±±¾©Èü³µpk10

The latest story in the Sunday Express is the second the paper has run in recent months predicting that Morgan will be fired – possibly as early as September.

The Sunday Express wrote in June that Morgan could face the axe after the newspaper's costly price-cutting strategy failed to attract the 400,000 new readers anticipated.

This followed the move by Daily Mirror owner Trinity Mirror to put the newspaper's price back up to 32p in parts of the country following pressure from shareholders. The Daily Mirror cut its price to 20p in May in the hope of attracting new readers to its new-look paper.

The return to its full price was seen largely as a climb down by the Mirror after rival tabloid The Sun matched its price cut and blunted the Mirror's move.

The Express is now predicting that the paper's daily sales are so far down that it is in danger of losing 40% of its profit. Last week's July ABC figures showed

The Daily Mirror lost 1.17% of its circulation in July.

Although the Daily Mirror maintained its 20p cover price in London, its average daily sales figure for July fell to 2.09m down from 2.1m last month. The Sun grew to 3.6m up from 3.5m in June, as it continues with its discounted 20p cover price.

The Sunday Express reported that sales for August could be as low as 1.8m and that Trinity Mirror chairman Sir Victor Blank is considering firing both Morgan and chief executive, Philip Graf, if circulation falls below 1.9m.

The price war is understood to have cost Trinity Mirror £12m, on top of the £20m the recent relaunch of the Mirror and supporting ad campaign has cost it.

If Morgan is axed industry speculation has suggested that News of the World editor Rebekah Wade would be offered the job with a potential dumping of its move up market.

The return to a red top look, which was abandoned as part of May's relaunch, would be highly embarrassing for the paper, but the consensus is that the U-turn would be quickly forgotten.

If you have an opinion on this or any other issue raised on Brand Republic, join the debate in the .