OXFORD United's manager

Malcolm Shotton was booted out of his Isle of Wight hotel following an all-day drinking session, it was claimed today.

But Mr Shotton told the Oxford Mail he only had a couple of drinks and hadn't "fallen out" with anybody.

Last weekend, the team booked into the Carlton Hotel on The Esplanade in the seaside resort of Sandown for a four-day mid-season break.

Deputy manager Richard Pink said he was called to the bar at 2am. "He (Mr Shotton) was using abusive language which was upsetting other guests. I asked him to go up to bed but he wanted to carry on and finish his drink," he said.

"The players were as good as gold and agreed to leave the bar straight away. They seemed a bit embarrassed by their manager's behaviour."

Mr Pink said Mr Shotton was asked to leave the next morning by his father Les Pink, who runs the family-owned 120-bedroom Victorian seafront hotel.

"My dad said he wouldn't tolerate that sort of behaviour," said Mr Pink.

Other United players were allowed to stay on at The Carlton, but Mr Shotton went to the nearby Troubille Hotel.

Mr Shotton denied he had been either drunk or abusive to hotel staff. He said: "It's not true to say I had been drinking all day. We had had a couple of drinks."

Mr Shotton said he agreed to move the next day after talking to hotel managers. "We didn't cause anyone any embarrassment or fall out with anyone," he added.

"The decision to move to another hotel was taken jointly by staff at the hotel and by me.

"It was quite amicable. I certainly wasn't kicked out," he added.

Story date: Saturday 20 March

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.