SIR Ken Morrison last night eased into even more of a back seat role as former Heineken executive Marc Bolland was hailed last night by one industry source as "the new sheriff in town".
The Morrisons board yesterday agreed to recruit former Heineken executive Bolland as the supermarket chain's new chief executive in a move to refresh parts of the troubled business Sir Ken had failed to reach.
Technically, Bolland, 47 replaces Bob Stott as chief executive at the Bradford-based chain, which is the UK's fourthlargest supermarket group behind Tesco, Wal-Mart unit Asda and Sainsbury.
However, the company last night announced that Bolland "will chair the Morrisons executive board taking responsibility for the group's overall commercial and strategic development and delivering the optimisation plan".
Less than two weeks ago, Alliance UniChem boss Ian Meakins dropped out of the running to replace Stott amid reports that candidates had grown frustrated with the length of time of the succession process.
The failure of Sir Ken to recommend a final candidate provoked boardroom tensions ahead of the company's recent annual meeting, at which Sir Ken said he will stand down as chairman in January 2008.
Bolland's appointment also signals a reduced role for Sir Ken, although he is not moving into a non-executive position.
The source said Bolland will have "executive control over the company's strategy - without Sir Ken breathing down his neck."
He added: "Equally, Sir Ken is not fading into the background. He has a lot of retail experience."
The company recently embarked on a three-year recovery plan to cut costs and boost margins in the wake of troubles stemming from its 2004 takeover of the Safeway supermarket chain.
Meanwhile, Bolland's appointment - effective from September 1 - will allow deputy chairman David Jones, who has brokered the moves, finally to step down from the post.
Bolland, who is chief operating officer and an executive board member of Heineken, is currently living in Amsterdam but will move to Yorkshire on taking up his appointment.
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