They had lost the first three league games of the 2021-22 season, scored none, conceded nine goals, including five in a demoralising defeat to Manchester City in their most recent game. In Arsenal’s worst start to a season in 67 years, they were bottom of the table.
Venkatesham joined Arsenal in 2010 before quickly rising through the ranks (Photo: Getty)
“While we would love to jump from where we are to where we want to be in an instant, we need to be realistic that the gap is too large to do that,” Venkatesham wrote to Arsenal’s 500-plus staff.
He listed the players they had signed, noting their ages: Nuno Tavares (21), Ben White (23), Sambi Lokonga (21), Martin Odegaard (22), Aaron Ramsdale (23) and Takehiro Tomiyasu (22).
From oil trader to Deloitte strategy consultant, to London 2012 Olympic Games commercial manager, to various roles at Arsenal in the charity, marketing and commercial departments, to one of the most sought-after executives in the game.
Why did clubs want him so badly? How does he operate? What can his past at Arsenal tell us about Tottenham’s future?
Under Venkatesham, the Arsenal academy enabled stars like Ethan Nwaneri to shine (Photo: Getty)
Arsenal’s most recent success had come in the all-powerful, all-seeing manager era, when Arsene Wenger had been in charge. But football was changing.
In a world of increasing spending, Sanllehi had analysed successful clubs of any given period, and found academy players at their heart.
Between the two main departments sat all the high performance, data, analytics and medical staff, underpinned by a football operations lead – controlling the budget, the logistics, player contracts – and the technical director, the conduit between the academy and first team, who deals with transfers.
A data and AI specialist
Venkatesham sees the people around him as crucial to his work and the success of the club. He believes great hires make great clubs, and would rather take longer getting it right, than employ someone quickly to fill a hole.
Arsenal were one of the bigger clubs to bet early on data. Now Venkatesham considers artificial intelligence the game’s next powerful edge finder.
“It can help you get through data quickly and find conclusions you might not otherwise find,” Venkatesham said at the recent Financial Times Business of Football Summit during a discussion about transfers.
The former Arsenal chief executive is known for championing the women’s game (Photo: Getty)
His ethos is to be as well prepared for the transfer window as possible, but ready for the inevitable unpredictability that will ensue. Planning for a summer window begins in October time – around eight months in advance.
Then micro factors that include age, nationality, if they have Premier League experience. He seems to enjoy the fun and games and brinkmanship of negotiation.
A source who has been in the room with Sanllehi says that he is calm, measured, sharp, brilliantly intelligent. Softly spoken and an excellent communicator.
Easing tensions with the board
A disconnect had opened at Arsenal towards the end of the Wenger years. Tensions simmered in the stadium. Swathes of empty seats could be found where season-ticket holders had not turned up, and, so apathetic, had not even bothered to pass on their ticket.
Tim Payton, AST spokesperson and long-standing board member, describes it elegantly as “rebuilding the atmosphere at the Emirates”. It got bums on seats.
“You’re running hand-in-hand with a more successful team fans want to watch, but there was a lot of improvement on ticketing.
“He listened to us and reversed the decision to remove the senior citizen discount. He greatly expanded the concessions for young adults and juniors.”
Your next read
square FOOTBALLEngland Women’s Euro 2025 squad – in full
square FOOTBALLLeicester fear sacking Van Nistelrooy will lead to further PSR breach
square FOOTBALLSell Casemiro, buy Mbeumo and find the next Heaven: How to fix Man Utd
square FOOTBALLJadon Sancho can no longer blame Man Utd for the mess he’s in
“He’s got a feel of the fans’ role in the game,” Payton says. “He was willing to engage, he was straight with supporters. He listened to us. You could trust what he said. It was a loss for Arsenal.”
Cool in a crisis
He weathered unpredictable storms and navigated crises. The game stopped by the pandemic, forcing a raft of redundancies to cut costs and squeeze funds for the first team, which included making mascot Gunnersaurus redundant – a decision that caused an inevitable backlash.
He was chief executive when Arsenal agreed with their Big Six counterparts to join the breakaway European Super League.
And during all this Arsenal got better. Turning an eighth-place side into one finishing in successive seconds and reaching the Champions League quarter-finals for the first time in 14 years before he stepped down.
“Well, he’s not a miracle worker, is he?” Payton says, laughing. With possibly the faintest hint of nerves.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( ‘A loss for Arsenal’: The man Daniel Levy wants to revolutionise Spurs )
Also on site :