CraigGrannell wrote:
As for Lucinda, she was poisonous as a team-member, and firing her was exactly the right decision (something Alan Sugar really hasn't got right plenty of times this series—firing Raef instead of Michael that week was just bizarre).
It wasn't really, I saw it coming. For all the being a hard bastard Sugar projects, he has a massive weak spot. He's really big on family and helping people out. One of the criticisms aimed at his management of Amstrad is that he employed alot of family members in high up positions and also often prefers loyalty and friendship over skill.
There's a fascinating story at The Register:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/02/alan_suagr_nostalgia/Pages 2 and 3 are very enlightening and was a new story to me*. How Roland Perry was let go (this was their best product designer) over Sugar's long term friend. No surprise what happened next, Amstrad products started to lack the spark of ingenuity that made them famous.
Sugar took a liking to Michael. He was young, stupid, but perhaps material that you could turn into an Apprentice. Even after the chicken cock-up I couldn't see him going.
*Aside from the huge error in the first paragraph.
Oh and check out the post from "Friday 3rd August 2007 11:10 GMT" which has some corrections.