Brentford are just 90 minutes away from Wembley and a shot at Premier League promotion – a fact that would barely have been believable a decade ago.
Following a season where they just missed out on automatic promotion to the top flight, the Bees must first overcome a 1-0 deficit against Swansea in what will be an emotional final ever game at Griffin Park, before they move into the new Brentford Community Stadium at the start of next season.
One man who is enjoying the ride is the club’s Head of Recruitment Lee Dykes. Lee, who joined the club from Bury at the end of last season, is tasked with leading the club’s legion of talent spotters using unique data methods installed by the club’s owner Matthew Benham.
Lee, a VSI delegate of the MSc Sports Directorship programme, commented: “Everybody that works for Brentford is very excited at the moment because they’re such a bold club. If you go back to the structure of how a football club should look, Matthew, Phil Giles and Rasmus Ankersen (co-directors) have the club, in my mind, how a lot of clubs should be run in terms of structure.”
Brentford have famously made significant profit in the transfer market in recent seasons whilst remaining competitive on the field – as evidenced by this season’s performances.
Lee continued: “Brentford, for the last five years, has been on a road to achieve eventual success; it’s been achieving success quite regularly through player sales and steadily improving the results on the pitch. There’s the new stadium, a new training ground in the future, we’re the third best team in the Championship – unfortunately we weren’t the second best – but we were very close. We’re in a really good moment, and how exciting to be part of a play-off situation in the Championship and have the opportunity to get promoted to the Premier League.”
If Brentford make it past Swansea tonight, they’ll take on Fulham or Cardiff for a place in the Premier League at Wembley on Tuesday night. Whatever happens though, it’s an incredible time to be involved with one of the most forward thinking football clubs in England.
Lee finished: “We have the second youngest squad in the league; we’re certainly by no means at the top end of the rankings in terms of financials, what we pay players and what we pay for players, but we’re run by very good people. The people at the top have worked so hard for this moment and I just hope that we can repay them and get them into the Premier League for the first time, that would be unbelievable.”
