Bees United
Thomas, can you explain exactly where you are. You’re in a hotel in Girona near the training ground?
Thomas Frank
Yes, true. We are in a nice hotel here close to Girona. Nice suroundings, so we’re very pleased. We’ve brought our two very good chefs, Liam and Jordan, that are preparing fantastic food for us, so we are privileged.
Bees United
I wonder what the mood was like in Spain after last night’s defeat to Morocco? How are the hotel staff this morning? Are they all a bit down?
Thomas Frank
I think they were OK. I think the one person that was affected the most was Sergi (Canos), for obvious reasons. We saw the penalty shoot out – the whole staff and players together. Some were cheering for Morocco and obviously Sergi and (goalkeeping coach) Manu Sotelo were cheering for Spain, so there was a bit of banter.
Thomas Frank
Talking of Sergi and Spanish players, explain to us who’s at the camp and who’s not because obviously the “World Cup 6” have been released from their duties at various stages.
Bees United
Are the Danish guys all with you? What’s happening there?
Thomas Frank
No. The 3 Danish guys, Saman (Ghoddos) and Bryan (Mbeumo) got a week – that is this week – to get a bit of rest and most importantly, refresh the head. David (Raya) unfortunately went out a couple of days ago and he will be back next week, around Thursday I think we agreed.
Bees United
Tell us what actually happens at a mid-season training camp as opposed to a pre-season training camp because I don’t think we’ve had many before.
Thomas Frank
It’s not too different. Fitness is always the big thing. The intensity in the way we play is crucial so we need to train with high intensity, we need to train very hard. We have a clear aim of being one of the top 3 fittest teams so we can go and go, but because they basically only had one week off and then one week with a programme from (Head of Athletic Performance) Chris Haslam and (Strength and Conditioning Coach) Tom Perryman. So they came back in a good place. We push of course and always try to add an extra layer on the physical side, but that’s not as important as a normal longer pre-season. Then we have a chance to work on a few bits and pieces in terms of the tactical level. Working a bit on how to be a bit better on the ball, how to try to control the games better but maybe most importantly to try to create more chances in open play, definitely from the side and produce crosses.
Bees United
Let’s move on to questions from the members. The first one picks up on this. It says “while the squad are in Spain are there going to be any actual games and if there are will fans be able to attend?”
Thomas Frank
There will be a very, very secret game somewhere in Europe! I can’t tell you where it is and who it’s against and unfortunately the fans can’t attend….but we will play a game.
Bees United
I guess it’s possible, depending on where it is, that it might be streamed by the media team and I guess they’ll let us know if that’s the case.
Thomas Frank
Exactly. We’ll definitely do everything we can if possible. We want our fantastic fans to follow us. If it’s not possible then it’s not because of bad will. We’ll really try hard to do that, I know that.
Bees United
We’ve had more than 100 questions. There’s obviously not going to be time for all of them and there might even be more on the Q and A tonight. So I grouped some of them together and you can perhaps pick out elements to pick up from. Here are 4, I think all good ones, about this reality of a break in the season. Ian Westbrook says “do you think the World Cup break has been a good thing or a bad thing for Brentford and why?” Geoff Buckingham was interested in what preparation you’ve been putting in for the resumption of the season and how you’ve coped with any disruption. Mark Harvey says “how close are we to where you anticipated you would be in the league at this point?” and Lyn Morgan asks how the players who weren’t involved in the World Cup kept motivated.
Thomas Frank
I think I’ll just go a little bit random from what I heard and try to give my best answer to it. For me personally it was fantastic to have had 2 weeks off. I think for the players was nice because we never get that opportunity and it’s relentless. For Brentford, which of course is my main aim, it is what it is. So I get on with it. I find the most positive thing we can take out of that situation. So I’m thinking, “OK, refresh some players. Hopefully some players getting an experience for life by going to the World Cup. Getting players back from injury we can work more in depth without that pressure of a competitive game every 6 or 7 days, or every third or fourth day. So I think there’s some benefit to it. Every single time we have a longer spell to training, I always find bits and pieces we can try to improve together with my coaching staff. So in that aspect it’s good. The only thing we said is that with that big win against Manchester City (on November 12th), it would have been lovely to meet on a Monday and use that energy going into the next week – but we of course will do our best to take the positive out of that game. We’ll show to the whole squad when everyone is together next week and hopefully build on that.
