'Betrayed' BBC sports editor Mihir Bose resigns over Manchester move

"Deeply unhappy": Mihir Bose
12 April 2012

A senior BBC journalist has resigned over plans to move him to Manchester.

The BBC announced today that its sports news editor Mihir Bose, 64, had left the corporation because of "personal reasons" amid rumours his elderly mother in India was unwell.

But according to sources at the broadcaster, the journalist was unhappy about plans to move his role to the new Media City in Salford Quays in 2011.

A source said: "Mihir had grown deeply unhappy about the move and felt betrayed. He was given assurances when he joined that he would be able to stay in London.

"His wife runs a very successful consultancy and the vast majority of his contacts are based in London so he couldn't see the sense in the move."

It is thought Barbara Slater, who was appointed head of sport in February, had said it was important Bose be based in Salford Quays with the majority of his BBC sport colleagues.

Bose was set to travel to Mumbai this week - the city in which he was born and raised - to stay with family, including his mother who is in her nineties. There was no answer at his home in Shepherd's Bush last night.

The source added: "There are personal reasons, but the BBC will give compassionate leave. It is unusual for a member of staff to resign altogether for personal reasons."

Bose's appointment to the BBC in April 2007 was mired in controversy. It came after a series of job cuts and triggered an angry letter from the National Union of Journalists.

His style of presenting has not been to everyone's taste. Viewers regularly complained on message boards about his "haughty" delivery. His regular analysing of the finances of football clubs such as Arsenal and Liverpool triggered a backlash from fans too.

However his supporters say he bolstered BBC sport's investigative credentials and Bose was credited with warning the England Cricket Board about doing business with alleged fraudster Sir Allen Stanford in reports last year.

The source said: "Mihir was brought in to bring exclusives and that he did. He has great contacts. But there were questions about him as a broadcaster.

"He was rather seen as a Marmite broadcaster. You either love him or hate him. His recent interview with Florentino Perez is a perfect example. The fact he got the first sit down interview with the Real Madrid president since he returned to the club was a coup - but most people were unimpressed with the depth of probing in the interview."

It was revealed this week that Bose was among a number of BBC employees who had undertaken a training course in presenting skills with a company run by Ian Blandford - the husband of BBC1 controller Jay Hunt.

Bose lives with his wife, Caroline Cecil, who runs a financial PR consultancy. He has a daughter, Indira.

He joined the BBC after more than a decade at the Daily Telegraph. He left Mumbai in 1969 to come to England.

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