Sir Ken takes swipe at ex-chief executive as 'golden boy' meets Morrisons investors

The supermarket tycoon said he was "not too disappointed" about the departure of Mr Bolland, who was "patently not a retailer".

Mr Bolland joined Morrisons in 2006 from Heineken, two years after the supermarket chain's takeover of Safeway.

Sir Ken said the people who did the hard work making a success of the integration were overlooked and "never got the credit for it".

In response to the remarks, a spokeswoman for Marks & Spencer said: "It's not something we would want to comment on."

Sir Ken, 78, who is the group's second biggest shareholder, was speaking at the 70th annual general meeting of Morrisons yesterday. He said Dalton Philips, the new chief executive, is the "new golden boy" and revealed the pair had been touring supermarkets together.

Sir Ken told the meeting: "I think very optimistically about the future of the business when I look at him. I think he's going to be around for quite a long time."

Mr Philips, who joined from Canadian retailer Loblaw, has spent the past two months visiting Morrisons stores and talking to managers about the business.

In his first public comments since becoming chief executive, he spoke about his plans for the Bradford-based company.

"Tomorrow has to be better than today, that's my job," he said. "It's a great company. Can we do it better? We have great people and great values, but we still have some stuff to do. That's what I will be looking at."

He added: "There's a quote running around my mind, I think it's from Ken; 'it's not how much you take, it's how you take it'."

Mr Philips said he was impressed by the store managers and in-store processes, describing them as "some of the finest in the world".

Shareholders quizzed Sir Ian Gibson, the chairman, about the business, including its view on smaller stores following rival Asda's acquisition of Netto's UK operations. Sir Ian said the issue of smaller stores is "right at the forefront of regular thinking and debate" at board and executive level.