Bees United
Barry March asks, “How did you feel about Brian Riemer leaving? (to become Anderlecht Head Coach)”
Thomas Frank
First, I think it’s a fantastic opportunity for Brian. I think everyone involved in Brentford – you fans, staff members, players – it’s a credit to all of us that Brian gets this opportunity in a huge club in Europe. Of course Brian is a very good coach and deserves a massive credit to get the opportunity but everyone has been part of giving Brian the best opportunity to go there. So I think it’s a fantastic story that we are not only developing good players that are going to different clubs but also good staff members that get opportunities to go to other clubs. On a personal note, of course it’s also a bit sad. He’s a very good friend of mine that I’ve been working with closely, night and day almost, for 4 years. We’ve had some massive successes and some big downs. When you go through those experiences together, you grow your relationship. So it’s sad to see him leave in a way but I just want the best for him and wish him all the best.
Bees United
Following that we had the news of the arrival of Claus Nørgaard who you obviously know well. What do you want to tell us about him?
Thomas Frank
When an important player leaves us, another player comes in or a player in-house steps up and a new dynamic is created. It’s the same here. A new dynamic will be created, Claus is a very good coach that will come into the group and push things around a little bit because he’s a different personality than Brian and then different things will happen. Claus has experience from a long life in coaching roles and will definitely help us. He’s very experienced. He will have the same focus areas, so he’ll be in charge of the defensive side of the game and he will be doing everything he can to push our performance environment and our abilities so hopefully we can keep progressing this beautiful club.
Bees United
Picking up on the issue of coaching. Don Tanswell asks, “our pitchside team is much bigger than months ago. Who are they? And what do they do?” We may not always be able to put a name to the faces so just perhaps give us an idea of who your closest colleagues are.
Thomas Frank
The closest staff is first my 3 coaches. We have Claus Nørgaard now, Justin Cochrane and Kevin O’Connor. They’re the 3 assistant coaches with different responsibilities but all of them are a big part of how we can create the daily week, the game plan and develop players. Then we have Manu Sotelo, who is our goalkeeping coach. (Tactical Statistician) Bernardo Cueva is helping with set pieces. Then we have Chris Haslam as our head of performance. He’s a big part of how we develop our performance environment and the physical part of it. Behind that there’s a big staff – the strength and conditioning department, the medical team, the analysis department. We have a huge number of staff and we keep growing and that’s good but I also think it’s important that we still keep that little bit of tight togetherness.
Bees United
I’ve just spotted a question coming from Nigel Miller. “With your coach’s hat on, what innovations or changes have you seen in the World Cup? Is there anything that we can learn from? The Spanish “tippy tappy” way now seems a little out of keeping with the way other teams are playing.” What’s excited you about the games in the World Cup?
Thomas Frank
I think we all have our own memories from the World Cup. I follow it closely of course but I think it some ways this World Cup has been a little strange. Not only because it has been November and December but some of them the bigger teams have disappointed. Denmark is not a bigger team but there were big expectations because of their good results and performances in the Euros. I think politics played its part. I think some teams got too distracted, too focused on that. I know it’s difficult to keep politics and sport apart these days but sometimes it can just be too much. On the football side of it, I think some of the teams that have obviously looked fantastic have neen France, Brazil, Portugal last night was really, really good and a lot of them have actually been quite good on the counters. I think that’s the single big thing you can take out of it.
Bees United
On the Q and A you did last week Denmark was almost too painful to talk about. Have you got over that now? Was there much politics in Denmark about Qatar?
