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So, the year's most controversial figure in print has exited the industry.

I am, of course, talking about Mike Dolan, erstwhile chief executive of Media & Print Investments.

When he crashed onto the scene by buying four print firms in half as many months, Dolan was heralded as the first of a new breed of print boss (by this very magazine as well as the industry at large), and his presence was welcomed with unbridled excitement – as well as a fair few questions.

And after 18 months of frenetic M&A activity, culminating in MPI becoming a £50m plus turnover group with the purchase of Butler & Tanner last summer, he seemed to be well on the way to creating one of the biggest print groups in the country.

However, in terms of scale, B&T was a completely different beast to the other targets. And, with hindsight, perhaps unravelling the complexities of a business (and market) that had been struggling for so long was perhaps a bit too much to bite off?

That said, according to Dolan, B&T was actually starting to turn a profit after six months, but the difficulty was that sorting out the problem child meant curtailing the acquisition spree. Not only calling into question the group’s raison d’être, but also allowing the industry to draw breath and actually start to look closely at MPI.

Worse was to follow, with the subsequent closure of B&T after a fractious dispute with the union, which must have irrevocably damaged MPI’s credibility (and creditability) with its suppliers and clients alike.

It’s clear that Dolan lays the bulk of the blame for the fire sale of MPI’s companies at the door of what he described as their less than committed suppliers.

In their defence, maybe it was simply a case of once bitten twice shy (well twice bitten twice shy in reality) as some suppliers felt they were stung by B&T twice in nine months, and there was bound to be a backlash.

Either way, few can argue that his departure was met with as much unbridled excitement as his entrance.

Darryl Danielli is editor of PrintWeek