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Sunday Herald’s Grant gets the call to join The Times

In these days of multi-functioning super-smart phones, it is probably every sports reporter’s nightmare. The press conference is just getting underway, they dutifully place the device on to record mode and pop it on the desk in front of the football manager, Olympic athlete or senior official and… then the phone rings.

It is reasonable to suggest that not all interviewees will take the matter in their stride with such good humour as Neil Lennon did when Celtic manager in January 2013 when the phone in front of him went off.

Michael Grant: soon to move from Sunday Herald to The Times's Scotland operation
Michael Grant: moving from Sunday Herald to The Times Scotland

The call was for the Sunday Herald’s football correspondent, Michael Grant. And perhaps to his lasting embarrassment, after 16 years with the Glasgow-based newspaper group, it threatens to be the one instance for which Grant will be best-remembered.

The widely respected Grant, who has been with the paper’s sports staff since launch in 1999, has this week announced his departure.

He has been recruited to boost the football coverage of The Times’s Scotland edition, where Les Snowdon – the former sports editor at the Daily Mail – has recently taken over as editor.

It is not known whether Grant received the call offering him the new job while he was at a press conference.


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