Brentford, the European dream

In the west of London, in one of its suburban areas that are part of the district of Hounslowit was found Brentforda little corner of Britain with a much-visited promenade, at the confluence of the rivers Brent and thames. Apart from being the headquarters of many companies, who prefer to get away from the hustle and bustle of London and set up their commercial headquarters here, it would not be worth checking out today, if not for the amazing and expensive remodeling of its ports. and because it is also home to one of the emerging soccer clubs Premier League. A modest club that is also revolutionary due to its successful operation, by applying an unusual method of analyzing player contracts, through Big Data.

whom Brentfordabout 13 kilometers west of Charing Cross, a personal project was built, at the club of his childhood, by a former banker expert in algorithms and bets, Matthew Benham. He not only saved him from his investment, but he also laid the foundations for a football idea based on data analysis and statistics, which, in a very short time, led him to the English elite. Here, in the new stadium that replaced the old Griffin Park, the club from this small nucleus of Grand London (outside London, including Chiswick) makes their games enjoyable, establishing itself in the Premier and participated in ten games without defeat, the last one, against Arsenal (1-1). He won too Liverpool and in City of Manchester.

With the Brentford and his physical deployment, one of his hallmarks, without counting, in his second year at the Premier. He was already eighth, and he achieved it with the purest Nordic style, the stamp made by the sports director, the Danish. Rasmus Ankersen –also FC president mydtjyllandin his country– and the coach he chose, his countryman Thomas Frank, along with several Scandinavian internationals, whom he recruited upon arrival at the club, Christian Norgaard, Matthias Jensen, Mads Roerslev and Kristoffer Ajer, carefully selected after evaluating their performance. Therefore, it is not reasonable that the Brentford continue to dream, with a lot of data and a lot of humility, the word that rules (‘humility’), on a squad poster, at their physical training ground in Hounslow.

Beckham’s endorsement

If you have visited before Brentford With the site of the Thames Lock, the last lock of the Grand Union Canal and the gateway to the River Thames, the growth of the city’s football club has attracted and attracted the attention of tourists and the football world. It even caught the interest of a former star like David Beckhamwho attended some of their matches and recommended his son Romeo to join the club’s second team.

Brentford He created the B team in 2016, against the English tradition of quarries work. The club welcomes many players who quit other academies and it serves to discover young players and revalue them in the first team of Thomas Frank, the ‘miracle’ coach, made in the Danish youth categories and signed after brondby, in 2016. The reward for that confidence was promotion to the Premier, in the 20-21 season. It was their first appearance in the top tier of English football since 1947.

The ‘Bees’, as this is the history of how the club became known due to a student cheer chant resembling the sound of the word ‘bee’ (bee), which also appears on its shield, ranked thirteenth in its first season in big ones,. This year the Brentford They managed to take another leap in quality, being a seasoned team, suffocating under pressure and an expert at taking advantage of free kicks. In his system, everything is highly analyzed, to suit the style set by Thomas Frank, with the purest Scandinavian character, a lot of energy and physical display, and where there is a Catalan, the international. David Rayasucceeded in the goal.

The paradigm of the honest work of ‘scouting’ of Brentford This will be seen by his scorer, ivan toney, who already has 14 goals, just behind Haaland and Kane. The bet on Toney, signed from Peterborough, was personal with Thomas Frank, after analyzing his shooting data in League One. He convinced the English striker, who has Jamaican roots, that in Brentford, and on his side, because of the direct style of the team, will exploit all its virtues. The coach himself said that he assured him that he would score at least 25 goals. It was that belief that drove Toney to sign for Brentford. And not only did the Danish coach keep his word, but Toney would score 33 goals, in a rich promotion season. He is their reference player, due to his strength in the area, and the best example of the intensity of all of Brentford. With this and the learnings they have baffled their rivals and reached their big challenge: playing in Europe.