Three of the Daily Telegraph‘s best-known sports columnists are to leave the paper, with more changes to come soon, according to media reports.
Sue Mott, John Inverdale and Michael Henderson are the latest big-name departees in on-going changes associated with the arrival as group head of sport of Mark Skipworth.
Already this year, James Mossop, Robert Phillip, Jon Ryan, Dan Evans and Mark Nicholas have left the sports departments of the two titles, while Daily Telegraph sports editor Keith Perry has been promoted to a senior role within the company. The moves have been interpreted in some quarters as a shift towards a seven-day operation integrated with the Telegraph‘s website.
Not all the changes are departures. It is understood that Kevin Garside, a winner last month of the SJA’s Specialist Correspondent of the Year award for his coverage of Lewis Hamilton’s first season in Formula 1, is to become the Daily Telegraph‘s chief sports correspondent, with Andrew Baker taking over as motor racing reporter.
The appointment of David Bond as sports editor on the daily paper seems likely to put a greater emphasis on sports news, rather than features. According to insiders, the paper’s cricket reporters have been told this week that old-style, 300-word county match reports will no longer be enough, as there will be an expectation on them to deliver a news story.
It may prove to be a busy summer for the paper’s cricket writers: as well as Henderson and Nicholas leaving, Sunday Telegraph cricket correspondent Michael Atherton is set to join The Times.
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