THE Premiership footballer who went to court to stop a Sunday newspaper reporting he had affairs with two women was today named as Blackburn Rovers star Garry Flitcroft.

The nationwide ban on media identifying the player was lifted after a legal injunction ended at midnight.

And after a group of national newspaper and television journalists camped outside his home at Bromley Cross near Bolton, the Rovers captain today appealed through the Lancashire Evening Telegraph for his family to be left in peace.

As he left for today's relegation battle at Leicester the former Manchester City and under-21 England international said he wanted to be left to concentrate on his football and staying in the Premiership.

"At the end of the day, we have got two important matches over the next three days and I just want to concentrate on that," he said. "I am a footballer and I don't want to start talking about my private life. I hope people will respect me and my family's privacy."

Today Blackburn Rovers echoed his plea.

A club statement said: "We would always hope that all employees of Blackburn Rovers Football Club would act in a responsible and acceptable manner when representing the club and we would never condone any behaviour which threatened its good name.

"It seems this case has gained notoriety as much for the implications on privacy laws as for football or any other consideration.

"Our understanding is that nothing unlawful occurred or is alleged. This is essentially a private matter and, therefore, we cannot comment further. We are though naturally concerned at a most untimely intrusion as we continue to strive to maintain our Premiership status."

In a legal battle lasting a year and costing an estimated £200,000 the married Rovers star prevented the Sunday People naming him in a story containing allegations about his two secret mistresses.

But in a landmark ruling three weeks ago the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Woolf, ordered that the injunction banning publication of the player's identity was an unjustified interference in the freedom of the press and ruled that Flitcroft could be named.

He was not identified immediately, however, as he was given three weeks to appeal to the House of Lords.

On Thursday Flitcroft's lawyers unsuccessfully applied to the judges for the injunction to be extended which means that the embargo was lifted today.

The Sunday People published the love-cheat allegations in November last year but called the two women in question Miss C and Miss D, so Flitcroft, who is married with two children, would not be identified.

Miss C claimed the Premiership star seduced her with lies about love and promises of marriage.

The blonde nursery nurse told the Sunday People that Flitcroft proposed to her, hid the fact he was married, offered to buy her a home, bombarded her with more than 400 phone calls and promised "they would be a couple together forever." She said he only revealed he was married through a mobile phone text message.

"That man lied to me from the word go," she said. "He used me, stringing me along with promises that we'd be together as a couple forever. I thought we had a real bond but all he was interested in was getting me into bed.

"His wife needs to know what he has been up to and the sort of man she is married to."

Miss C said the two-month affair began in January last year when she met the footballer in a trendy bar on a players' night out.

Miss D, a blonde lap dancer and former air stewardess, began a year-long affair with the footballer in 1999 after they met while she was working in a topless bar.

She claims he told her he was single before revealing he was married in a text message. He then pleaded for her to wait for him while he split up with his wife. He told me he was married but getting a divorce," Miss D told the Sunday People. "He said everything had gone massively wrong. The mess would take a few months to sort out but he hoped I'd wait for him. But a few weeks later I feel such a fool.

"His wife deserves to know the truth about her cheating husband and so do the fans who idolise him."

Flitcroft married his childhood sweetheart Karen Horrock at a ceremony at St Anne's Church in the village of Turton, on the fringe of the West Pennine Moors, in the summer of 1997.

High Court judge Mr Justice Jack ruled in September last year that the laws of confidentiality could apply to relationships outside marriage and ordered that the Sunday People newspaper should be barred from reporting the "kiss-and-tell stories" about Flitcroft.

The newspaper successfully appealed against the order barring publication of the interviews with the footballer's former lovers -- one a lap dancer he met in a club and the other a nursery teacher who claims he used his wealth, fame and position to seduce her.

Lord Woolf, the Lord Chief Justice, and two other top judges, heard the appeal on March 11 and ruled that granting an injunction would be "an unjustified interference with the freedom of the press."

He added: "Footballers are role models for young people and undesirable behaviour on their part sets an unfortunate example.

"He may hold a position where higher standards of conduct can be rightly expected by the public."

However after Lord Woolf's ruling the player was given three weeks' grace to convince the Law Lords they should hear his case.

His lawyers unsuccessfully applied to the judges for that injunction to be extended.

The judge ordered Flitcroft to pay the costs of his failed application, estimated to be in the region of £4,000.