I RECEIVED an email the other day telling me that until just over a decade ago the Morning Star was banned from Stamford Bridge.

It seems that the previous owner of Chelsea Ken Bates took exception to something a previous sports reporter for the Star wrote about the club and used his authority to prevent the paper from attending live matches.

I write this because of the recent spate of football clubs using their power to control who sits in their press boxes and what they write about their clubs.