The Daily Mail’s Neil Ashton has been appointed chief football correspondent of the News of the World. Ashton, 35, has been at the Mail for five years and was previously a football writer at The People.

News of the World sports editor Paul McCarthy said: “He comes with a reputation as one of the best story-getters in the business, his contacts are first class and he has a real insight into football as well as a passion for the game which comes through in everything he writes.”