‘Allan Leighton has turned Asda around once, but can he do it again?’

He’s done it once. Breathe new life into Asda that is. The question on everyone’s lips is whether Allan Leighton, newly appointed as the grocer’s executive chair, can repeat it.

Leighton was a key member of an estimable team, led by Archie Norman who has since become chair of Marks & Spencer that revived Asda – in fact it was almost a resurrection.

That was back in the 1990s, when Asda faced an existential crisis. But the outcome was triumph rather than tragedy. Asda was rebuilt as a formidable player that attracted a £6.7bn price tag when it was sold to Walmart in 1999.

The omens are good. In the few days since he was appointed, Leighton has correctly identified some of the big issues that the grocer needs to confront. It has wilted since being bought by the Issa brothers – whose entrepreneurial Midas touch turned to lead in this case – and private equity house TDR.

The first priority is to reestablish price authority, something on which Asda in the past was unimpeachable. The Asda price jingle and associated pocket-tap are still widely recognised today, but the Leeds giant has been increasingly challenged by Aldi and Lidl.

“Some wonder whether Asda, bearing a hefty debt burden, has room to manoeuvre on price, but Leighton is determined to make it happen”

At a staff meeting at Asda’s HQ this week, he said: “We’ve got to get back to our Asda price position. That’s what sets us apart from our competition. Whether that’s for the weekly shop or the daily top-up, in-store or online, we have to provide our customers with uncompromising value every single time they shop with us.”

When it last updated earlier this month, Asda was shouldering debt of £3.8bn – a £100m reduction, and it was “committed to deleveraging”. Despite sliding sales and market share, Asda is not entirely in thrall to its repayment schedule and money can, and must, be found – down the back of the sofa if necessary to compete with competitors.

Aldi and Lidl have unseated Asda from its former position as a consumer champion.

Remember when Asda fought legal battles to sell so-called luxury goods to its shoppers at low prices? It’s almost hard to imagine these days in the wake of the clumsy leadership of the Issas.

But it would take a reclaimable stance if some conviction is put behind it – funded if necessary by TDR if it wants a decent return on its investment.

Alongside reprioritising customers, Asda needs to reforge its relationship with staff. Asda in the past put its employees almost as high on the agenda as customers. It was an employer of choice.

“More recently it’s become known, uniquely as far as I know, as the only supermarket in living memory to be afflicted by in-store strikes, even if only a minority of employees took part.”

Again, Leighton has made the right noises early on. He said: “I’ve been struck in all my conversations so far about the need for us to get back to our Asda DNA.

This is a fantastic business, with fantastic colleagues, and a clear purpose in delivering the value families demand from us…we’re all colleagues together, one team, and together we will bring back the Asda people know and love.”

Engaged and committed colleagues can make an impact because they’re so much more invested in success.

Leighton’s arrival should also make easier the appointment of a good chief executive because the personal hubris that seems to have characterised the era of Issa management should become a thing of the past.

Now that Mohsin Issa has relinquished day-to-day control of Asda, high-calibre candidates should be more open to joining – just as was the case when Leighton and Norman embarked on their original turnaround all those years ago.

Then, Asda became a place where retail talent was identified and nurtured. So many Asda alumni went on to take up prominent industry roles, and that’s the sort of employer and source of opportunity it needs to be again.

It’s true that established retail leaders can’t always reprise their original success. When Sir Terry Leahy went into Morrisons, the business still lost its way for a while. And Leighton’s predecessor, Lord Stuart Rose, has not been able to replicate at Asda the great success he had at Marks & Spencer.

So many years on, can Leighton’s second stewardship of Asda prove successful? My hunch is yes. Asda is a battered, bruised and reduced business. But it’s not a basket case. Expect the grocery war to hot up even further from here on if Leighton can work his magic again – just as his old colleague Norman has done at the once equally dismissed M&S.