Yet ironically(?), he is one of the largely forgotten chief protagonists in the Alton Towers story during the era that is held in such high regard in this community.
Sometimes it seems that’s just how it goes. I find it ironic that Disney fans hate Michael Eisner for the cost cutting in his latter years as Disney’s CEO. They seem to forget that until Eisner came onboard the Disney company was on the verge of collapse and his new thinking both started the Disney renaissance period and more than doubled the number of Disney Parks. No matter how someone ends their career, it’s worth remembering how they started it.
Mainly because someone else was in charge of the purse strings. A creative mind and good marketer doesn't make a great CEO. I'm sure Paul Flowers was a cracking methodist minister, bloody useless at running a bank though....
Someone else was in charge of the purse strings and they seemingly agreed that they could make more money flogging the group than they could out of operating it - it all comes down to brass tax.
I wholeheartedly agree with your first paragraph. That's business at the end of the day.
For a few reasons, I think Merlin's strategy is fairly sound but they have a few growing pains which they are beginning to overcome. I also don't think that the share price is necessarily indicative of the results - in the same way that in the past it has made great strides on the back of seemingly nothing. The properties are highly profitable, they just need to find a way to grow them - that's very hard to do in some of their markets, with some of their attractions.
