Peter Erskine paid the price for a string of failures at Ladbrokes

Peter Erskine fell at the first hurdle when he joined Ladbrokes as chairman six years ago. In hiring Richard Glynn as chief executive, he failed to recruit an executive capable of carrying out the kind of dramatic turnaround needed.

The result? A long period of profit warnings and an achingly slow revival of its online offering. Not only that, but Mr Erskine oversaw a deal for Mr Glynn in which he received an £850,000 payout when he eventually left, despite the 28 per cent fall in the share price endured by investors in the past year.

In fairness to him, the going was heavy in the extreme. Ladbrokes was in far worse shape when he joined than anyone had realised – particularly its online business.

But that was where he failed again: he should have encouraged Mr Glynn to reset City expectations radically from the starting line, highlighting just how starved of investment the business had been. Let’s hope his final act – the promotion of Jim Mullen as Mr Glynn’s successor – marks a glorious return to form.