MIFFED Cherries chairman Eddie Mitchell claims to have been banned from the boardroom and directors’ box at St Mary’s on Saturday.

Mitchell says he has been told he will not be made welcome after apparently upsetting Southampton officials by revealing Eddie Howe had turned down the manager’s job at the Hampshire club.

Southampton were also understood to be unhappy after Mitchell and his guests had left an unpaid bar bill at St Mary’s following last month’s Carling Cup tie between the two clubs.

Mitchell, however, disputes the drinks tab was deliberately ignored and says his party were treated poorly and not afforded hospitality on their previous visit. The bill has now been settled.

Cherries’ cup defeat at St Mary’s came just days after Mitchell had said the Dorset club was ready to claim top billing on the south coast and that Saints had “remained stagnant”.

Mitchell fuelled the flames further when he went public to confirm that Howe had rejected the opportunity to succeed Alan Pardew as Saints boss earlier this month.

Following the appointment of Nigel Adkins as Pardew’s successor, Saints issued a statement claiming the ex-Scunthorpe boss had been the “only” man that they had offered the job.

Cherries return to St Mary’s on Saturday for the first league meeting between the two clubs for more than 50 years, with the eagerly-awaited clash expected to be a sell-out.

Mitchell told the Daily Echo: “They have told me that I will not be made welcome by their directors unless I apologise for the statement I made in the Echo that Eddie had been offered the job. They have also asked me to provide proof.

“I don’t know of any other club that would take a stance like this and think it is childish. My statement was true and I won’t be apologising.

“I have been made very welcome to every game I have been to this season, except Southampton, where we were made to feel very unwelcome. They didn’t open the boardroom and we sat at a table in one of the restaurants.

“We assumed the drinks would be complimentary, just like at every other club, including ours, hence the reason we didn’t pay for them. They have phoned us about 10 times asking for the money and it was paid earlier this week.

“I’ve been in some rundown boardrooms in my time in the non-league and been made so welcome that you can’t believe it’s the same sport.”

Mitchell has hired at executive box at St Mary’s and is planning to watch the match from it “unless they want to ban me from there as well”.

Cherries’ chairman is understood to be the only club official who has been told he will not be made welcome by Saints directors.

Mitchell said Southampton officials would be offered full hospitality during their visit to Dean Court in March.

When contacted by the Daily Echo, Southampton Football Club declined to comment publicly.