I think at a high level , Connex had some good ideas , trouble is that the terms of the 2 South of the river franchises were truly desperate, hence a race to the bottom in cost cutting , generally p++ing the staff and customers off and what appeared to be an amazing lack of empathy in terms of French / UK railway management hostility.
The lowest point seemed to be the major decline in the SE Metro services - where the pride of a cash strapped NSE (The Networkers) , were allowed to get into a desperate state of vandalism , etched glass and worse - however they (Connex) had to pay a huge sum of money on losing the franchise to get the fleet back into an "as delivered" state. All the cost cutting was a waste of time therefore.......