Er, hang on a minute. If you are so keen to smear the previous interview panel then surely that would mean Keith Dickens would not be involved either. In fact, neither would Greg Dyke. Or does his responsibility as Chair of the Board only come in to play when it's good news? And I don't even understand the bit I have put in bold though you are absolutely right - Fitz was not the choice of anyone on the interview panel. Patterson was.
Somewhere between the panel's recommendation to the Board that Patterson be offered the job and the end of the phone call between Keith Dickens who was tasked to offer the job to him, something went badly wrong. Some people believe it's because Patterson wasn't happy with the money. Unlike you, I don't have a hotline straight into the MD's office but you might be interested to ask him next time he's briefing you to post on here.
How do I know all this? Because I was on the BU Board and had every right to know.
Keith Dickens made an attempt last time to move the Club towards a professional method of appointing a manager. Personally, I can do without all this cloak-and-dagger, "I know a bloke..." type appointment process so I was quite happy with that. However, you are suggesting that Matthew Benham make the choice this time. Why? Do you want the Club's major decisions made by a single individual? His data will doubtless prove interesting reading for those involved in the hiring of the new manager but there is no way he should be calling the shots. Input, yes. Final say, no. And if he does have the final say, ROB, and the appointment is another disaster, will you be on here calling for his resignation?
Perhaps when you reply you could also inform us which lessons were learnt during the last interview process. I haven't seen them spelt out anywhere so I'm curious to know what has been identified as the mistakes and what is being done differently this time to avoid the same pitfalls.