THE BEES NEW HOME.. HIVE SEEN THE FUTURE Chief Football Writer JOHN CROSS takes a tour of Brentford’s brave new world and meets striker Ivan Toney

The Championship club have completed their state-of-the-art stadium, all within budget and their two- year time project, oject, to give themselves a new 17,250seater home to be proud of.

After narrowly missing out on reaching the Premier League in the play-offs just a few weeks ago, the Brentford Community Stadium is worthy of being in the top flight.

And tomorrow at noon it will host its first competitive game when Wycombe Wanderers arrive in the Carabao Cup.

Mirror Sport was given an exclusive first look at the magnificent venue in west London – a short walk from their old ground at Griffin Park but a huge step forward.

It is also home to Brentford’s latest signing, 24-year-old striker Ivan Toney, who will be hoping to follow in the footsteps of Andre Gray, Neal Maupay, Ollie Watkins and Said Benrahma, who all made names for themselves with the Bees.

Toney ( right) was League One’s top scorer last season with 24 goals in 32 games for Peterborough.

He even turned down Premier League interest to join the Bees because he is convinced that both the team and the stadium will reach the top flight. Toney said: “All of the lads were in the dressing room and we were thinking it’s like a Premier League ground.

“And if you’re in a Premier League ground, then you need to play like a Premier League team, even though we’re in the Championship.

“That will push us to become a Premier League team come the end of the season. It’s a great stadium. We played against Oxford in a friendly and straightaway we felt it was like home. I feel I can score goals there and can’t wait to be involved against Wycombe.”

Toney also believes that working with Brentford manager Thomas Frank can help him improve, just as it has done in the past for players who have

BREN NEW STADIUM The Bees are ready for a new chapter in their history stepped off the club’s prolific production line. He said: “I feel like he’s a manager who can get the best out of players.

“He’s a manager who can put his arm around someone when they’re not having the best of times.

“Coming from League One, it’s a big jump to the Premier League. I did have Premier League options, but I chose Brentford because I felt it was the right platform to elevate my career, and also I believe I can help the club get promoted.”

Gone are the famous four pubs – one on each corner – as at Griffin Park, but the new ground has a train line on three sides, with excellent transport links.

There is a state-of-the art big screen, security system, and a nod to the club’s previous home with red-and-white goal nets, plus they have used bricks from the old Stable Block in the new North Stand.

The Bees’ operations director Alan Walsh said: “We are incredibly proud of the stadium and also to finish it on time when you consider the difficulties for contractors and building in lockdown and social distancing.”

There are multicoloured seats, partly designed to e nsure that, if the ground is less than capacity, it does not look as if it has rafts of empty seats, although they already have 11,000 season-ticket holders.

No doubt the fans cannot wait to take their place – and hopefully for them, it will not be too long.”