A regional sports journalist has been called for a football manager to be given the freedom of his patch.

Jon Palmer, Cheltenham Town reporter for Gloucestershire Live, has called for the honour to be bestowed upon Steve Cotterill.

Mr Cotterill managed Town, his hometown team, between 1997 and 2002, taking the club from English football’s sixth tier to its third in the process.

He currently manages Shrewsbury Town, and Jon made the call in an interview with the Shropshire Star ahead of a league match between the two clubs on Saturday (20).

Jon, pictured, told the Star: “[Cheltenham is] his hometown, I genuinely think he should’ve been given the freedom of the town or borough, it was spoken about before.

“He will one day have a stand named after him at Cheltenham Town, that will happen when they re-build the new main stand, I think that should be named after him.

“No-one in Cheltenham has a bad word to say about him, he’s the [former Manchester United manager] Alex Ferguson of Cheltenham Town.”

Jon added: “It’s no exaggeration to say Cotterill is No.1 in Cheltenham Town’s history in terms of influential characters.”