Tranmere Rovers have confirmed that a 'de facto' ban has been in place against The Sun for the past two seasons.

Everton banned the newspaper from Goodison Park and Finch Farm last week following an offensive article published by Kelvin MacKenzie which mocked midfielder Ross Barkley.

The Sun has been reviled in the city since its coverage of the Hillsborough disaster. After consulting with victims’ family members, Liverpool made the decision to ban Sun reporters from Anfield and the club’s training ground earlier in the year.

But Tranmere Rovers have revealed that a ban against The Sun has been in place for at least two years and will continue indefinitely in protest of the paper’s “disgraceful reporting of the Hillsborough disaster”.

A club statement read: “The Sun does not generally report on National League games and as such Sun reporters have never been present at the Club for the past 2 seasons.

“Furthermore, we can confirm that any requests for interviews or comments by the Sun have been declined. There has therefore been a de facto ban in place at least since 2015.

“As a Club we absolutely deplore the paper's disgraceful reporting of the Hillsborough disaster. The recent story published by the Sun containing comments were made which were both racist and deeply offensive to Merseysiders shows that the paper continues to treat the people of Liverpool with contempt, and as such the de facto ban on the paper will remain in place.”

MacKenzie’s article sparked outrage after he compared Barkley, who is of Nigerian descent, to a “gorilla”.

Mackenzie, the newspaper's editor between 1981 and 1994, made several other disparaging comments against Barkley and the city of Liverpool in his weekly Sun column.