A brave new world of sport

I see this as a way for The Post's sports coverage to involve our readers in a way it never has before because now we can talk to you and you can talk to us.
Over the 15 years I've worked on The Post, the paper has evolved enormously, but previous editors and sports editors have had a very fixed idea of the people who venture into our little corner of the newspaper. They're probably Aston Villa fans (I'm not, but we won't go there at the moment), they're probably Moseley or Pertemps Bees fans and they are almost certainly Warwickshire or Worcestershire cricket supporters. They might be interested in horse racing and they might pop out of the office at lunchtime for a flutter at their local branch of William Hill.
They play golf at weekends and on corporate golf days, they might play hockey or squash and they spend Saturday mornings ferrying their children around as they pursue their own sporting interests. So those are the things we've covered with varying degrees of interest and success.
And no-one's ever asked you whether we're doing it right.
Well, the world has changed since 1992. The basic facts about sport can be obtained from dozens of other places with far more resources, so perhaps it's time to ask what you want from us.
Do you want to know that Martin O'Neill thinks Saturday's trip to Everton is a 'must-win' game? That Alex McLeish wants the fans to get behind Birmingham City in their last three games? That Gabriel Agbonlahor thinks Ashley Young is a good bloke?
Or do you want more comment and opinion from a team of writers which, in my view, is as talented as The Post has had in my time here?
Do we cover grassroots local sports properly? Should we even be acknowledging the sporting world outside the West Midlands? If we didn't, what would we put in its place? We do, after all, have six broadsheet pages to fll on most nights.
I don't know the answers to those questions and they provoke debate even on the sports desk itself. But this blog will hopefully give us the chance to ask the people who matter most. You, the reader.

Martin Warrillow is deputy sports editor of The Birmingham Post. Born in Kidderminster, he has spent the last 35 years watching, among others, Kidderminster Harriers, Tamworth FC, Worcestershire CCC, Moseley RFC and Cradley Speedway.
His sporting career ended when he twisted his knee while playing for Kidderminster Hockey Club's 4th XI in 1979.