Phil Hay, the Yorkshire Evening Post’s Chief Football writer is leaving the newspaper next week.
He hasn’t announced where he’ll be heading next, but did say that it would involve football writing and covering Leeds United.
“Thirteen years home and away with Leeds United, which has been some adventure. They say you get less for murder but you get less for winning the lottery too. I’m grateful for all of it,” he said on Twitter.
The Scot, who’s a Hearts fan, has covered Leeds United since 2006. He joined the title in 2004 from the Press Association.
“There have definitely been more downs than ups for Leeds in that period (which makes me wonder if I was a bit of a curse) but they’re the most fascinating and compelling club, and a club who never sleep,” he told the paper today.
“Don Waters, the YEP’s former United writer, once said to me that you’re never short of a story at Elland Road and he’s right. This season goes down as my highlight – a pleasure to write about Marcelo Bielsa and to see Leeds go as close as they did. It been a privilege to do this for 13 years at the YEP.”
His departure comes as American sports subscription publisher, The Athletic, has started targeting UK sports journalists ahead of its launch in the country.
It said that it was planning to hire a team of around 50 to write about football across the UK, in a similar hyperlocal model, that it has in the United States.
When it launched in the US, it brought in well-known reporters to bring their audience to the site.
