WE'RE GETTING UP THEIR NOSES

Journalists are making a bit of a nuisance of themselves at the moment.

Southampton FC have banned their local paper the Southern Daily Echo from attending matches after the paper refused to hold back a report on the club's plans to redevelop their training ground. The plans were already open to public scrutiny on the council website and details had been published elsewhere so it's hard to figure out where Southampton were coming from. Apart from wanting to micro-manage the news as it affects themselves.

Down the coast Portsmouth have banned a reporter because they didn't like one of his match reports. Leeds Utd's ban on the Guardian has previously been noted in this blog. So much for the compliant press which English football is often accused of nurturing.

Even the snappers are ruffling feathers. Oliver McVeigh of the Irish agency Sportsfile has been dragged into the row betwen rugby union giants Ulster and Stade Francais. McVeigh is accused by Stade Francais of doctoring a shot of a French player gouging the eye of one of the Ulster forwards to make the incident look worse than it was. McVeigh vehemently denies the accusation. One to keep an "eye" on.