Thomas Frank
Yes there was unfortunately. When you see a team not performing it’s not only one thing – Is it injuries? Is it just lack of performance? Is it the right system or is it the stupid coach who picked the wrong 11? There was also big political pressure from the outside. The media especially was focusing a lot around the rainbow armband and human rights. Everything was about Qatar and we’re such a small country that’s very focused on being politically correct, which is a very important thing in the modern world. It’s so difficult to make sure you either only play football or you only talk politics, I think it has got a little bit in the way – but it’s not only that. The performance of the team was unfortunately not to where we wanted it to be.
Bees United
Let’s get back to success at Brentford. People are still buzzing about Man City. Niall O’Connor says “as a world class coach, Thomas, what’s the secret ingredient to get your players to believe they can beat a team like Man City?”
Thomas Frank
I think it’s a fantastic question. I have a lot of weaknesses. I think one of my strengths is that I have a massive belief in the team and the players and every single day, I go in there and I believe we can beat any team in the world. Maybe it was a little bit difficult after the fantastic performance against Gillingham the previous Tuesday night where we were we lost on on penalties. We met on the Thursday morning and the message needed to be clear. Normally we always do a debrief of the previous game. This time I decided not to. Not just because it was a cup tournament. I just wanted to look forward and use all the energy and focus on trying to beat City. I put together a few things in the presentation to show to the players on the Thursday morning. First and foremost, I said “we’re going there for the win. We’re not going to try to get a point. No – we’re going to try to win. I showed the last 2 times we played City. The first time was at home. We lost 1-0 and we played without about 5 normal starters and a lot of injured players. They only created just under 1.0 expected goals, which was the second lowest expected goals in the whole last season. The second game we played, where we lost 2-0, if you take the penalty out we were 0.8 expected goals. So again, one of the lowest. So we had the 2 lowest 3 xG against City in all of their 38 games last year. So it showed in our 5-3-2 formation it’s very difficult to break us down. Then we talked about “OK, we need to close down De Bruyne and we know on set pieces we’re better than them. That’s a fact. We’re going there for the win.” down for the week. And then we built on it on Thursday and Friday. On Saturday morning I said to them before the last meeting that I want to beat City with their best players in the line-up. Then we went there and everything now is, of course, a fairytale and a fantastic story. But even at half-time when it was 1-1 I said, “We had a feeling in the first half that we did well, that they were a little bit frustrated and even that they equalised (through Phil Foden at 45+1) and you’re going in on a little bit on a down.” I said, “Boys, we’re never going to have a better chance of beating City at the Etihad than this moment in time. Let’s make sure we do everything to go for it.” Luckily it paid off.
Bees United
Congratulations again. Two fans are not satisfied with that. They ask why we seem to get better results against the Top 6 than lower clubs. Is that fair comment?
Thomas Frank
I have a feeling, I don’t know exactly, let’s say we played 53 games in the Premier League. I’m pretty sure that our point average if you want to go from that is still higher against the bottom 13 than the Top 6. I’m pretty sure we still get more points against them. I like that the expectations on us rise but I think all of us are doing a top job. Last year we were promoted – 100% the lowest budget in league. This year, second season, second lowest budget. We’re still doing wonders together. I know when we win games expectations rise and that’s part of it and that’s fantastic. I just think we’ve found a pretty good winning formula against Top 6 clubs and a big belief. I think it’s honestly extremely remarkable that we have in one and a half seasons beaten Man United, beaten City, beaten Arsenal, beaten Chelsea, drawn with Liverpool, drawn with Tottenham. I think there’s a lot of teams that have played 5 or 6 years in the Premier League and have never done that. I think that’s unbelievable. We do want to get more points and we work hard on it.
Bees United
That leads into Sara Lowenthal’s question; “When you first arrived to be assistant head coach did you ever imagine we’d beat both Manchester teams in the same season?”
