Interesting view. Geoff and his cronies never liked locos anyway. They positively discouraged them before the 2001 restructure. Bill Savage was Bus Dev director then and he hated them.
But the bonus of any shorthaul, especially locos, is that for one peak departure they get 2-3 off-peak ones which makes better use of the facilities when they're quiet. With long haul you don't get that, so you have to make sure the dep is off-peak in the first place. Eastbound traffic likes am arr/deps. Westbounds may be better.
The fact remains though that Rev Spooner had a good idea how to run and grow an airport. Geoff hasn't a clue how to run a business. What he does well is sucking up to politicians and eating biscuits.
I think looking back on MAN's history, the period when mistakes were made and problems were embedded coincides with Geoff's tenure as CX of MAN. Lots of people would agree with me.