An interesting news item from the regional press has just landed on HoldtheFrontPage’s radar.

After 90 years of publishing, the Midlands-based Sporting Star will cease publication at the start of the forthcoming football season.

The Sporting Star is owned by the Midland News Association whose titles include two of the UK’s biggest-selling regional dailies – the Wolverhampton-based Express and Star and the Shropshire Star

The timing is unfortunate for West Mids football lovers as Wolverhampton Wanderers have just been promoted to the big time of the Premier League while another Express and Star club Aston Villa have just enjoyed a very successful season.

For those unfamiliar with this publishing marvel, the Sporting Star and others of its ilk are written and published at breakneck speed, with the vast majority of its content coming from Saturday afternoon football matches.

Its demise signals the end of all ‘pinks’ in the Midlands after the Coventry Telegraph closed its edition last autumn, while the Birmingham Pink was closed three years ago by owners Trinity Mirror.

Express and Star MD Alan Harris was quoted in theBirmingham Post as saying: "…..unfortunately technology has outstripped its viability.

"First it was terrestrial TV, then it was Teletext, then Sky Sports and obviously now the internet. Also many of the major matches are not played on a Saturday.

"Reluctantly we have decided that the 2009-10 football season will not have the sporting pink."