THE ousting of Morrisons' boss Dalton Philips should have been happened earlier, one of the supermarket's 'old guard' has claimed.

The company - Bradford's largest private employer - yesterday said it needed a "fresh pair of eyes" to oversee the chain's revival push.

But Morrisons retired property director Roger Owen accused Mr Philips and the board for presiding over struggling performance due to neglecting the core supermarket business and 'pratting about' with unprofitable online food sales and convenience stores.

And Mr Owen described his leadership as a 'disaster' and said he should have gone sooner.

Mr Philips, 46, is to step down after five years at the helm. The move was announced as Morrisons reported that like-for-like sales fell 3.1 per cent in the six weeks to January 4.

Former Tesco finance director Andrew Higginson, who will step up to become Morrisons chairman next week, said the company's board believed the push to return the business to growth was "best done under new leadership".

Mr Higginson said it was "time for a fresh pair of eyes" over the business, although he pointed out that the company's Christmas performance was not a factor in the decision to change leadership.

Mr Philips said: "I'm very sad to be leaving but when a board wants to make a change you accept that and move on."

Morrisons also announced it is planning to close ten loss-making smaller stores, with a total of 80,000 sq ft of floorspace, putting more than 400 jobs at risk.

The company has not said which stores are closing, although they include some former Netto and Co-op shops acquired by the group.

Mr Owen, who retired in 2009 after 34 years with Morrisons where he led major expansion of the store chain, has been a thorn in the side of the current regime.

A major shareholder with about 90,000 shares, he called last year for Mr Philips' sacking, along with chairman Sir Ian Gibson, dismissing the pursuit of online trading and convenience stores as misguided and to the detriment of the core supermarket business.

The Bradford City director said the ousting of Mr Philips was two-and-a-half years too late.

"This guy should have gone before. He's been a disaster, " said Mr Owen, who argued that other directors on the Morrisons board should have resisted changes to the business strategy.

He added: "The impression has been given that in our time we never looked at online shopping or convenience stores. That's not true. We did and rejected them because they are unprofitable."

Morrisons' problems were due to neglecting the core supermarket business. Having stores in the right locations with fully stocked shelves and goods at the right price was the key to a recovery, Mr Owen claimed.

Morrisons insisted the performance was not the trigger for the departure of Mr Philips, who last year announced £1 billion in price cuts over three years and a new loyalty card scheme promising to match discounters Aldi and Lidl.

Incoming chairman Mr Higginson said: "In the next chapter of Morrisons development, we need to return the business to growth. The board believes this is best done under new leadership."

Morrisons, the UK's fourth largest grocer, has grappled with a long period of declining sales and profitability but Mr Philips said recent trading offered signs that the turnaround plan announced last year was starting to pay off.

A key performance indicator measuring items per basket was down by 0.2 per cent on a year earlier compared with 2.4 per cent earlier in the financial year. The decline in the number of transactions was also reduced.

Mr Philips is due to leave the chain by the time of annual results in March, when the company's underlying profits are expected to fall to as low as £335 million.

Shares surged by as much as six per cent after the announcement , even though the company has not disclosed who will replace Mr Philips.

Mr Higginson said: "Dalton has had a very good five years where he has made a lot of important changes to the business. A business needs trading momentum and we want to restore that sooner rather than later."

Shopworkers' union Usdaw has attacked Morrisons store closure plans.

Joanne McGuinness, national officer, said: “This is devastating news for the staff in the ten stores that Morrisons intends to close. We will now enter into full and meaningful consultation meetings on these proposals, where we will look closely at the company’s business case.

"Our priority is to maximise employment within Morrison’s, seek redeployment opportunities for members whose shop is closed and minimise compulsory redundancies."