It is fair to say Brentford have not had it so good for a long time. From League Two obscurity to Championship play-off contenders in seven years, the millions invested by their owner and professional gambler, Matthew Benham, is beginning to pay off.
A new stadium will be built, they have upgraded their academy facilities and their youth system has been significantly improved. If they advance past Middlesbrough over two legs – starting on Friday night at Griffin Park – Brentford will be one victory away from the £130m jackpot.
Even if they do not reach Wembley, though, the west London side have already established themselves as one of the burgeoning forces below the Premier League. Middlesbrough are the favourites to reach the play-off final, having prevailed 4-0 and 1-0 in the league this season, yet Brentford’s progress indicates their rise is no fluke.
It has been a steady and sensible road. A cruel defeat on the final day of the League One campaign in 2012-13 did not destabilise them. Uwe Rösler’s side were centimetres away from securing automatic promotion but ended the season heartbroken. A year later and, with Mark Warburton in charge, that feat was accomplished.
Benham, a lifelong Brentford fan, owns two betting and statistic companies, Smartodds and Matchbook. He gained operational control of the club in March 2010 having initially lent them £500,000 in January 2006 when the supporters’ trust, Bees United, took over a majority shareholding from Ron Noades. In the summer of 2009 Benham agreed a formal partnership with Bees United, investing at least £1m a year for five years in return for preference shares, before buying a 96% stake in the club in 2012. Last year he completed a 100% buyout.
As of June 2014 Benham had invested £46m into Brentford and that figure has risen since. Last summer he also became the majority shareholder of FC Midtjylland, who are 12 points clear at the top of the Danish Superliga.
Brentford’s sensible road, however, took an unexpected turn in February. Warburton, the former City trader who was the sporting director before Benham appointed him as the manager, was told his contract would not be renewed beyond the summer following a disagreement about the future philosophy of the club.
It was the main subject this week at Brentford’s training ground, with Warburton admitting his anger and frustration at his impending departure. He insisted, though, his long-standing relationship with Benham has not been affected, despite their philosophical differences.
Regarding the club’s ascent, Warburton said: “Investment is important. When I first came here there was one building and a poor training pitch. That costs money and sound investment. What we have done is create an environment conducive to development. That way the players enjoy coming to work every day, we have medical support, the pitches have improved, we stay in the best hotels, we give them an opportunity to take their careers forward. We want to challenge them and offer them a pathway. Young academy players come here, we have taken one or two on the bench and they have a pathway. This is the biggest game here in 70 years – there’s a reason for that, the investment’s been good and the club will move forward from here.”
Warburton’s situation is certainly an unusual one and Benham has received his fair share of flak since the news first emerged. The manager has created a stable environment alongside his assistant, the former Everton and Scotland defender David Weir, but Benham – a man who has made millions through a statistical approach to sports gambling – will impart a mathematical formula to future transfers and key decisions beyond the summer.
It is difficult to stomach for Warburton, who has utilised his scouting knowledge and contacts obtained during his time as the co-founder of the NextGen youth series to craft a team who scored 78 goals in the Championship, their first season in the second tier for 21 years.
The loan signing of Alex Pritchard from Tottenham Hotspur emerged because of Warburton’s NextGen connections, while the striker Andre Gray was plucked from then non-league Luton Town. Gray, who was stabbed in the face as a teenager, has made progress that is perhaps symbolic of Brentford’s rise, both unexpected and the result of work and determination.
“I got stabbed. I didn’t deserve it but I was putting myself in certain situations where it was bound to happen,” said Gray, who has scored 17 goals for the Bees this season. “It’s part of where I was from and part of my life but I’m behind it. Since then I haven’t looked back, it was in the street after a club kind of thing. It was the wrong place, wrong time.”
On Warburton’s departure, he added: “It’s disappointing for everyone. It didn’t come at the right time and I think we got through the rut of that first week [after it was announced]. Everybody knows what the situation is. He’s here until the end of the season and, if anything, it made us stronger and it made us all come together that little bit more.”
Warburton is expected to be in demand this summer, whether Brentford go up or not. Benham’s decision may jar but, according to the manager, the owner has earned the right to lead the club into a new era.
“You have to respect the fact that someone’s put so much money into the football club and put it into this state of health,” said Warburton.
