Sydney's Sunday and Daily Telegraph have been running a week-long smear campaign on the Australia star, alleging he had a night of "disgrace" and "shame" at the Kings Cross bar last week.

The Daily Telegraph even ran claims today that he had been banned from returning to the high class nightspot, with anonymous quotes allegedly from a club bouncer saying: "He's not welcome back."

But the owner of the bar today said: "We love Tim Cahill and he's always welcome here as our guest. He's a national hero who has taken us to the World Cup.

"They've blown it out of all proportion. I don't know what they are going on about. I don't want Tim to look like a bad guy. It was just a simple misunderstanding."

Salvato - who went to the same Bexley school as Cahill - revealed Tim had celebrated the success of World Cup qualification with him at the bar on Wednesday night without any incident.

But when Cahill returned the following night without Salvato, a junior manager at the bar insisted strict Australian drinking laws meant bar staff were unable to serve him.

"If you look even slightly intoxicated, we are not allowed to serve you," explained Salvato. "Tim didn't understand this because he lives in England where you can drink as much as you like."

The situation became heated when the doorman intervened.

Salvato added: "The doorman got his knickers in a knot. We don't employ the doormen directly, we use a security company and no-one knew who he was.

"He certainly doesn't speak for Trademark. He had no right to talk about this. If he had a personal issue with Tim, that's his personal issue."

He added: "It was a nothing incident that should never have happened. Tim was just partying and then left. No punches were thrown and nothing else happened. There was no 'disgrace' or 'shame'.

"Police only became involved after the media phoned them. They came down, looked at the CCTV video, saw there was nothing to investigate and that was it.

"The Telegraph got it way out of line and I don't understand why they have been doing this."

Radio host Alan Jones took Sunday Telegraph editor Neil Breen to task over the newspaper's handling of the story and today again praised the Socceroo hero who scored our first ever goal in the World Cup and gave Australia victory over Japan with a brace of goals on Wednesday night.

Talking about the Telegraph in an email to a fan, he said: "I'm just sick and tired of these people. They assassinate all of us.

"I don't mind what they say about me, but some of these people have to be brought to a heel. I've had it for years. I don't see why others should have to endure it."

He added: "You will not find a greater sportsman or human being than Timmy Cahill."

Former Socceroo goalkeeper Mark Bosnich also joined the debate after the game against Japan, branding those responsible for the story as "scum".