Brazil faces the axe over ratings plunge

TALKSPORT are considering axing Alan Brazil from the flagship radio breakfast show that takes his name after a drastic drop in audience figures.

The move being discussed by station chiefs would see their iconic presenter moved to weekends and Sky’s Soccer Saturday host Jeff Stelling taking the hot seat.

Stelling, who impressed the talkSPORT hierarchy when he stood in as holiday relief for Brazil earlier this year, would share the role with station regular Danny Kelly.

It is understood talkSPORT are waiting to see if the figures, which have dropped by a fifth, start improving when the Premier League kicks off this weekend before implementing such an upheaval.

Brazil has virtually carried talkSPORT on his own since they began broadcasting in 2000, apart from the two-year period when Richard Keys and Andy Gray attracted record audiences for their morning show.

Brazil’s bon viveur lifestyle has seen him fail to appear for his show on numerous occasions — notably during the Cheltenham Festival — but shifting him would demonstrate how worried talkSPORT are by their drop in ratings.

The loss of audience is being blamed partly on Chelsea running away with the Premier League last season and the early exit of English clubs from the Champions League.

THE revelation that Roman Abramovich and third wife Dasha Zhukova are to divorce — following reports that Abramovich is going to borrow to finance Chelsea’s new stadium rather than pay for it out of his own pocket — seemed to make sense considering the likely size of the settlement. But it is understood the timing is coincidental and there is no decision as to whether Abramovich will go to the banks for a loan.

FOR many years, the BBC’s athletics team was mainly a male preserve. But with Paula Radcliffe replacing the retiring Brendan Foster in a regular role after the World Championships and Gabby Logan and Denise Lewis (right) established in their prime positions, it is almost becoming a women-only operation.

THE norovirus bug that has hit competitors at the World Athletics Championships, with around 30 athletes suffering symptoms, is being blamed by event organisers on a Canadian athlete who arrived in London already infected with the illness. The Canadian team are staying at the Tower Hotel where the bug has struck.