Thomas Frank
I never thought about that. I think when I arrived my first thing was just to try to do the best for for this club. Next, try to do the best for Dean Smith and Richard O’Kelly and do the best to improve them and help them. Of course I had a dream to be the head coach one day and I’m pleased it worked out the way it did because Dean and Richard went to another club and got a big offer there.
Bees United
Leading on from that success there are people saying that beating both Manchester teams is so good, when will the Bees move to the European stage? Fran Carroll from the Irish Bees asks, “When do you realistically see Brentford competing in Europe?” Is it totally unrealistic to think that we might qualify for the Europa Conference League? Last year I think that was 8th place with Leicester. If we’re in 10th place now, why couldn’t we get to 8th place?
Thomas Frank
I think top 6 or maybe top 7 with Newcastle because of the money is going to be very, very difficult unless, excuse my words, Newcastle f**k it up or some of the other clubs will. But there is just a clear principle or theory that money gives big opportunities for success and the difference in money between the top 7 and the rest of us is so big. So it’ll be difficult to go past them. In the longer run, it’s not that it’s not possible during one season, but over time it will not happen. Since Leicester won the title (in 2016), I don’t think one club other than the so-called Top 6 clubs have been in the Champions League spots. I think that shows a clear signal that it’s very, very difficult. That said I think we, along with any of the other clubs in the Premier League, have a good chance of finishing 8th. The margins between the teams is so small and we do everything we can to maximize every smallest detail and try to get us up there. Why not? Why shouldn’t it be possible one season or more seasons if everything is clicking? I think it demands that we’re a little less unlucky with injured players. We need our key players playing. and it’s definitely not criticizing the medical department because we have found out the reasons behind the injuries and we’ve been very, very unlucky. There’s not a pattern with hamstrings or whatever. We’re doing a top job there. So if we have all our best players available I think anything’s possible.
Bees United
On that injury point we had about 3 people asking “why are there so many injuries during training?” That’s from Grevile Waterman. “Why are there muscle injuries?” That’s from Tony Ryan. Phillip Norman saying “why are there so many hamstring injuries?” You’re saying you’ve looked at the stats and it isn’t quite like that.
Thomas Frank
Yeah, last year we had a few hamstring injuries that we really looked into and there was no no real pattern. There’s general theme across the Premier League because it’s so intense that there are just more hamstring injuries in the league. Even if you’re building a strong player, doing a lot of work in the gym, a lot of core stability work. We screen the players very often so they can never drop in their strength markers. If they do we’re aware of it and make a lot of adjustments. We found out there’s a few things we needed to do better for the hamstrings, ticked that box and then this year we struggled a little bit with abductors. So now we need to find out why we have that. In training we’ve had a few contact injuries and we are very competitive in the way we train. I want to train with high intensity and big competitiveness because if we con’t do that we can’t compete at the level we want to on a Saturday.
Bees United
Let’s move on to something different. It’s a bit of an elephant in the room which I’m sure you were expecting. The biggest number of questions on any single point was about the Ivan Toney situation in the light of the allegations against him. At Bees United we’ve published an article with all that’s known and what we don’t know about the episode. (Co-Director of Football) Phil Giles talked about it last week. What more can you tell us, if anything, about the situation?
Thomas Frank
I think Phil covered it quite well last week and he’s taking care of that together with Ivan. What I’m doing my best on is focusing on what’s happening on the pitch and doing everything I can to get Ivan in the best possible place together with him. He’s very motivated. He came back in a very good place. He trained very well and pushed himself and his teammates every single day so we just do what we can to perform and train well on the pitch. Then we will see what’s happening for the future. I don’t know anything of what will happen or when. Phil is on top of that.
Bees United
Thanks, Thomas, and we appreciate that. The next most popular questions were about the transfer window – and again obviously this is primarily Phil (Giles’s) role. Alan Drury asks, “How much are you involved with the selecting and assigning of players and indeed the releasing of players?”
