After a tumultuous off-season, which already had featured the sacking of coach Brendan McCartney, the departure of captain Ryan Griffen and the trade for boom young forward Tom Boyd, the Bulldogs announced on Monday that Garlick had stepped down after four years in the key role.

Gordon denied suggestions there had been a falling out with Garlick but, while he did not admit it, it appears there was a feeling Garlick lacked the experience to lead the Dogs into a new phase as they prepare to expand their operations with the opening of the $27 million Edgewater gaming and social club facility later this year.

"There was no falling out between me and him. There is always sensible discussions that take place in these organisations and he would be remiss as CEO and I would be remiss as president and we would be remiss as a board, if we did not consider very seriously the business going forward and the needs of the business going forward," Gordon said.

"He took the decision to resign because he felt that he had got it to a particular stage and was entitled to be proud of that achievement. He deserves to be.

"We have conducted a management review. He has been an important part of that. Whilst it has had its focus on how particular operations worked, its primary focus are on these opportunities, which are going to present themselves in the next few years."

Garlick, who also played 137 matches for the Bulldogs, presided over a period of great change for the rebuilding club, including four senior coaches, but generally maintained a low profile while working alongside Gordon and his predecessor, David Smorgon.

"I believe it's in the best interests of the club, my family and myself at this time given the recent appointment of a new coach, a stable board in place and a new five-year strategic plan for the club ready to be launched," Garlick said in a statement.

The management review was chaired by club director Gary Kent, who will also help search for a successor in conjunction with global recruitment firm, Egon Zehnder. Gordon pointed out the average tenure for a club chief executive was about four years.

"Whilst we will miss him, it's kind of a watershed period in our history as well. We will this year open our Edgewater facility, which is a $27 million facility  that will employ upwards of 80 people," he said.

"Leaving players aside, that will double the workforce of the Western Bulldogs Football Club, just by itself. We will be opening an office in Ballarat and making a very serious commitment to making that a co-located home for the Bulldogs.

"We believe we will double in size over the next five years, double in terms of revenue from $30 million, which was the revenue when I took over as president at the end of 2012 to probably in the $65 million to $75 million range by 2020. There would be very few clubs, I would think, in the AFL that would be looking at that percentage increase in their revenue over that period.

"We are talking about [large] growth in the number of employees just on the Edgewater numbers. And with the sort of enlightenment policies that the AFL have got in terms of competitive balance, and the opportunity for us to invest in football, both in the salary cap and in the football department, it's an opportunity we have got that we have never had before – to move from the sort of fighting to pay the next wages bill to being a real power on the Australian sporting landscape."

As a result of this, Gordon said the "needs" of the new chief executive were going to be "very different" to what the club had experienced.