"I have said it umpteen times before," he said. "It’s embarrassing and not true.
"I don’t know how many times we have to go through this rigmarole, but I don’t know where this has come from.
"It’s untrue and embarrassing and what happens is somebody goes along to Liverpool and they comment which they are quite right to do.
"This story appeared three weeks ago and it was embarrassing then and it is now. These things drift on and drift on, but it simply not true."