Six jobs created as The Athletic expands regional coverage

A sports news title is expanding its regional coverage as part of a recruitment drive that has created six jobs.

The Athletic has launched the search for a Manchester news reporter to cover goings-on at the city’s two main football clubs, Manchester City and Manchester United.

As well as coverage of on-the-pitch affairs, the new reporter will also be covering the commercial and business sides of the two clubs.

Both Manchester clubs currently have dedicated correspondents working for the title, in the form of Sam Lee and Laurie Whitwell.

When The Athletic launched in the UK in 2019, the US-owned site poached a dozen sports journalists from regional newspapers across the country.

Moves from the regional press to the site continued in 2020, when the Southern Daily Echo’s Dan Sheldon and the Hull Daily Mail’s Philip Buckingham joined.

At the time of his move, Dan said Southampton FC, the club he reported on, “deserved more” than the coverage he could offer at the Echo.

This week, the Southampton-based daily revealed it was launching a new title to cover the club, called Saintsplus, which will be available exclusively to digital subscribers.

The creation of The Athletic’s new Manchester role was revealed on Twitter by its UK editor-in-chief Alex Kay-Jelski, pictured.

The site is also seeking a tactics writer, senior editor, sub-editor, deputy news editor and chief sub-editor as part of the recruitment drive.

The Athletic declined to comment further on the new roles when approached by HTFP.