Mail on Sunday columnist Oliver Holt has been named as the first seven-day sports writer at the Mail titles, also producing content across the Daily Mail, Mail+ and Mail Online.
Beginning in his role on Monday, publisher DMG Media said Holt “will be first with the big reactions to all sports stories” across the Mail titles.
“As well as reporting from global sports events, Oliver’s weekly column will be published first across the Mail’s digital assets on Monday evening and then every Tuesday in the Daily Mail,” the publisher said in a statement. “He will also continue to write on big sports events in the Mail on Sunday.”
As well as Holt’s appointment, Daily Mail chief sports feature writer Riath Al-Samarrai will begin writing a weekly column for the Mail on Sunday.
The Mail’s sports departments have been working together across print and online for about four years.
Holt has written at the Mail on Sunday for eight years and was previously chief sports writer at the Daily Mirror from 2002 to 2015 and chief football writer at The Times from 1996 to 2002. He began his journalism career at the Liverpool Echo.
The appointment comes a month after the Mail titles rehired their former sports chief, Lee Clayton to be “global publisher of sport”.
Clayton said of Holt’s promotion: “Oliver has immense love and joy in writing about sport. This unique role, across all Mail titles and digital assets, gives him a golden ticket to the greatest sporting events, including The Ashes, world heavyweight title fights, Wimbledon Finals, the Premier League and every major football tournament, the golfing Majors, The Olympic Games and the occasional Stockport home game. It’s the best job in sport.”
Mail Newspapers editor Ted Verity said: “Oliver is the undisputed king of hard-hitting, thought-provoking, influential print and online sports commentators. A tenacious journalist with a deep understanding of what our Sports Mail readers want – and which will now be available across all our multi-platform Mail brands.”
Holt is the holder of a Stockport County season ticket.
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