AS MANY of our readers will be aware, Southampton Football Club’s management has taken the unprecedented step of refusing all photographers access to home matches.

All local and national newspapers, as well as news agencies, must instead purchase images directly from the club’s official photographer.

The Daily Echo is deeply concerned about the club’s stance and, along with the rest of the British media, has chosen not to purchase the club’s photographs.

Up to now, the Daily Echo has chosen to keep quiet about this matter in the hope that it could be amicably resolved.

Regrettably, this did not prove to be the case and today we break our silence now that this issue has become so widely publicised.

Ironically, for a number of years and until recently, the Daily Echo gave the Club’s management free photographs of away matches for use on the Club’s website, to avoid the Club having to pay for expensive away photographic coverage. It was the Club’s management that brought this generous arrangement to a close.

But let’s be clear. This is not a petty commercial squabble, a simple matter of newspapers objecting to putting their hands in their pockets. On the contrary, the media’s backlash has resulted from the unacceptable breach of a fundamental principle of British life: the freedom of expression and of free press.

The Daily Echo prides itself on its fair and independent coverage of the Saints. Our impartiality and integrity, along with the rest of the media, would be utterly compromised if we were to become dependent on the selective photographic output Southampton Football Club’s management sees fit to release.

The British media has fought relentlessly to preserve the freedom of the press and it is unfortunate that Southampton Football Club’s management does not appear to view its attempt to vet match photography as a potential form of censorship.

The media is united on this issue.

The executive editor of the Society of the Editors, Bob Satchwell, has already written to the Club’s management, stating: “Your policy would appear to raise serious issues of press freedom and editorial choice which I feel sure you would agree should not be threatened. That would only serve to damage the reputation of your club, football in general and the proper function of the news media.”

And the Daily Telegraph’s head of sport, Ben Clissitt, has stated: “Telegraph Media Group is very concerned at this development and at the restrictions it puts on our freedom to report sport.”

The Daily Echo is proud to report on our city’s great club and we have done so for more than a century. We are, and always have been, pro-Saints and passionate about the Club and its magnificent fans.

But we must be able to do our job, unhindered by unwarranted attempts at editorial control.

This is a sad day for football and we urge the Club to urgently respond to our request for a meeting to resolve this issue.

In the meantime, the Daily Echo will continue to do all it can to provide the Saints loyal fans with the most comprehensive and balanced coverage available.