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Football club to meet editor for talks over ban

A football club which banned its local daily newspaper after a reporter tweeted news about the team’s line-up before a match is to meet the editor for talks.

The Swindon Advertiser was barred from using press facilities at Swindon Town football club after chief sports writer Sam Morshead tweeted that striker Nile Ranger was in the team to play Peterborough United on Saturday, ahead of the team sheets being handed in.

It led to Swindon Town chaiman Lee Power banning the Advertiser from the press box at the County Ground and from pre and post-match interviews with players and staff.

Last night the club released a statement onfirming they have agreed to meet the editor Gary Lawrence for talks.

It said: “The Club’s actions to place an embargo on the Swindon Advertiserwas as a result of a series of issues with the newspaper of which the Nile Ranger incident was the most recent.

“The restriction on the Swindon Advertiser covering fixtures is in effect for home matches only, the first of which is at the end of this month.

“The Club feels it has acted in the best interests of Swindon Town and its supporters. However, the Club acknowledges that supporters do need a conduit and, as such, confirm that they will be meeting with Gary Lawrence, the group editor of the Swindon Advertiser on Monday to resolve our differences and to rebuild trust between both parties.

“The Club would like to reiterate that this decision has been made with supporters in mind and would like to thank all supporters for their continued backing.”

After the ban was announced, Gary spent 20 minutes on the phone to Power asking him to reconsider.

He said yesterday:  “I can respect that Lee wants to do the best for his club and the fans but I don’t think banning the Adver is going to achieve that. He has steadied the club and given it a new direction since he took over but I think this is more controversy the club can do without.”

The dispute is the latest in a series of rows between football clubs and local papers that have erupted in recent months.

Others facing bans include the Rotherham Advertiser and Trinity Mirror’s three titles in Newcastle, including the Evening Chronicle.

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  • January 15, 2014 at 12:12 pm
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    Yet another “corpse” by the wayside – thanks to Twitter! When are newspapers going to learn? The tweet won’t have sold the Advertiser a single extra copy of the paper – indeed, why should anyone buy the paper when they’ll get all the highlights free of charge on Twitter.

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