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Mail’s long-serving sports columnist Sale announces he is retiring

Charlie Sale, the Daily Mail’s long-serving sports columnist, has announced his retirement.

Sale has been off work recovering from hepatitis since covering the Ryder Cup in Paris at the end of September.

He honed his reputation as a skilled story getter via his Sports Agenda diary column and was fearless when it came to taking on the establishment. He is an SJA former sports diarist of the year

Sale, who was at the Express before joining the Mail, took to Twitter to make public his decision, saying: “Have recovered well from hepatitis but am retiring from Daily Mail. Feel privileged to have worked in the great profession of journalism for 40 years with brilliant colleagues and rivals.”

A few hours later he added: “Absolutely overwhelmed by all the kind messages today re retirement. Even the trolls were nice. Thanks so much.”


 Sale’s announcement comes as head of sport Lee Clayton prepares to move to talkSPORT. Deputy Marc Padgett takes over at the end of the year.

Blackpool fan Padgett started his career on the Citizen and worked in Lancaster, Barrow and Edinburgh before moving Down Under to The Australian as sports editor. He was also sports editor on The Independent prior to joining the Daily Mail.