The start of April, with its longer evenings and - hopefully - better weather, can seem like a time of new beginnings.

But one veteran manager for whom April 2 represented a farewell to arms is Jeremy Podger, the veteran manager of the £3.1bn Fidelity Global Special Situations fund. 

It is a fund which has been second quartile over the past five years but the obvious question it prompts is, 'what is a special situation?', given that the three largest holdings are giant US tech stocks - the situations of which are well rather well-known to the wider market.

But while Podger is enjoying the first days of the rest of his life, the sales folk at Fidelity may have a bit more work on their hands. Asset Allocator has discussed the transition with a couple of fund-buying folk - both of whom have headed for the exit following the change in manager.

Peter Toogood, chief investment officer at Embark Group has downgraded the fund on the basis that he regarded Podger as central to the investment process.

Meanwhile Darius McDermott, investment adviser to the Chelsea multi-manager fund range, has also confirmed to us that he has sold the fund. 

McDermott gave similar reasons for pulling his cash - ie that Podger played a huge role in the fund's process and that the new managers had a much lower profile and he was unfamiliar with their track record.

This means that, despite being £3bn in size, none of the allocators we monitor presently own the fund.

That will be a challenge for the new managers, former Baillie Gifford and Liontrust employee Tom Record and former Ninety One fund manager Christine Baalham in the months to come.