Albion Chief Executive Martin Perry has dismissed Norman Baker's latest attempt to discredit the club as an underhand effort to drive a wedge between the club and its fans.

Perry said, "Once again Baker has got his facts completely wrong, as he continues to clutch at straws. By suggesting we have mislead the supporters this is a clear attempt to try and drive a wedge between the club and its fans. If this is the level to which he has to sink then it underlines the weakness of his case."

The Lib Dem MP was handed information on the sites considered at the second public inquiry held in 2005. The report was complied by a firm of consultants employed by the club in preparation for the second inquiry.

Perry added, "When John Prescott re-opened the Inquiry he asked us to look at a number of sites and part of that appraisal was to examine whether or not the stadium was affordable on each of them.

"As part of that exercise we had to examine whether or not there was a possibility of any enabling development at each of the sites and whether or not that could contribute to the cost of the stadium.

"For example at Coventry, West Ham and Huddersfield the corporate hospitality boxes convert into hotel bedrooms and it was perfectly reasonable for the club to explore these options on the sites we were considering.

"The many fans who came to the Public Inquiry will know how thorough our analysis of each of the sites was, and all of our fans would expect that we have explored all the options before coming to any conclusions.

Baker is trying to divide the Albion and its fans

"There was nothing deceitful or sinister about what we did, it was part of a very detailed and thorough evaluation process which concluded that there was no benefit in attempting to include hotel accommodation within the stadium plans at Falmer."

"The report concluded that Sheepcote Valley was the best site for a hotel but our judgement on which is the best site for a stadium was not based on that criteria alone. We also had to consider all the other issues including transportion strategy on which Sheepcote Valley and Toads Hole Valley failed miserably."

Inspector Brier's report said of the alternative sites: 'I am not satisfied that it has been demonstrated that any of the locations under consideration are sufficiently advantageous that they represent feasible, practical and realistic alternatives that should be preferred to Falmer.

'There are site specific issues relating to each one of the sites that lead me to conclude that, at present, there is no realistic prospect of planning permission being granted for a community stadium at any one of them.'

Perry added, "The second Inspector confirmed our findings which took account of all the options open to us - but not satisfied with besmirching the reputation of one of our directors, Baker is now trying to besmirch the reputation of the club by resorting to an interpretation of leaked documents that have been taken totally out of context.

"His agenda is now very clear, to attempt to divide and conquer. He saw what happened to his colleague David Bellotti when the fans turned on him and this is a clumsy attempt by Baker to try and get the fans to turn on the current board."