In hindsight, yes we shouldn’t have went near him. But whilst he was in place, I think it would have been difficult, even from an HR perspective, to sound out prospective replacements. And if we did get agents to sound people out, what are they going to say? “You’ve already got a DoF and I’ve already got a job, so not keen on pissing anyone off by supporting rumours that I’m talking to someone else.” Probably.
At least this time it does seem like we are taking our time to do due diligence. I have to assume that’s what’s happening, rather than thinking that Levy is just sitting on his arse playing Candy Crush. Happy to take a couple of months to find the right guy, rather than a couple of weeks to find the wrong one.