Farnborough Town’s plum draw in the fourth round of the FA Cup against Arsenal failed to make the Farnborough News front page after the paper was banned from speaking to the players.
There was no front-page splash treatment of a story that got huge coverage in the nationals; just a small earpiece referring readers to page three.
The back page explained why. It carried an apology to all Boro fans, adding: “According to one of the players, Boro chief Graham Westley has instructed his squad to speak solely to The Sun newspaper.”
Editor James Taylor admitted: “This has never been officially confirmed by the club. However, since then, we have been able to speak to some of the players and John Couch, our sports editor, was given normal access for the game on Saturday.”
Taylor thought there might have been a tie-up deal with the national newspaper on the understanding that The Sun would pay for the players to go to a training camp in Spain and to Newcastle for coaching with Alan Shearer.
“It was very frustrating – obviously we would have liked to have spoken to the players directly,” he said.
The News made a barbed comment at the end of its back-page statement: “We look forward to seeing The Sun at the FA Trophy match at Eastbourne Borough on Saturday.”
Press Gazette was unable to contact the club.
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