Thomas Frank
Quite a lot. I think one of the reasons why we’ve been very successful, speaking for my 6 years in the club and the last 4 years in charge is that we’re doing it together. So it’s between Phil Giles, Lee Dykes our technical director, Matthew (Benham), of course, and the coaching staff. There’s a long process behind it. We have all our data. We have all the video reports. We have all that. We have a plan and of course we have every position covered, with endless lists of names which we prioritize. Then of course for every transfer window we know what positions we are looking for or are open for. If there’s top young players coming or a good deal we need to look look into that.
Bees United
Are there any particular parts of the squad that you personally would quite like to see strengthened?
Thomas Frank
No, I’m quite happy with the squad but of course we want to make it stronger all the time. So there’ll be a little bit of a vague answer from me there, but of course we’re out there and we will look and I will always try to push…not for many, maybe one player in January. I would like that just to both freshen things up and maybe get more quality in the squad. We always want that. In the end we decide which player we’re going for and I’m privileged to to be in a position that we take the decision together, but in the end it’s it’s me who says yes or no because I need to feel it in my stomach. If I don’t want to play him it makes no sense to buy him – but most times we agree.
Bees United
We’ve got some questions about individual players. The first one is about somebody who was signed at the start of the season – Ben Mee. Paul Della says, “Is the signing of Ben Mee on a free transfer our best signing during your time.?”
Thomas Frank
Yeah, definitely one of our best signings, I think he came in to the squad in a moment where we 100% needed at quality centreback and also an experienced centreback. Ethan (Pinnock) out, Zanka out, Kristoffer (Ajer) injured. Bringing Ben in, the way he’s smoothly transitioned into the team and the group is big credit to Ben, but also to the group of players. I think he’s been a very consistent performer in the first 15 games and a fantastic guy to be around. I really, really enjoy working with him.
Bees United
Now from one of the most recent signings to one of the longest serving players – Sergi Canos. Mark Bonner wants to know if he’s part of your long term plans? And did his red card digression affect your perception of his temperament? We all remember that moment against Leeds (in the last game of the 2021-22 season).
Thomas Frank
The red card was probably not his finest moment in a Brentford shirt, I think we can all agree on that. I would say that one of his finest moments was the first Premier League goal against Arsenal, which I will forever remember and I clearly remember what I said to him in front of all the players that I was so pleased that he got it. I think it was fantastic that he scored that first goal. Sergi has been unbelievably unlucky with injury this season. That’s why he’s barely played any minutes. He got injured in the pre-season. Now he’s back training and hopefully he can push and play for us.
Bees United
Liam Lane says “Is it true there is and has been for a while a contract renewal in front of David Raya? And is there any update on this?” In other words, has the club put a contract offer to David and he hasn’t yet replied?
Thomas Frank
David is a top keeper. We really like him. For me he could stay forever. I understand that there are certain players in our squad, a lot of players that there’s interest in. It would not surprise me if David was one of them. What will happen in the future? I don’t know. I hope he stays.
Bees United
OK. I think we can read the conclusions from that, thank you. thinking. Theo El-Maawiy – “How long do you expect until (Mikkel) Damsgaard becomes a regular starter, if he will be?”
Thomas Frank
You always want that as quickly as possible. That’s what you hope for. We got an incredible opportunity to sign him because especially at the Euros he showed the world what a top player he is. Unfortunately he had a major setback almost for a whole year with his situation with arthritis and injury and all these situations. He’s his past that, his training well, he’s building his body and that just takes time – longer than you sometimes see. Plus, he’s coming into a team that’sperforming well. So maybe that space or opportunity to get 3 games in a row is maybe a little bit more difficult but he’s a player I have big belief in and hopefully he will be more and more.
Bees United
Because he did start for for Denmark in one game. Someone else who had injury problems in the past, Josh Da Silva – Nigel Miller says, “how close do you think Josh is to being back to his very best? Is he totally free of his longer term injury?”
