The weekly paper provided results and match reports every Saturday

The Sports Argus, is part of Birmingham Post and Mail Ltd, which is owned by Trinity Mirror.

The Saturday pink paper's demise is being blamed on falling circulation.

The Birmingham Mail will now publish the paper as part of its main paper on Saturdays and Mondays. Two jobs have been lost through the closure.

When the cutbacks were announced the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) said the paper, which supplies sports fans with news, results and match reports on a Saturday evening, has been "left slowly to rot".

'Readers' habits changed'

Trinity Mirror also blamed declining sales on "a huge reduction in the number of sporting fixtures kicking off at 1500 BST on a Saturday".

Its decision to merge it with the Birmingham Mail follows a number of other newspapers also halting production of stand-alone sports papers.

Birmingham Mail editor Steve Dyson said: "The Argus has been a big part of the West Midlands sporting scene for many years, and I would like to thank staff past and present for their great efforts.

"But football has changed, readers' habits have changed and we're changing with them.

"However, we will continue to offer unrivalled coverage of sport in the West Midlands."