UK blog publisher Shiny Media plans to sell its football site network, Who Ate All The Pies, to focus on "more commercially successful" lifestyle, technology and fashion ventures, as it is difficult to make a profit from the football sites, according to managing director Chris Price, Brand Republic reported.

"The revenue side of things has been disappointing. The ad market has been quite challenging. It's frustrating for us because editorially and in terms of community it's very strong, and the brand is very strong," said Price. "We are talking to various parties about selling it. We feel that given the right company, it could be very successful."

The network features a football blog and its sister sites, which cover clubs like Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur. The site is edited by Ollie Irish, who previously worked as the Observer's Sport Monthly deputy editor, and even though no news stories are published, the archive is still available, Brand Republic reported.

In his last post, Irish mentioned that the halt on publishing is "very frustrating."

"I won't go into the reasons why - I'm just the editor, and the decision was not mine - but fans of the site will be happy to know that Pies may still have a future, so watch the Web for more news on that," said Irish, according to Brand Republic.

While Shiny Media had trouble dealing with low cost-per-thousand (CPM) advertising rates in sports publishing, other divisions were "buoyant" and the company does not intend to close down any of them.