Terry Smith: Neil Woodford was 'playing a different game'

'Like Cristiano Ronaldo playing goalkeeper'

What went wrong at Woodford Investment Management was that portfolio manager Neil Woodford changed his investment strategy and tried to “play a different game”, according to Fundsmith’s Terry Smith.

In his letter to shareholders for 2019, Smith opened up on his views of the liquidity crisis that led to the collapse of Woodford Investment Management for the first time outside of his fund's annual general meeting. Smith revealed he "long identified the problems which were brewing at Woodford", but decided to refrain from commenting excessively on the matter out of "professional courtesy". Now, however, he has opened up about the multitude of events that led to the firm's demise, and reassured investors that Fundsmith Equity would not succumb to a similar fate. Fund selectors dis...