Football club anger at reporter jibes

Tony Francis was not a fan of the stadium

The chairman of a North Yorkshire non-league football club has reacted furiously to comments made about his team in a national newspaper.

Dennis Bentley was horrified to see Harrogate Railway described as the "lowest life form ever to surface in the second round of the FA Cup".

Daily Telegraph sports reporter Tony Francis, who wrote the article, has since apologised for upsetting people and says he did not intend to cause offence.

But the chairman insists the article crossed the boundary from gently poking fun into "unpleasantness".

Humiliating comments

"Well I wouldn't like to swear - but he's a prat," said Mr Bentley.

"All this man has done is try to humiliate Harrogate, and Railway Athletic in particular."

The Northern Counties East side were hailed as local heroes after becoming the lowest ranked team to reach that stage since Coventry Sporting in 1975.

They were finally knocked out 3-1 by Bristol City.

Railway's chairman was angered by the comments

Tony Francis compared the pitch to a meadow and criticised the "arctic" dressing rooms, the mud and the ground's mobile toilets in his report.

The club made a huge effort to ready their 3,000 capacity stadium in Starbeck for their big match, and the chairman still feels angered by his comments.

He also made it clear that Mr Francis would never be welcome back at Station View.

"I don't want to see the man ever again in my life.

"If we had a run again in the cup I just wouldn't want him here at all."