Neil Ashton, one of the high-profile casualties from the closure of the News of the World, has returned to the Daily Mail as football news correspondent.
Ashton, who was at the Mail for five years, left in 2009 to become chief football correspondent of the NotW, based first in Manchester and then London. Last year, Ashton was named Sports News Reporter at the SJA British Sports Journalism Awards.
He has a reputation for breaking big stories – last year Ashton’s explosive exclusive on Carlos Tevez putting in a written transfer request to Manchester City set the agenda for weeks.
Mail head of sport Lee Clayton also worked with Ashton at The People. Ashton will combine his Mail job with a sports presenting role at Al Jazeera TV.
The Mail recruited Ashton just weeks after making sports feature writer Ivan Speck redundant and offering him a part-time contract instead.
Speck, who had a spell as tennis correspondent of the paper, joined the Mail from Hayters 13 years ago.
He carved himself a niche covering the Tour de France, the snooker world championships and darts and was also a part of the Mail team at major events like the Olympics, Wimbledon and Open. Speck will resume working for the paper again on December 1.
UPCOMING SJA DATES
- Wed Dec 7: SJA 2011 British Sports Awards – Book a table before Oct 1 and SAVE £200. For more details, click here.
All details subject to alteration. Keep checking sportsjournalists.co.uk for updates