THE National Union of Journalists (NUJ hit out at football clubs for banning journalists from press conferences and matches yesterday and called on the Football Association to halt this “worrying trend.”

A letter was sent to FA chairman Greg Dyke from NUJ general secretary Michelle Stanistreet after the Blackpool Gazette was barred from attending a friendly between Blackpool and Morecambe on Tuesday evening.

At first it was believed that the away side were due to play trialists and didn’t want any information leaked out but sports journalist for the Morecambe Visitor Adam Lord was allowed entry and Blackpool live-tweeted details of the match including team news.

Clubs such as Newcastle are only allowing certain newspapers into press conferences while Swindon Town announced earlier in the summer that all interviews will be conducted by its own press officer and be released through their personal app, after club owner Lee Power said that local paper Swindon Advertiser’s coverage of the team was too negative.

He also said that the distribution of club news through their app could have “financial benefits” for the club in the future.

The NUJ feel that with Dyke being a former journalist, and head of the FA, he is the ideal person to force a change.

The letter read: “I am writing to you because of our concern over a worrying trend among football clubs to ban reporters and instead have their own hand-picked writers to peddle propaganda from the proprietor’s point of view.

“The NUJ believes censorship by football club owners is unacceptable; they should be held to account for the decisions they make and the way they run the club.

“It is the fans who will be the losers. They can buy the match-day programmes to hear what their team’s manager and owner have to say, but they should also be able to hear what independent commentators have to say about their local team.

“As a former journalist, this must be of interest to you. I am asking the FA to take up this issue and to use the power in its hands to roundly condemn the censoring of the press and to work with clubs to ensure that football fans have access to a variety of reports on the fortunes and otherwise of their club.”

Newcastle billionaire owner Mike Ashley famously banned local paper the Chronicle in 2013 for covering a protest from fans’ group Time4change against his ownership of the club.