News

A St. Andrews snub

March 14, 2009

Sir Fred Goodwin, former chief executive of the Royal Bank of Scotland, was denied membership in the St. Andrews Golf club.

Speculation as to why centers on RBS' collapse last year with Goodwin at the helm. Goodwin, the Daily Mail reports, "has been vilified for presiding over its spectacular downfall yet still accepting a £700,000-a-year pension."

Apparently, those still at the bank were gleeful over the rejection. The Daily Mail quotes one senior staff member, anonymously, as saying: "The word that Sir Fred has been blackballed by St. Andrews has gone round the bank like wildfire.There was a lot of hollow laughter at the thought of him getting a comeuppance. How he had the nerve to think that he would get a welcome in St. Andrews beggars belief. There's no sympathy for him here."

-- John Strege