The 2013 FA Cup meeting of Brentford and Chelsea bestowed attention on the League One club. This was a sign of things to come. From Mark Warburton’s subsequent departure as manager to the removal of his successor, Marinus Dijkhuizen, after such a short spell he was barely afforded scope to learn his players’ names, this has been loosely and sceptically identified as one of English football’s madcap clubs.
The drawing of Chelsea once more offers useful opportunity to alter perception. As a now prominent Championship club with aspirations of moving even higher, – and why not, if Bournemouth and Hull City can do likewise? – Brentford’s progress has vindicated the ownership of Matthew Benham.
For this club, now managed by Dean Smith, with 6,000 season-ticket holders and an £11m turnover, to be performing to a higher level than some more famous names demonstrates Benham’s success. It was not supposed to be like this; the Dijkhuizen affair of 2015 triggered open season on the mathematician who owns successful gambling firms. Cold analysis shows such caustic conclusions were unwise.
“We are beyond the stage now where people look at us through weird goggles,” says Mark Devlin, Brentford’s chief executive. “In the main, people see us as a forward-thinking club that is trying to be as smart as it can to develop steadily. We don’t want to risk tomorrow for having to get it right today. There is a long-term plan which goes against the grain in football – there is so much short-term thinking.
“In football, things have been done the same way for a long time. Some people will embrace doing things differently, others will deride it. We have had little bits of both.”
Devlin was in position the last time Brentford met Chelsea, drawing 2-2 at Griffin Park before losing the replay 4-0. “Brentford had been hiding away in Leagues One and Two for too long,” he recalls. “It took us nearly three weeks to sell that [2013] game out, not because there wasn’t interest but because our systems meant people had to queue for hours in freezing conditions for tickets. This time, the investment in the club both from the owner and monies generated ourselves means 6,000 tickets were sold in a little over two days.
“Brentford has become known as a club that is prepared to think a bit differently, will take risks; some work, some don’t but that goes with the territory. The aspiration is to move onward and upward, achieving the Premier League within the next three or four years.”
Brentford’s use of statistics, to the point where even relative league strengths globally can be deduced by algorithm, is well known. So, too, is the controversial but logical decision to dispense with a youth academy that was not offering sufficient return. A marquee player may well do so, with Scott Hogan set to depart in the coming days if a £15m asking price is met.
“We are happy to share our rationale,” Devlin says. “We felt the investment in the academy was not producing the number of players for first-team level, to both play and be sold on. We thought the investment was better focused on one age group, 17-21, and working with a smaller number who we think, all of them, have got a chance when training alongside the first team.
“We have a programme that has seen our B team play Chelsea and Spurs. They were over playing Bayern Munich, they won a tournament in Denmark. We think it gives them a better opportunity to grow as players.
“Initially, there was complete over-emphasis on our use of stats. We use stats as part of our recruitment process but there are also traditional methods. We maybe put slightly more emphasis on stats than others but we certainly haven’t thrown out all other methods; we still have a head scout, for example.
“That doesn’t all mean we are right and others are wrong – it is just the way we do it. We try to create a structure here that when people move on, others come in without the need for investment in a whole new team. It is sheer lunacy that when you decide to change people or people decide to leave, you lose six or seven crucial people then need a big period of recruitment.”
This is a business operating within clear constraints. So does it punch above its weight? “If it was down to turnover and finances we should be in the bottom three,” Devlin says. “The teams that come from the Premier League start the season because of their parachute payment, without selling a single ticket, with five times the amount of money we generate in annual turnover.”
A move from Griffin Park is vital if Brentford are to realise their goal of mixing with Chelsea regularly. “We operate out of a stadium that is over 100 years old, with a capacity of 12,000,” Devlin says. “The commercial team can shoehorn in about 90 people for on-site hospitality. Our revenues are severely restricted hence the necessity to move to the new stadium, which we hope to be in for season 2019-20.
“You have got to dream. We want to be in the Premier League; that would underpin the financial challenges we face. It would make us much more self-sufficient. While this tie will be a great occasion, I want trips to Stamford Bridge and Old Trafford to be something our fans and players see normally.”
