When you occupy the biggest job in retailing, you should expect if you don't perform to pay the price as he has done so, and he has to take responsibility, when you are chief executive, if things go wrong, it's down to you.

The statistics of Mr Clarke's time in charge make grim reading, 8 billion pounds has been wiped off the company's value during his tenure, its market share has fallen 2.2% amid competition from discounters like Aldi, as this comparison of the two groups market share shows, and this morning the news of his exit sent Tesco shares up 2.5%, bucking the trend of the last three years, for the first time in its 95-year history, Tesco's replacing its boss with an outsider, David Louis of the consumer goods joint union labor.

Tesco has gone shopping at the owner of Dove shampoo and domestic detergent for its new boss, but some investors believe that the employment of Mr Louis who has never before run a major retail chain still represents something of a gamble.

Mr Louis's big challenge would be to restore customer's belief in Tesco's price competitiveness, while continuing to unwind some of its ill fated overseas expansion.

I think the first thing he has to do is to define the Tesco brand, because this is a brand that's lost his way in recent years, it doesn't stand for quality, it doesn't really stand for value, it's stuck in the middle, and as a retailer, that's the worst place to be, so i think that's the very first thing that Louis will have to do.

Mr Clarke's sacking came just 36 hours before he was to host a party marking four decades of service at Tesco, that has now been cancelled, the city faces an anxious wait to see whether being a Tesco share holder can again becomes something worth celebrating.