THE SPORTSMAN IS GONE. WHY?

The Sportsman was shut down yesterday after just seven months of publication.

The paper failed to hit circulation targets since launching in March. After selling 65,000 copies initially, the £1 title fell well sort of its 40,000 target.

In May, its full price sale was just 12,762 copies.

It was launched by Sports Betting Media, a company created by Jeremy Deedes, a former managing director of the Telegraph Group, Charlie Methven, a former Telegraph journalist, and Max Aitken, the great-grandson of Lord Beaverbrook, former Daily Express proprietor.

A few months before its foundation, I meet Jeremy Deeds at his office in the now old Daily Telegraph building.

He wanted to know about the "secrets" of the Spanish sports newspapers.

I told him that there were no secrets, but passionate journalists doing passionate journalism. And concentrate in just soccer, soccer, soccer.

It seems that my recommendations were not useful to him and his partners.

And what they did was a really boring sports paper.

With no passion and too much pages for too many sports.

The Spanish way of sports newspapers was invented by Luis Infante, a friend and a mentor of many of us.

He was the most charismatic editor of the Spanish press in the 90s´.

He used to say that he did not like sports, and he was not a fan of any soccer team...

"I don´t know anything about sports, but I know a lot about journalism."

Luis Infante was the driving force behind MARCA when that paper became the most read and popular newspaper of Spain (today is 20 MINUTOS, another popular and passionate free paper).

The working day of Luis Infante as editor of MARCA had only one mission: to produce the best front page possible.

His office in the newsroom had only a big board od directors table and everyday he invested hours and hours challenging his editors and designers.

It was a fantastic daukly show.

He was an editor acting likequintessentialial reader: "I don´t get it!", "It does not excited me!", "It´s boring!", "Where is the fun?", "And what?", "That´s all?", "This is bullshit!"...

Well, The Sportsman is gone not because there is no space for a new daily of sports in the UK, but becacuse, I´m sorry!, it was very, very bad.

Period.