Staff at the Leicester Mercury had an early call yesterday when the sports desk had a tip-off that Leicester City football manager Peter Taylor was about to be sacked.

The sports team put together his ‘obit’ with an exclusive interview with Taylor and a host of stories that made the front and back pages as well as eight of the 16 pages of the Mercury’s new Monday sports supplement.

News staff were also called in to put finishing touches to the paper – including a revamped comment column and the latest nibs from the area – for a 5.30am print run.

Journalists were working until 5am on the pages and the extended print run was updated for the later editions with more reaction to the sacking.

Editor Nick Carter said his “strong” team of staff had made it possible.

He said: “We had a tip-off on Sunday evening that Taylor was going and we were able to interview him, something none of the nationals or radio stations had.”

Taylor told readers he was going to get another job and prove that the board made the wrong decision in getting rid if him.

Mercury photo of Taylor’s ‘farewell’ to the fans

The other major stories included the news of the sacking itself, speculation on who would be next in the hotseat, an opinion piece from the football writer saying the board got it wrong, a factfile on the former manager and vox pops of the fans.

Nick said: “We carried eight pages on Leicester City FC in the sports supplement, and the match report itself went to almost nothing.

“It fell together very well. We’re no strangers to early prints and we have got such a strong sports team. The supplement has done very well for us on the Monday sale since its launch this season.”

Do you have a story about the regional press? Ring 0116 227 3122/3121, or
e-mail [email protected]