Sport First editor Chris Mann has confirmed that the newspaper made four subbing and design staff redundant on Wednesday.
The move comes ahead of a switch to more page-ready material provided by the Press Association this weekend as the paper plans expansion abroad.
The cuts leave Mann with four full-time writers and a pool of 30 freelances. He will become editor-in-chief of editions planned for launch in the Far East and Europe.
Sport First was already PA’s biggest customer for page-ready copy. Now the agency’s expansion at Howden in Yorkshire means it is able to strike a deal to produce most of the paper.
A further deal linking PA’s second biggest customer for page-ready content – bookmaker Victor Chandler’s Inside Sport, published in Hong Kong – and Sport First is expected. Sources say they believe Inside Sport will be scrapped and Sport First will take its place in Hong Kong and Malaysia. It already publishes editions in Australia and New Zealand.
By Jean Morgan
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