£30k to save yearbook

PUBLISHERS Headline credit your Sports Agenda columnist for the publicity that led to Sky Sports stepping in to save the Rothmans Yearbook from extinction in 2003.

Now, 15 years later, with Sky Sports ending their support for the iconic football reference book, this column will try to help again in alerting possible sponsors who could keep the book in print.

It is understood that £30,000 a year may be enough, which is certainly a cheaper option than the £20m a year for 20 years that Spurs want for their new stadium naming rights.

The yearbook typesetters Wearset Ltd, who have been heavily involved in producing the revered almanac for 22 years, are also working on a recovery plan to save football’s bible.

RUGBY Premiership communications director and big tweeter Paul Morgan is surprisingly an almost ever-present attendee at RFU press conferences. These even include media briefings when CEO Steve Brown discusses sensitive subjects such as central contracts. The super-secretive Premiership rarely hold media occasions but when they do it’s hard to imagine club chiefs would be so welcoming if the RFU communications team were always in attendance.