Richard Garlick – the new David Dein?

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A little late to the party on this one, but on Thursday, The Arsenal announced that it will be Richard Garlick who replaces Vinai Venkatesham as the clubs Big Dawg in the summer.

Back in September last year, CEO Venkatesham announced that he will be stepping down from Arsenal at the end of the season after 14-years at the club (side note: a vacancy at Manchester City has opened up for next year). We blogged at the time as to how Arsenal’s Senior Management Team could look for 2024/25.

The favoured proposal was one which saw our Director of Football Operations, Richard Garlick, take the top role, with Edu and Julliet Slott reporting into him. The alternative would have been the unpopular Slott gaining more power.

At the time I said:

If the club want a less controversial figure [than Slott], they could opt for Garlick as CEO, with Edu and Slott reporting into him.

Garlick has been behind a lot of the improvements we have seen with the financial side of the team.

Since his appointment, we saw highly paid players depart which drove the wage bill down. This allowed for new investment in younger, exciting talent. He has also been key in the new contracts for the likes of Bukayo Saka, William Saliba and Gabriel Martinelli.

Garlick is a football man having been Director of Football Administration at West Brom before moving to the Premier League as Director of Football. But is he suitable for CEO?

A CEO in any business has to be a commercial strategic leader.

They would have a track record of track record of developing and delivering strategies, building successful teams and delivering growth and profit. It is not quite what Garlick does.

My feeling is that the CEO should be “business first, football second”.

You operate a strong and successful business model, a strong and successful football team should follow – the additional revenue leads to being able to recruit better players, coaches, etc.

If the CEO comes from a football administration background, their decisions could lead to decisions that might be a positive for the football side, but a negative for the business of Arsenal. The result could lead to financial insecurity.

Garlick was certainly my number one choice for the role, but I also questioned whether he had the right background to completely replace Vinai. It is therefore interesting that he is being appointed Managing Director rather than CEO.

Now some will argue that there is not much difference between the roles, and most of the time they both fulfil the same function within an organisation. Companies often have different names for almost identical roles, based on their culture (I find CEO to be very American, whilst MD is British).

Garlick joined us in 2021 from the Premier League, where he was Director of Football. He already has many fingers in many pies across the Premier League and the FA, reminiscent of David Dein.

As a result of his promotion, I would not be surprised if we see Slott take over some of Vinai’s more commercial roles. This would follow the fairly newly appointed Omar Mohammed Shaikh having taken some of Slott’s sales leadership duties off her last year.

It is good to see the Kroenke’s moving quickly and with clarity to replace Vinai, and avoiding the fiasco that resulted from Ivan Gazidis’s departure.

It feels right now that the club is in a good place on and off the pitch. Garlick is a football man and will continue to grow the club by putting the football first.

Keenos

Thomas Partey ready to return following birth of child

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Morning and Happy Friday!

Not really much happening in the world of Arsenal today. Not weekend game due to being out of the FA Cup, and the transfer market is dead.

The only really news kicking about was that Thomas Partey has returned to full training.

It is interesting that this news has broken just a couple of days after it was announced the birth of his child, and also after Ghana were knocked out of the African Cup of Nations.

Partey has certainly been missed by us this season.

Whilst Declan Rice is comfortably the best defensive midfielder in the league, Thomas Partey is not far behind (when fit). His injury has meant we have not been able to go with the double destroyer option in central midfield.

Take the game against Liverpool in Anfield. The option would have been to play Partey central, and then Rice in that more advanced left handed position. Rice would have solidified that side of the pitch and Trent Alexander-Arnold and Mo Salah would not have had the freedom they did.

I am not going to start moaning about injuries, though.

Manchester City have had their problems, as have Liverpool. Like us, they have just got on with thin things.

It is only Spurs and Newcastle fans you hear bleating on about their injuries and, backed by the media, use them as an excuse for poor performances. A top Premier League side has the squad to maintain performances. They don’t moan.

Partey adds another dimension to our midfield with his ability to take the ball on the half turn. He is quicker at turning defence into attack than Rice, and this has certainly been missed. If he stays fit for the rest of the season, it provides Mikel Arteta with another world class option in midfield.

Less than a week left in the transfer window. I do not expect Arsenal to sign anyone. Nor Manchester City (bar some random fella they are loaning back) or Liverpool.

Are we seeing a shift in transfer policy by clubs this season? They maximise their spending in the summer, leaving them nothing to spend in January.

This philosophy does make sense. If you get the summer right, there is no need to make signings in January. And likewise, why hold money back and sacrifice having a player for 6 months of the season just to make a January signing.

Arsene Wenger was one of those against the January window. He took the stance that you should have your squad for the season set in the summer. If this season is anything to go by, we could be entering that era!

Enjoy your Friday.

Keenos

Martin Zubimendi, Kieran Tierney, Aymeric Laporte and More

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Martin Zubimendi

Long term readers will know that I have been a fan of the Spanish defensive midfielder for a while.

Last February, I made it clear that if we were priced out of deals for Moises Caicedo and Declan Rice, then the Real Sociedad midfielder should be the man we go for.

Whilst we ended up with Rice, we have to assume that Thomas Partey, Jorginho and Mohamed Elneny will all leave in the summer. That opens up a squad place for a new defensive midfielder.

Zubimendi is a class act.

He is a calm presence who reads the game exceptionally. He does not need to cover a lot of ground, or rely on pace and power due to his fantastic positioning. And in his passing range and ability to create from deep and you have a Xabi Alonso regen.

I think Zubimendi would compliment the more “all-action” Rice in games where we want to play two defensive minded midfielders. He also has the talent to be the sole defensive pivot if Rice is out for any period of time.

That £53m release clause is still rumour to be active. His recruitment would be a no brainer for me this summer.

Kieran Tierney

The Scotsman has picked up his second hamstring injury whilst on loan to Real Sociedad.

I know many an Arsenal fan still hold a candle to the short sleeve wearing former Celtic player, but it is time for Arsenal to cash in.

Prior to signing for us, he missed a lot of games for Celtic. His injury issues continued at Arsenal, and his loan spell in Spain shows they are not going anyway anytime soon.

Cash in on him whilst we can.

Aymeric Laporte

With all the noise coming out from Saudi Arabia, one mans interview caught my eye – Aymeric Laporte.

Firstly, his interview is a really good insight to the struggles that many players have faced in Saudi Arabia, and highlights just how unprepared players were, and how amateurish the clubs are.

It is all well and good being Cristiano Ronaldo, constantly rubbing shoulders with the who’s who and treated like the royalty he is hanging about with. But for other players who do not have his profile, the struggles have been real.

As for Laporte, I wonder if Arsenal will be sniffing around him.

We were heavily linked with Laporte last summer before he made the decision to go to Saudi Arabia. He has the Premier League experience and is used to the demands of Mikel Arteta having spent 5 years with Pep.

Soon to be 30, Laporte could be an option if we are looking for quality, experienced cover for Gabriel and William Saliba. Keep an eye on this one.

Atmosphere issues

Yesterday’s blog led to a lot of discussion on the She Wore Facebook page.

As always, I just try and write as a fan that goes home and away, drinks in pubs before and after game, and tries not to be too reactionary and without agenda. I know this upsets some people.

The Facebook page is a brilliant community of Arsenal fans that we have built over more than a decade. We have rooted out many of those that try to divide the fanbase and try and reflect their negativity onto others.

Whilst views, both positive and negative, are welcome from all, we have tried to create a platform for reasonable discussion rather than attention seeking and abuse (of both fellow fans and the club).

If having a good, proper chat about Arsenal if your thing, give the page a follow.

UTA.

Keenos