THE Daily Echo has been banned from St Mary's Stadium by Southampton Football Club.

It comes following a story which ran on Tuesday about the club's plans to redevelop the Staplewood training ground in Marchwood.

The story was run after the information had become public knowledge after the details of the planning application were published by New Forest District Council.

At the same time that the plans came to light to the Daily Echo, it was also noticed by members of Saints fans’ forums - who began to run images and details online - and Sky Sports News.

The BBC ran news of the proposal at the same time as the Echo.

Other media that published the story at the same time have not been banned by the club.

It is the first time the Southern Daily Echo has ever been prevented from covering Saints' fixtures in the paper's 121 year history.

Editor Ian Murray said:"We will continue to do what we do best – provide unbiased, balanced, well thought through, professional analysis of the Saints – while wishing our team all the success it deserves.

"This ban will not affect our coverage of the Saints."

• For more details and a full explanation of the ban by Editor Ian Murray, see his weekly column in today's Southern Daily Echo.