St Andrews golf club says No to Sir Fred Goodwin

Sir Fred Goodwin may have managed to keep his mitts on his £700,000 pension, but one of the delights of retirement will not, it seems, be available to him. Members of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews, where a former chief executive of the Royal Bank of Scotland might normally expect to cruise through the membership formalities, are closing ranks against him joining.

Sir Fred is thought to have made his original application some years ago, before RBS collapsed and his reputation became lost in the trees. Now his name has simply vanished from the waiting list.

According to a report in the Sunday Telegraph, it is not clear whether the application was withdrawn by Sir Fred himself or by his proposer, thought to be Sir Angus Grossart, chairman of Noble Grossart, the Edinburgh-based merchant bank.

But several of the club's 2,400 members told the paper Goodwin was "damaged goods" and that they did not want club's reputation tarnished. "This is a world famous club with high standards," said one. "How can we take on board somebody who has caused so much misery to so many people?

One or two members felt able to forgive him - "He only wants to play golf. Give the guy a break", said one - but not enough. "He's become a symbol of the greed, excess and recklessness that has caused the biggest financial crisis in living memory," said a particularly angry member. "We don't want him darkening our door."

The news comes as Sir Fred faces a further comeuppance: the Forfeiture Committee has agreed to look into requests from MPs that Goodwin be stripped of his knighthood. Though that was before the majority of MPs were discovered to be symbols of greed, excess and recklessness themselves... ·