Blyth Spartans have insisted they are not endorsing the North Korean government after allowing a firm promoting trips to the country to advertise at their Croft Park home.

The National League North club found themselves in the spotlight after photographs of an advertising hoarding for a firm called Visit North Korea were shared on social media.

However, commercial director Mark Scott, who revealed in the club’s match programme that he had set up the deal with Visit North Korea’s Tom Fowdy, a Chinese Studies graduate from Sunderland, insisted the move has nothing to do with the country’s politics.