I do pity AvB, he's unfortunately the wrong man, in the wrong place, at the wrong time.
Knocked the ball out of the park - I think the board are stuck between a rock and a hard place, ideally they would try to stick with AVB, but the way things are going we will miss out on 4th place. Reluctantly they will give AVB his cards and then deal with the mutiny at a time of their choosing; what was it that Napoleon said about one of his Generals: "I know he's good, but is he lucky?" sadly it appears that AVB doesn't that in abundance.