily Post says was slapped on one of its sports reporters after the club took exception to one of its stories.

The Daily Post says it was told on Tuesday that reporter Andy Gilpin was barred from the Racecourse ground after it reported on a cash crisis at the club.

But less than 24 hours after the ban was imposed, the club released a statement in which it said no ban was in place.

The row between the Daily Post and the club was sparked after Wrexham chairman Mark Guterman took exception to a story headlined ‘Wrexham FC wages crisis’, which revealed that players and other staff at the club had only been paid half their November wages.

The club’s statement said: “The club wishes to make it clear that no single newspaper reporter has been banned by Wrexham AFC.

“Mr David Rhodes, in a telephone conversation with Mr Jonathan McEvoy (from the Daily Post) stated that no journalist had been written to by he club informing them of such a ban. Therefore no ban was in place.

“Any remarks made by Mr Guterman were made ‘off the cuff’ to another journalist. At the time of the comment, Mr Rhodes pointed out that this was an inappropriate action and Mr Guterman let the matter drop.”

In a follow-up story reporting the ban on Andy, the Daily Post said: “Guterman maintains our reports are ‘total and absolute rubbish’. Well, let’s examine the facts.

“Guterman claims: ‘The report implies we have done this (not paid full wages) without the players knowing anything about it. That is simply not true.’

“Right again. It’s simply not true that we said that. We stated the players were informed last week, as Guterman admits. Another claim: ‘The story also talks of a cash-flow crisis. There is no crisis.’

“Well, if there’s no crisis, where’s the cash?

“Finally, Guterman misses the point by moaning he’s ‘not happy about the tenor of the story’. It’s not the way you tell it (straight down the line in this case), but the facts themselves that matter.”

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