It didn’t take long for new Morrisons boss David Potts to make his presence felt - and the presence of a raft of other directors is no longer required.

Potts has shown the door to five members of the grocer’s management board.

Customer marketing and digital director Nick Collard, retail director Martyn Fletcher, property and strategy director Gordon Mowat and logistics boss Neal Austin are all casualties.

They are joined by Nigel Robertson, who most recently oversaw the convenience business.

Potts’ hard-headed action, while sad for those out of a job, makes sense.

He clearly aims to restore Morrisons’ fortunes through a back-to-basics approach dependent on old-fashioned retail disciplines.

He said the board overhaul was prompted by the need to simplify the business and move faster as it faces up to new food retail realities.

Strategy and marketing? It won’t be Ant and Dec that get the tills ringing.

It will be good product, keenly priced and sold through supermarkets that tick all the boxes from availability through to queue management - backed up by the opportunities created through Morrisons’ ownership of big chunks of its supply chain.

Property? It’s about ensuring the existing estate is firing on all cylinders. The much-vaunted push into c-stores is pretty much on pause for the time being and underperforming shops are being shut.

Potts is right to focus on simplicity and execution.

Perversely, keeping things simple is often the most complex of challenges.

But if Potts can bring single-mindedness to a shared vision of what Morrisons should be then the grocer should not be written off yet.