View all newsletters
Sign up for our free email newsletters

Fighting for quality news media in the digital age.

  1. Archive content
August 21, 2006updated 22 Nov 2022 8:41pm

Suits you Sir! Sport chief seduced by Auntie’s advances

By Press Gazette

Daily Sport and Sunday Sport editor-in-chief Tony Livesey stepped down on Tuesday after 18 years at Britain's most controversial paper.

Livesey is leaving Manchester-based Sport Newspapers to concentrate on his broadcasting career at the BBC.

In addition to his role as editor-inchief and managing director at Sport Newspapers, Livesey presents the breakfast show on BBC Radio Lancashire and has just finished working on a five-programme series for Channel 4.

He will cover sport for North West Tonight, the region's flagship evening TV news programme, and is also hoping to work on other TV projects at the BBC.

Livesey said one of his lasting legacies would be the Cutting Edge Channel 4 documentary about the Sport, which showed him coming up with the infamous headline "Shoots You, Sir" about the murder of Gianni Versace.

Livesey said: "One of my other proudest moments was when I didn't quite believe the story ‘Aliens turned our son into a fish finger' so I told the reporter to go to Asda, buy a packet of fish fingers, mix the child in with them and ask the mother if she could pick him out."

He added: "A few days later I was at a conference when Les Hinton came up to me and gave me a copy of this speech he had just given to a convention of editors, where he'd used that story as an example of investigative journalism in the world today."

Content from our partners
MHP Group's 30 To Watch awards for young journalists open for entries
How PA Media is helping newspapers make the digital transition
Publishing on the open web is broken, how generative AI could help fix it

Livesey began as a sports reporter at the Sunday Sport in 1987 under legendary West Ham and England footballer Bobby Moore, who was then sports editor. Livesey went on to take over as sports editor, before stepping up to deputy editor, then editor. He later switched to the Daily Sport, becoming editor, then managing editor of the group and finally editor-in-chief.

Livesey said of the Sport: "It's a much maligned newspaper in places, but those in the business know that no national newspaper could make a profit from day one to now without being excellent in its field. The Independent launched in the same year as us and it's made a loss every year, as far as I'm aware. We've made a profit every year. When the big stories come along, we do them seriously, but we just try and give people a laugh, and that's all I've done for 18 years."

Livesey said his resignation had nothing to with the paper's circulation. July's Sunday Sport ABC figure was 105,499, down 33.71 per cent year on year.

He said: "The circulation is difficult, but so is every other newspaper. We can't afford to cut the price and we can't afford to give away DVDs inside it. All we survive on is our front cover. The very fact that the Sport survives, I believe, is an absolute Fleet Street miracle."

Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog

Select and enter your email address Weekly insight into the big strategic issues affecting the future of the news industry. Essential reading for media leaders every Thursday. Your morning brew of news about the world of news from Press Gazette and elsewhere in the media. Sent at around 10am UK time. Our weekly does of strategic insight about the future of news media aimed at US readers. A fortnightly update from the front-line of news and advertising. Aimed at marketers and those involved in the advertising industry.
  • Business owner/co-owner
  • CEO
  • COO
  • CFO
  • CTO
  • Chairperson
  • Non-Exec Director
  • Other C-Suite
  • Managing Director
  • President/Partner
  • Senior Executive/SVP or Corporate VP or equivalent
  • Director or equivalent
  • Group or Senior Manager
  • Head of Department/Function
  • Manager
  • Non-manager
  • Retired
  • Other
Visit our privacy Policy for more information about our services, how New Statesman Media Group may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications.
Thank you

Thanks for subscribing.

Websites in our network