Celebrated Geordie journalist Alan Oliver has been banned from Newcastle United.

The Daily Mail says Newcastle, a club in turmoil on and off the pitch, have surpassed themselves by banning Oliver from St James' Park just days after he received a lifetime achievement award for the dignified way he devoted a career to covering the team for the Newcastle Evening Chronicle for more than 30 years.

The highly respected Oliver, now a pensioner working for a Sunday newspaper, was the co-author of a story speculating on sidelined manager Joe Kinnear's health - a fair subject on Tyneside - which upset the board.