A senior newspaper executive whose post was axed in a restructure last Friday is to take charge of England’s biggest-selling regional daily.

Phil Inman’s forthcoming departure from the role of North-East and Midlands regional managing director at Northcliffe Media was announced on Friday by group MD Steve Auckland.

Today, it was revealed he is to take over from Alan Harris as MD of the Midland News Association, publisher of the Express and Star.

Mr Inman, pictured above, will join the MNA board in September and Mr Harris, who had been due to retire, will hand over the reins on 1 January next year.

An MNA statement read: “Mr Philip Inman will join the Board of the Midland News Association Limited on 5 September, 2011.

“He will work closely with Mr Alan Harris and will succeed him as Managing Director on 1 January 2012.

“Mr Harris who is due to retire on 31 March 2012 has agreed to continue as a non-executive director for a further year.

“Mr Inman has considerable experience within the regional newspaper industry and until recently was regional managing director for the Northcliffe North East and Midland regions.

Father-of-three Mr Inman, who leaves his current role on 8 July, added:  “I am delighted to be joining Midland News Association as managing director.

“The Express & Star and Shropshire Star are exceptionally strong brands, at the very heart of the communities they serve.

“This is a challenging time for regional media businesses, given the difficult economic situation and structural changes in markets.

“The conditions have hastened the pace of change in the business, which is necessary, if sometimes uncomfortable.”