RETIRED supermarket supremo Sir Ken Morrison wants the next boss of the Bradford-based store chain that bears his name to be someone with strong UK retail experience.

He has backed the sacking of current chief executive Dalton Philips and urged new Morrisons chairman Andy Higginson to think about finding a replacement from his former firm, Tesco.

Sir Ken, who took Morrisons from the market stall founded by his father, William, to the UK’s fourth largest supermarket, insisted Morrisons needed a new boss with knowledge of the UK market. He told a national newspaper: “Morrisons needs a retailer with knowledge of the UK market and they had people previously with little experience of the UK.

“I have a lot of friends in the company, and it’s their interests I’m concerned about, and you don’t like seeing them unhappy. They are certainly happy to see Dalton go.

“I think he’s a really nice chap, but that’s not the qualification for the job. You’ve got to be able to run the business properly.”

Dalton Philips had previously spent much of his career running retail businesses in New Zealand, Ireland, Germany and Canada before joining Morrisons five years ago.

His predecessor, Marc Bolland, now running Marks & Spencer, came from brewer Heineken.

Mr Philips was sacked this week after Morrisons announced a 3.1 per cent drop in Christmas like-for-like sales and its market share continued to fall, but he will stay on until March.

Sir Ken, who retired in 2008 after 55 years with the business, suggested that Mr Higginson should look to Tesco, where he was chief finance officer, for inspiration.

Sir Ken added: “I think the figures speak for themselves and indicated the low level of performance. The responsibility should rest with the chief executive and the board.”

The veteran shopkeeper, whom Dalton Philips described as one of the world’s great retailers, had previously lambasted the Morrisons board at the shareholders’ annual meeting in June.

He described the recovery plan as “bull****” and likened Morrisons’ annual report to the fairy stories read to him as a child while describing the 2013-14 results, which saw a £176 million loss, as ‘disastrous’.

“It wasn’t a pleasant AGM but I just felt something needed to be done,” Sir Ken said.

A source close to Morrisons said that when Dalton Philips arrived in 2010 the company had outdated computer systems and no online or convenience store operations. Mistakes had been made during Sir Ken’s reign, particularly the takeover of Safeway, which resulted in Morrisons’ first loss.

He welcomed Mr Higginson becoming Morrisons’ chairman, replacing the retiring Sir Ian Gibson, six months earlier than planned and the fact that he had bought £500,000 worth of shares.

Morrisons declined to comment on Sir Ken’s views.