It was the day the box office became box office. The new website-based ticket sales operation for the Fringe was due to open on June 9 but closed the next day as it could not keep up with demand or print tickets properly.

It was the day the box office became box office. The new website-based ticket sales operation for the Fringe was due to open on June 9 but closed the next day as it could not keep up with demand or print tickets properly. The failures, subsequently rectified, meant the Liquid Box Office System made the headlines but, inevitably, none of the reviews was favourable. Jon Morgan, director of the Fringe, took the rap when he resigned yesterday from the post he has held for less than two years. The decision was not unexpected, in part because of the online and printing problems but also because Fringe ticket sales are down 160,000 on last year's total.

How much of the latter can be attributed to the former is unclear. A bad start seemed to leave the Fringe scrambling to catch up all summer. But were the early difficulties merely an inconvenience or the cause of the public buying fewer tickets? There were extenuating circumstances that did not help: the bad weather, the draw of the Olympics and the impact of the credit crunch. What exactly went wrong, and what needs to be done to ensure the Fringe is not plagued by similar problems in the future, are the subject of a review under Tim Hawkins.

Whether he is the right person to be in overall charge of the review is, perhaps, open to question. Mr Hawkins has been involved with the Fringe for 25 years and has taken on the new role of general manager until a new director is appointed. The review is to be thorough and independent. It needs to be both to have authority and win the confidence of the arts world and wider public. Given that its recommendations could be far-reaching, it might have been better if a senior figure without direct links to the Fringe were organising the inquiry.

The freshness and independence of Hawkins's input into the review will only become clear when the people responsible for the day-to-day work involved are appointed. There is, potentially, much at stake. The ticketing problems have provided an opportunity to decide which direction the Fringe should take and whether the present set-up, under a board responsible for the programme, selling the tickets and guarding the spirit of the Fringe, is the right model for the future.

The Thundering Hooves report of 2006 warned that, unless Edinburgh raised its game, it faced being toppled as the world's leading festival city. The warning applied equally to the Fringe, the world's biggest arts festival. It needs to get back on track and heal the divisions that have resulted in the "big four" venues forming the "breakaway" Edinburgh Comedy Festival. Falling Fringe ticket sales confirm that the festivals need to concentrate on the challenges ahead. Much is riding on the performance of Mr Hawkins and his team.