Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
ANY GIVEN STUNDAY
Frank: I don’t need to make a Pacino speech for Brentford to have a Hollywood ending
THOMAS FRANK may channel his inner Al Pacino in the dressing room ahead of the world’s richest football match against Fulham tonight.
But the Brentford manager admits it probably would not make any difference.
In the 1999 American Football film Any Given Sunday, Pacino delivers one of the greatest motivational speeches in Hollywood history before the Miami Sharks go out for their own play-off game.
It begins, “I don’t know what to say, really” – which is appropriate given that Frank does not either.
He said: “My work is pretty much done, I still have to do my last bit of planning and find the final words I want to say to the lads.
“I love especially the American emotional stories about the big sports events and I could do an Al Pacino gameintro speech, I could do that – but my way of course. I know that already.
“Sometimes I think about it a lot. I’ll pick it up and write a few things down. A fancy quote or I could cry, I could laugh or joke. But honestly, sometimes it doesn’t matter at all.
“Tonight, who are they playing for? Themselves, their families, the fans. That’s their inner motivation.
“I could say, ‘A... B... C... D...’ it wouldn’t matter.”
Frank – and the ‘Moneyball’ philosophy that Brentford’s remarkable success has been built on – recognises the value of calculating everything to the nth degree.
He added: “Yes, we are very good on the data side. Yes, we are extremely good on recruitment.
“And that is a big advantage in how we compete with other clubs.
“But the reason why we recruit very well is because we want good characters.
“The human element is the hidden gem. It is the big secret.
“It is the first thing. Yes, they need to be good players. But they need to be good characters.”
When rigorous statistical analysis is the cornerstone of everything you do, it is perhaps no surprise that a great deal of care is taken to supply the most accurate answers possible.
When asked if riding the Premier League gravy train will change Brentford, you can almost hear the cogs whirr.
“You know when I’m silent I need to think,” said the Dane. “I really, really want, from the bottom of my heart, to say that we will never change.
“But because money has that strong power, you never know what will happen. Nothing will change in the first three years. After that there is where you need to be aware.
“We have such a strong leadership group in co-directors of football Phil Giles and Rasmus Ankersen and owner Matthew Benham.
“I am 100 per cent sure that the three of them and I and the rest will run the club in a respectful way, with a human touch and the way we see things.
“But… ask me after three years in the Premier League.”
Brentford fans have been waiting 73 long years for top-flight football.
They will be ready to take the risk.