I have mixed feelings. I like Guy and he did a great job on Eurovision the year after we won, when we hosted it in Birmingham.

But he was responsible for ditching the Record of the Year Show at ITV three years ago (a serious mistake, both for television and for music) instead of adapting it as I wanted to do (broaden the vote; get rid of the hijacking by teeny fans etc).

He replaced it - trying to be credible (since when was ITV meant to be credible) - with a disastrous album track show that got minimal ratings and was instantly scrapped.

Now he's been given the boot.

Until I read about them on these boards, I don't recall even being aware that the Record of the Year shows existed.

they were huge in the late 90s/early 00s - saturday nights, always got big ratings but westlife usually won.

I must have seen them in the schedules, but music at that time wasn't real inspiring and I definately didn't watch any of them.

Westlife? Maybe that's why

The first show in 1998 added 280,000 CD album sales to Boyzone - I have a letter thanking me from then Polygram Chairman John Kennedy.

A show that close to Xmas and that high profile really boosts sales - we added millions to retail cash tills.