A ban preventing a South London weekly from speaking to its local football club’s players and staff has been lifted.

Following a meeting on Monday between Croydon Advertiser editor Ian Carter and Crystal Palace management, all previous embargoes imposed by the club have now been lifted.

Palace’s typically outspoken manager Neil Warnock has also resumed his regular weekly column in this week’s edition of the Advertiser.

The fallout began last month after the Northcliffe title carried a story in which fans criticised Palace’s new-look kit for next season.

The piece upset Palace chairman Simon Jordan and chief executive Phil Alexander who said the paper should have taken the chance to promote May’s Player of the Year event instead of criticising the kit.

In an editorial, Ian countered by saying the Advertiser was proud of its association with the club but it would never become Palace’s mouthpiece, branding the ban a “ridiculous over-reaction”.

Ian told HTFP: “I’m glad we are back on good terms with Palace.

“Our reporter Sami Mokbel has done an excellent job of covering the club in trying circumstances for the past few weeks but it is obviously better for both sides to be on talking terms again.”

Crystal Palace declined to comment on this story.

Comments

Golam Murtaza (19/03/2009 15:36:58)
Good for you Sami.
And Ian Carter is quite right about how his paper should not be a mouthpiece for the club. There are too many powerful organisations out there trying to bully local reporters into behaving like public relations staff instead of independent journalists.

Adrian Figgess (21/03/2009 14:15:09)
Banning a paper from contact with the staff and players is quite simply petty and pathetic. Palace should be bigger than that. Even if the Adder had acted out of turn (I don’t know the exact circumstances here) there are other ways to deal with it. It’s just typical of my beloved club, I’m afraid.