It emerged today that five City players missed the team coach from the Walkers Stadium after the cup game on Wednesday.
The players - Barton, Fowler, McManaman, Sinclair and Wright-Philips - were said to have missed the coach because they were busy celebrating a long overdue win.
However, the club have highlighted that the players bar, as at all Premiership clubs, is a 'dry bar'. They insisted that the players were spending time with fans and it was a genuine mix-up.
"The five players were signing autographs and in fact a lot of fans were left very happy at the fact they took time to sign their autographs," said a City spokesman on the official website.
The players were later collected by Kevin Keegan himself and it was suggested that he was fuming by the incident.
But the club confirmed: "The manager and club officials were able to give the players a lift back to the hotel."
"Kevin Keegan will not be taking any disciplinary action and he too was happy to sign autographs and talk to the fans when he picked the players up at the stadium."
City have now assured that the travelling policy will be looked at.