Just before Christmas I was delighted to feature on the Counterpressed podcast. On the episode, I was asked by host Flo Lloyd Hughes whether Arsenal should extend Renee Slegers’ contract beyond this summer. You can see my full answer here if you like.
Essentially, the TL;DR version is that my answer was, ‘yes, but if they do, they must really invest in Renee.’ I went on to say that I felt having a structure behind her that supports a young coach whose leadership style is focused on delegation and empowerment was a crucial caveat. Basically I was vouching for a Technical Director or Director of Football style appointment. That is what has happened with Jodie Taylor’s promotion to Technical Director.
I have always said that I felt Arsenal should also invest in female leadership talent, both in coaching and in boardroom roles and, again, that is what they have done. It leaves me at a bit of a loss to receive my cake and be asked to eat it. The proof will be in the pudding as to whether these specific appointments work out in the long term.
But I am not too worried about that, if they don’t, the individuals will simply be replaced. Jonas Eidevall signed a three-year contract in the summer of 2023 and survived just over a year of it. When things don’t work out, contracts are merely a tool for compensation. What is important to me is that the structure is there.
Renee Slegers’ leadership style is partially built on delegation and accountability. She likes to empower players and her coaching staff. She also likes to delegate. When I interviewed her upon becoming permanent Head Coach in January 2025, Slegers said of recruitment (just one of her overriding responsibilities), ‘What I am very aware of is that you can very easily get dragged into things with agents and recruitment and squad planning.
‘But we have other people working with that around the team, so I have to make sure that my role is working with the players that are here and having the right moments of input in what I think we need and what players would improve us and what players would add for us. I am involved but we need to streamline that so the processes are very clear and I can have my main focus here.’
In that interview, she also said, ‘while there is responsibility on the Head Coach, we also have leadership in the department. We have heads of departments who lead on their processes so a lot of people are driving and carrying that.’ That being the case, there needs to be somebody overseeing those moving cogs.
Jonas Eidevall felt that he did not quite have that level of support at the club. After leaving, he gave an interview in Sweden in which he said that he often felt alone with the task of managing Arsenal’s growing staff. It is a position I think the club would reluctantly accept, that Eidevall oversaw big growth in backroom resource but maybe he didn’t always have the support he needed to manage it all.
Clare Wheatley’s role is increasingly one of upward management, both at Arsenal and on various WSL, UEFA and FIFA adjacent boards. Arsenal are a North Star in the women’s game and their expertise is sought a lot when it comes to the growth and health of women’s football more widely. Jodie Taylor will fulfill more of a day to day support role for Slegers.
Taylor has essentially been groomed for this role for a little while. The timing is no accident, clearly. Not just to align the announcements of Jodie Taylor’s promotion and Slegers’ new contract, but because Arsenal have a pivotal summer ahead. A lot of senior players have expiring contracts this summer and a lot of the work to oversee squad transition is under way.
Ideally more of that work would have been conducted in the summer just gone but there were fewer expiring contracts at that stage and I believe that Arsenal were prepared to manage some more exits than we ultimately saw. Personally I don’t think it is quite right to say that players feel comfortable and complacent (though I don’t know that for absolutely certain). Arsenal is a big club, the current champions of Europe, they pay well and they play in front of big crowds every week. It’s difficult to give up.
Now, obviously it is down to Renee Slegers, Jodie Taylor and Clare Wheatley to make this structure work, to work together well, to challenge one another and to drive the club forward. Whether they can do that, time will tell. My personal opinion is that this structure, at least, is a step in the right direction and one that is long overdue.