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Regional daily lands exclusive with quitting football boss

A regional daily landed an exclusive by printing an open letter from a football manager who quit his club.

The Hull Daily Mail published the letter from former Hull City boss Steve Bruce following his departure from the club on Friday.

Bruce had made no public comment on his decision to quit over the weekend until the letter came in to the Mail’s offices on Sunday evening.

The exclusive provided a splash for the newspaper in yesterday’s edition, pictured below.

Hull Bruce

In it, Bruce told supporters he had left “for the sake of the club” after a breakdown in his relationship with vice-chairman Ehab Allam.

The club won promotion to the Premier League, English football’s top division, in May.

Mail deputy editor Jamie Macaskill told HTFP: “We’ve always had a very good relationship with Steve Bruce, particularly through our football reporter Philip Buckingham.

“He’s a manager who appreciates the role of the local press and how important a role we can play as a bridge to the fans.

“Although there were confidentially clauses surrounding his departure from City, we didn’t expect Steve to want to leave without saying anything to the fans.

“So Phil and Steve talked about what could be done and he decided on an open letter which we could published in the Mail and online.

“From our point of view, we’ll be very sorry to see Steve go. He always had time for a chat with Phil and in an era when most clubs like to heavily manage their media, it was good to have that honesty and openness. That kind of relationship benefits fans, club and journalists.”