You're right, if he can right the ship and get the funds humming...

You're right, if he can right the ship and get the funds humming again, I can definitely see your pov. I actually used to be a true believer of the closed fund management style and an investor in both the Platinum and Magellan funds for several years. However I made the classic mistake of chasing fund manager alpha by buying into the Platinum funds just as their golden era with Kerr Neilson had finished, became frustrated with the lack of returns, then promptly repeated my mistake by buying into the Magellan funds to chase yet more alpha in 2019.

So it took me making the same mistake twice over to actually start questioning my approach and exactly what the hell I was doing wrong - and a lot (and I mean a LOT) of self-education to begin to understand that statistically, the odds of a fund beating the market over 5,8 and 10 year rolling averages are incredibly small. Magellans' performance for ten years was exemplary, but in turn this made the underperformance over the last 18 months practically a statistical certainty. Probability theory essentially won out in the end.

Ultimately the realisation that by making sure you simply just buy the market, you will always be "in" on any market rally was the big paradigm shift for me.

I think there will always be a niche for the closed fund management approach, and it will continue to draw investors in who are attracted to this style. Magellan can no doubt diversify the business in other directions as well. Best of luck if this is your calling.