Endeavour’s largest shareholder, billionaire publican Bruce Mathieson, says the group’s chairman has put himself in an “untenable” position after the board capitulated and allowed former Woolworths executive Bill Wavish to stand for election at the company’s annual meeting this month.

The company had previously said it would not allow Mr Wavish, who has also chaired Myer and Dick Smith Electronics, to run for the board if he had not received all the approvals required to be a director of a company that operates bottle shops and holds poker machine licences.