The man at the centre of today’s Poogate storm in the press has denied any defecating took place at yesterday’s game between Sunderland and Reading.

Reports in various newspapers, including in the Daily Mirror and Sunderland Echo, have suggested a Black Cats fan took down his trousers and had a poo on the terrace of the Stadium of Light during Chris Coleman’s first game in charge.

Presumably on something of a slow news Sunday, those claims are all largely based on misleading posts made on Sunderland message board Readytogo.

The man at the centre of the allegations has told us he was ejected from the ground and arrested for being drunk at yesterday’s match but was later released without charge and there was certainly no suggestion from the police that any defecation had taken place.

Seemingly accurate eye witness reports suggest the fan who was in the stadium’s South Stand yesterday may have been merely unable to control his bladder which was the cause of the unfortunate incident.

As the largest football message board covering all things Sunderland, Readytogo.net has often been the source of news reports with local and national journalists known to frequent its pages in search of content.

The Mirror, the Sunderland Echo and the Evening Chronicle are all today carrying direct quotes lifted from the forum and wider social media sites seemingly without any fact checking having taken placed or the individuals quoted having been contacted for verification.

In July, the storm about to brew over Black Cats midfielder Darron Gibson’s drunken rant first appeared on the forum before being picked up by the media and the internet site was instrumental in the furore over Sunderland Echo journalist Liam Kennedy’s derogatory remarks about Wearside and its people which were unearthed on social media.

And the online gathering of Sunderland fans was the site behind organising flowers for Dick Advocaat’s wife when the Dutchman was in two minds about returning to the Stadium of Light in the summer of 2015 and for raising funds to fly a couple of planes over St James Park to mock the Mags.