The manager had been reported as criticising the stadium at a fringe meeting at the Labour Party conference in Bournemouth.

Mr McMenemy said he was simply appealing for more money to be spent on grounds generally.

On Wednesday morning, the Northern Ireland manager was reported as having described Windsor Park stadium as a disgrace and somewhere he was ashamed to welcome visiting international teams to.

But on Wednesday evening, he denied using those words and said he had been misinterpreted while speaking on a soccer panel on the fringe of the Labour Party conference.

John Lavery: Classic case of "biting the hand that feeds you"

Mr McMenemy said: "I said we play on a club ground, a part-time football club ground, which is suitable for their football.

"But when it comes to international football the countries that we play against have got far, far superior stadia and I was really making a cry for more funding, for more support for Northern Ireland," he said.

The comments were the lead story in Wednesday's Belfast News Letter, under the headline "Lawrie puts the boot in".

The article also referred to the "controversial" decision to award the manager a new three-year contract "despite a run of disappointing results".

In an interview with BBC NI, another leading sports journalist, Belfast Telegraph Sports Editor John Lavery said: "It is a classic case of biting the hand that feeds you.

"I mean Lawrie is hardly in a position at the minute to curry favour with the Northern Ireland fans with his performances on the pitch. These comments couldn't have come at a worse time, especially when people are divided as to whether he should get a new contract or not."

However, the football authorities have come out in support of the Northern Ireland manager.

The Irish Football Association described the News Letter article as "typical sensationalist journalism".

A statement added: "Lawrie was merely emphasising the IFA's longstanding policy of improving facilities."