Tesco's Philip Clarke is hoping for two results

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/apr/13/tesco-philip-clarke-results

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A critical week for Philip Clarke, the sensitive boss of the embattled retailer Tesco: his football team, Liverpool, face a critical fixture with Manchester City on 13 April. While the reds of Liverpool may be on the verge of revisiting erstwhile glories after a rather inauspicious couple of decades, the red and blue of Tesco seems intent on performing the opposite trick – and its abundance of problems will get a good airing again on Wednesday at the grocer's results.

Apart from the issues affecting the sector (pesky German discounters, too many large out-of-town sites, how to do digital) Tesco is shedding market share while giving the appearance of having about as much control of its business as its punters do of the trolleys.

Nine days ago the supermarket's finance director, Laurie McIlwee, resigned after suggestions he and Clarke are not best pals, and there were further hints last week (albeit denied) that there might be another unexpected item in the bagging area – with reports that marketing chief Matt Atkinson could be usurped.

That's par for this course, but the feeling is that Clarke – who has already replaced almost every senior executive from the former Sir Terry Leahy regime – is running out of people to blame the problems on. His "every belittle helps" strategy may have reached the end of its shelf life.

Can a visionary dreamer keep Burberry in check?

Here's Christopher Bailey, the chief creative officer at Burberry, in a corporate video made last year unveiling him as the fashion group's chief executive elect: "We have done a lot of dreaming … We have only just started dreaming."

Amazingly, the film was not a joke – fashion folk really do like to speak like that – but it may turn out that the market starts dreaming about Bailey's sainted predecessor, current boss Angela Ahrendts, who is sauntering off to Apple.

She'll be gone by next month, the company says, which may mean Ahrendts has already made her final Burberry appearance. The group's trading statements (the next is due on 16 April) are usually presented by finance director Carol Fairweather, and full results don't come out until 21 May.

Still, investors will be relaxed if Ahrendts is slipping quietly away as she gushes about "the right time for me to exit stage left" because she is handing over to "one of this generation's greatest visionaries".

So presumably she'll be holding on to her £10.5m of Burberry shares, then? Or maybe not. "I can't communicate anything," blocks a spokeswoman.

Old boys' club may lose long-serving members

Are you a middle-aged gentleman, seeing out your City career in non-exec directorships, with no intention of disturbing this comfortable status quo? Well, be prepared to start defending your position.

Last month Cranfield University, which provided the analysis underpinning Lord Davies's women on boards report, recommended five ways that FTSE 100 companies could hire the 48 women directors needed to hit the government's target of making boardrooms 25% female by next year. One plan was to oust some of the 82 male directors who are breaching UK corporate governance best practice by serving more than nine years in their roles, and to replace them with women.

That might mean a couple of awkward questions this week for two of Cranfield's targets – miner Rio Tinto and cruise operator Carnival – which are both holding AGMs.

Rio has Lord Kerr and Richard Goodmanson up for re-election, although their respective 10- and nine-year tenures make them look like rookies compared to those occupying the sun-loungers on the Carnival deck. It has four directors on Cranfield's radar, including Howard S Frank and Stuart Subotnick. Both have been in their positions for more than 20 years.