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Football club bars daily’s reporters for second time

Sports Reporter: Tom Bassam.09.09.14 Pic by Vicky ScipioA football club’s ban on a regional daily ‘s reporters has been reimposed just under a year after it was lifted.

The Swindon Advertiser’s chief sports writer Tom Bassam, pictured left, was barred from Swindon Town’s pre-match press conference on Friday morning ahead of today’s match against Coventry City.

According to club officials, the ban has been imposed at the request of chairman Lee Power.

While other members of the local media were shown to the club’s press room ahead of the conference, Tom was initially denied access by the club’s media officer.

When challenged over the action, the club’s general manager Steve Anderson was then summoned and revealed the exclusion was at the request of chairman Power, who felt “he got the coverage he wanted from other media outlets in Swindon”.

Again challenged about whether the ban was as a result of any specific articles published by the Swindon Advertiser, Anderson refused to elaborate, repeating that it was at the request of the chairman.

Advertiser editor Gary Lawrence said: “(Friday morning’s) action is the regrettable culmination of weeks of a near-total lack of co-operation from Swindon Town towards the Swindon Advertiser and is not only disappointing, but ultimately self-defeating.

“As is our standard practice with stories published by the Swindon Advertiser in relation to Swindon Town, club officials have been asked for their observations, comments or reaction by our journalists along every step of the way.

“For reasons known only to itself, the club has either rejected the opportunity to respond, which is of course its prerogative, or, in more recent times, refused to acknowledge or completely ignored approaches made by the Advertiser.

“I remain disappointed and upset for our hard-working staff, readers and Town fans that the chairman has been unable to give me an explanation for the ban or even attempted to find a solution.”

In recent weeks, the Advertiser has run stories on the club being taken to court by the local council over non-payment of its rent on its County Ground home, chairman Lee Power being in dispute with the administrators of St John Law over unpaid legal fees for representing him in a court case and Southern League side Redditch United submitting an official complaint to the FA over what it considered an illegal approach for their former striker Jermaine Hylton.

It was also hit with a temporary ban last January after the club objected to a tweet posted by one of its reporters.

Gary added: “We can all speculate as to the reasons for the club’s displeasure, but given that a variety of issues regarding Swindon Town have been reported on across a variety of media outlets in recent times, it would appear this latest action is purely arbitrary.

“With the club riding high at the top of the league and the club hopeful that people will become genuinely engaged with their fortunes, it seems bizarre that the club wish to cut off its main route for ‘spreading its message’ through not only Swindon but beyond into wider Wiltshire via the Advertiser’s sister paper.”

The Advertiser was banned in January 2014 from using press facilities at Swindon Town after then-chief sports writer Sam Morshead tweeted that striker Nile Ranger was in the side to play Peterborough United before the team sheets were handed in.

The club claimed the tweet led to Peterborough changing their team as a result. However the ban was lifted just over a week later after talks between Gary and the club.