We always have a plan with the newsletter notes and it is nice when it all comes together, but some take longer than others ! A decade ago , way back in 2011 when Brentford were a mid table League 1 team I started to speak of them having Premier League dreams and of the set up, in terms of how the club was run in the analytical and original thought department, being way beyond what any one else was doing and certainly in advance of what this tiny club was expected to achieve. They were surviving on 5,000 attendances in a historic and wonderful, but ramshackle old stadium and operating on a playing budget which was small, even by tier 3 standards. They had to find other ways to get an edge and they did so under the leadership of (then) new owner Matthew Benham and with the might of his Smartodds analytical team forming the foundations of what has become the most innovative team in world football.

 

They scoured the world for talent that no other club had even heard of, let alone looked at and had a clear policy of developing this talent and not standing in the way of any player once they were attracting attention, they were always allowed to leave and join bigger clubs as long as the Bees asking price was met and this was wildly successful. Off the top of my head, Forshaw, Colin, Tarkowski, Odubajo, Yennaris, Egan, Gray, Hogan, Woods, Jota, Mepham, Konsa, Maupay, Benrahma and Watkins were bought for circa £13m and sold for over £170m ! Whilst other teams were spending tens of millions each season in pursuit of that holy grail of Premier League football, Brentford were doing so each season whilst selling the cream of their squad , turning a huge profit in transfer dealings and building a new ground. The conveyor belt of talent has continued and Raya, Pinnock, Henry, Da Silva, Mbeumo and top scorer Ivan Toney are all craved by bigger clubs  and there are a handful of potential superstar youngsters waiting in the wings. 

 

On Saturday this plan all came together and after finishing third in the Championship for the second season running , they finally got over the finishing line in the playoff final and are now a Premier League club. It is an incredible and unlikely story . Until 2014-15 when they were promoted to the Championship, they had spent all but one of the preceding 60 years in the third or fourth tier, had twice almost folded and were saved each time only by the love of their long suffering supporters, my own family has a 100 year history/ association with the club going back to just after the First World War and my daughters will continue the tradition long after I am gone .

 

Now Brentford will be the smallest club in the Premier League and that suits them just fine, they will still be a selling club, the Lionel Road ground, whilst new ,holds 5,000 less than any other top flight stadium and is a quarter the size of some , but it will be intimidating. I doubt any player will be earning £3-4m per year, let alone £10-15m and new signings will still be of the bargain basement variety. But those bargains are now likely to be in the £5m + bracket and it is incredibly exciting to see what the club can do with the increased spending power and one thing I know for sure, is that the Bees will be good for the Premier League, they will not compromise their principles and will continue to play attacking football ...................what a ride !

 

Good luck !