Supporters will argue that Broadbent acted decisively to axe Clarke after the last profits warning.
Full-year results on Thursday should confirm that the last profits target has been more than met.
The conflict was a straightforward struggle over money (the last profits of the declining fur trade) and land (the Connecticut River Valley, which has the region's most productive soil).
"Nice guys finish last" profits by its association with a man whose nickname was the Lip, even if the Lip never said it, just as "Winning isn't everything" has a higher market valuation because of the mental image people have of Vince Lombardi.
But optimism hasn't lasted, with profits falling by a third this year.
Rite Aid's last profit was in the quarter that ended in May 2007.
After the last profit-share peak in the mid-1960s, the corporate sector suffered a long and dismal decline.
Apple's last profit warning came a year ago when the company's results lagged forecasts because of parts shortages.
That changed in late September when a full-fledged supermarket named Fare & Square opened in the very building that had housed the last profit-driven supermarket.
