BEES ARE BUZZING
Brentford boss Thomas Frank on their promotion push
IT’S a grey and wet Friday lunchtime at Brentford’s tidy training ground at Osterley, but manager Thomas Frank has a sunny disposition.
It’s no surprise really. His Bees have been buzzing of late and last week’s 7-0 destruction of Luton gave an indication of what a force they can be when they get their free-flowing football in top gear.
It also took the Bees to within one point and one place of the play-offs. If they had gone under the radar in the opening stages of the season, they are now clearly in vision.
So did affable Dane Frank, who took the reins last October, foresee his side dishing out a pasting before that memorable afternoon against the hapless Hatters?
“We were waiting a little bit for that to happen,” he admitted ahead of yesterday’s testing trip to Sheffield Wednesday. “We were getting closer and closer to the maximum output.
“We should have scored more goals against Reading (in a 1-0 win two weeks ago) and when you score an early goal, it can be a long afternoon at Griffin Park for our opponents.
“We got that early goal (against Luton) and first half we were really good, really, really good.
“Of course, they could have done better. If that was my team, I would have wanted them to do better and I’m sure that Graeme (Jones, Luton manager) wanted them to do better.
“That combination when one team hits top and the other doesn’t means the difference is so big. I know it sounds crazy, but I can see there is even more in the team, to be fair.”
Frank wasn’t overly surprised that it took the Bees some time to gel this term, his first full season in charge.
The 46-year-old former Brondby manager, who stepped into the Griffin Park hotseat when Dean Smith left for Aston Villa, said: “We all knew that we needed some time to make the top performances, to get everything clicking. The board knew it, the sports directors,
Matthew (Benham – owner). We changed a lot of player so that’s normal. Quality
“We worked hard every day to make it click as soon as possible.
The big thing was that at the beginning of the season there were enough good performances. We didn’t get the results, but there was something to build on every single game.”
So will there now be more pressure on the Bees – who face Cardiff, Fulham and West Brom in their next three games - following their recent good run and that eye-catching display last week? Frank insists not.
“The biggest pressure is from ourselves,” he stressed. “It’s been the same all season and that will never change, no matter how we do.
“If you look at the next clubs we’re playing in the league, there is so much more pressure on them, it’s unbelievable. They have one aim – to go back or up to the Premier League. If they don’t do that, it’s a disaster.
“For me, we have that natural, good pressure in a competitive world that we want to do better every single day.
“We have big dreams and aims, so the biggest thing is pushing ourselves.
“We need to take it game by game. I don’t look at the table before the end of the season
because it can change so quickly. The main thing is that we stay in the moment and do everything that we can. We want to win the next game every single time.”
One drawback of Brentford’s recent surge could be that it alerts other clubs to the quality of the players on the books – and it won’t be long until the January window opens.
Winger-turned-striker Ollie Watkins, 23, with a dozen goals to his name pre-weekend, is sure to have admirers and there always tend to be plenty of gems at Griffin Park.
The likes of Dan Bentley, Chris Mepham, James Tarkowski, Jota, Ryan Woods, Andre Gray, Neal Maupay and Scott Hogan are just some of the stars in recent times who have moved on, many to the Premier League.
Change
It may leave some fans a little nervous that the Bees’ hopes could take a hit in the New Year. Clubs fighting to stay in the Premier League may splash some cash, while Championship promotion rivals might seek to strengthen and nobble Brentford at the same time.
Frank is optimistic that he will enter February with his squad intact, but, at the same time, realistic enough to know that he can’t offer any guarantees.
“My big aim is that we are losing no players and I expect that we will lose no players,” he said.
“Why change players or look for some players now? I understand in the summer. I can’t see a reason for players to move now.
“Of course, there’s always that financial aspect and I 100 per cent back the club in the way they run it, because they believe in that sustainable aspect of football which very few clubs do. I’m very proud to be part of a club that is very aware of that.
“Of course, I want to keep our players. If something un
happens, a big, big, big amount of money for some of our players, I guess we will look at it.
“But I can’t see it. If it does, as you have seen for many, many years, we are top, top, prepared.”
Another reason why Frank would be loathe to lose any of his players now is because he’s eager for Brentford to sign off in style at Griffin Park before they head to their new stadium near Kew Bridge next term.
“We had a big aim before the season to make a lot of magical moments at Griffin Park because it is the last season there,” he said. “We want to make our fans happy and proud.
“The 7-0 moment, the 3-2 against Millwall, the 3-0 against Derby.
“To create more of those moments is a big aim for us.”
Amazing
As Frank holds court in a portakabin at the training ground, it’s clear he’s having a ball at Brentford.
“I’m definitely enjoying it every single day because the people, the staff are amazing people,” he said.
“We enjoy working together and we are so aligned not just here (at the training ground), but the directors, the owner.
“There’s a fantastic group of players that just want to improve and train very hard every day and when you win some football matches that’s the cherry on top of the cake.
“It’s very enjoyable. I’m sure that in 20 years’ time, I’ll look back at my time at Brentford and think ‘um, that was maybe one of the best moments in my coaching career’. It’s such a fantastic place to be.
“I’m hoping I’m going to stay here for a lot of years, that’s my plan. I have a lot of dreams to aim for.”
The rest of the Championship has been warned.