By Steven Downes
Ian Prior is leaving his job as head of sport at The Guardian and Observer.
After 17 years on the sports desk at The Guardian, where he was appointed sports editor in 2008, Prior is moving to a new role as digital editor.
Suitably, Prior announced the move via Twitter, saying that this is his last week on the sports desk.
“So fewer sarky tweets about sport, more about everything else. Gutted in one way but time to move on,” he wrote.
There has been no formal announcement about Prior’s move, though clearly the appointment is a key one as the publishing environment continues to undergo rapid change.
Sources at Kings Place suggested that Prior’s replacement will be decided upon over the next couple of months, and that there are already “one or two decent contenders”.
The sports desk staff were informed of Prior’s departure only on Tuesday.
“The job’s going to be advertised but they need to act quickly as we’ve not replaced Martin Rose yet either,” one said.
Rose was appointed as Prior’s replacement in 2014.
Rose has also moved to another role within the company within the past few weeks.
Before joining The Guardian, Prior had worked in Belfast at the Irish Mirror as deputy sports editor and the Irish News as chief sports sub-editor and Gaelic games writer, and he says that he “gained his entire footballing education from a sinister childhood obsession with Paul McGrath”.
- The SJA is the largest member organisation of sports media professionals in the world. Join us: Click here for more details
FORTHCOMING SJA EVENTS
- Thu Dec 15, 2016: SJA British Sports Awards, sponsored by The National Lottery
- Mon Feb 27, 2017: SJA British Sports Journalism Awards, sponsored by BT Sport