The cup final edition of the Evening Gazette, Teesside, scored a 32.5 per cent circulation increase following Middlesbrough’s League Cup football success.

The paper sold an extra 20,000 copies year-on-year on Monday March 1, according to the latest figures.

The increased interest and football fever ensured high sales all week, with a 3.2 per cent increase the following day, one per cent on the Wednesday, a slight fall on the Thursday and a 4.8 per cent rise year-on-year for the Friday, when detail’s of the team’s victory parade were announced. Nine broadsheet pages were devoted to the parade itself, and despite extra copies being printed, 15 shops still sold out.

Sales figures for the Thursday were affected by another footballing event – the team beat Newcastle this time last year, which made the figures difficult to better!

The success at the Evening Gazette means sales were up for the week as a whole by seven per cent.

Editor Steve Dyson said: “It’s a case of the whole of Teesside actually expecting the Gazette to print every cough and spit of the cup run, the final, the celebrations and then a re-run of the whole sequence of events.

“The cup victory has been seen truly as a once in a lifetime event in Middlesbrough. And the Gazette has been there to record it all in print and pictures as a full service to readers.

“Reporters, photographers, subs, promotions staff, newspaper sellers and advertising staff who’ve sold extra space to underpin the pagination increases have all done themselves and the company proud.”

It was something of a team effort on a wider scale too, with Trinity Mirror colleagues in Cardiff – where the final took place – offering laptops, local knowledge and office access courtesy of South Wales Echo editor Alastair Milburn.

Steve said: “For many areas, like Liverpool, Manchester, etc, cup runs and victories are so commonplace that the effect on circulation is probably minimal.

“But here in Middlesbrough, after 128-years without a cup, the fans just can’t get enough of it. And that was before the victorious final itself!”

A special edition published prior to the final in Cardiff sold 10,105 copies and next Monday may also prove a hit with readers, when a special free commemorative 48-page insert will be published in the newspaper.

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