Thomas Frank
Yes, I would say so. He’s also in the bracket like of players coming back from big injuries like Damsgaard. I think he’s closer and closer. I think we saw glimpses of his high quality this season, especially the goal against Leicester and a fantastic assist against City. I don’t think the City players knew the real ability from Josh. So that was fantastic.
Bees United
There’s one question about Aaron Hickey. What’s the latest on Aaron Hickey?
Thomas Frank
Aaron Hickey is doing very well. He’s ahead of schedule. He’s not with us here in Girona but he will join the group training for one day at least, that’s the plan. So hopefully he’s expecting to train very hard with the guys back at Jersey Road.
Bees United
A final question on players from Peter Clements. “What is Saman Ghoddos’s best position?”
Thomas Frank
I think for me, it’s in one of the 8 positions in a 4-3-3 or one of the 8 positions in a 3-5-2. These have been the 2 main systems I’ve been playing this season. I think he is a player that’s very flexible. He can also play a 10 winger. He’s been doing a top job for us when he has come on as a wing back. Even when he started against Tottenham, I think he did a very good job then.
Bees United
Now tactics. You won’t be surprised to know that we have some real tactical experts amongst our fans and some of them have really quite strong opinions. The first one is a very gentle question from Peter Watkins; “Tell us about a game in which you made a mid-match tactical adjustment that completely changed the outcome and what did it do?”
Thomas Frank
I always try to plan the game so I have the Plan A, which is the game plan. Then we have the Plan B – That is if we need to be going even more offensive or try to win. Then there’s Plan C – that is if we are behind and we need to win. Maybe we need to go even more forward. In some games I have a “Go To” very offensive formation, which for me is a 3-4-3 but just with more offensive players in the positions. We did that against Leicester (on August 7th) when we were 2-0 down. I put Vita (Janellt) as the left centre back. We did it against Fulham and against Crystal Palace away. So a midfielder down in one of the centre back positions. Maybe a full back, which was Ben Hickey or Mads Roerslev in one of the other centre back positions. Then on the wing backs it’s basically the wingers playing and the two sitters could be Josh Da Silva and Mathias Jensen – that’s probably two very offensive midfielders and no so-called spoilers. Then you basically play with maybe three attackers. It just got me thinking of Everton away (on May 15th), where we won that fantastic 3-2 win. At half time, we played against 10. At one stage of the game we played with two defenders, that was Pontus (Jansson) and Rico (Henry). Then we played with Christian Nørgaard and Vita (Janellt) as the two outside centre backs. Then we played with basically three number 10s in the three midfielders and three strikers. So that was very offensive.
Bees United
It was an extraordinary game in every way. The noise from the Everton fans was simply unbelievable. So how are you communicating all these tactical changes to the team?
Thomas Frank
In some games it’s basically impossible. Of course, in this game I adjusted something at half time. Then when you make the subs you try to give the message to the sub you’re subbing on and he needs to communicate that to the next player – and that is very difficult. The thing is, of course, that we’re training. So this offensive formation, the 3-4-3, I’m training that with players in the offensive positions, so they know what they have to do. But of course I’m not training in 3-4-3 formation every week. But I train it every second week. So they try to reinforce messages.
Bees United
Some bold statements now. From John Barr – “Why do we overcrowd the penalty area on set pieces but still concede at times?” I guess he means defensive set pieces.
Thomas Frank
I don’t think so. I know some teams put 1, 2, 3 players up. I don’t believe in that. If you look in the modern day, if teams put 3 up against us we’d just say “happy days!” It would be two corners and then they’d have everyone back again because then we have a solution of short corners or 3 v 2 and then they’d be scared and have all three players back again. What I would say is that I am not satisfied with the level of our defensive set pieces in terms of the amount of goals we’ve conceded. We’ve conceded 8, which is way too many. I would say we’ve been unlucky in some of it. If we look at the chances and expected goals it’s not even close to what we should have conceded. We had a big review of our defensive set pieces after 7, 8 or 9 games. I think we conceded 4 or 5 in these 9 games. We went through everything and changed the system a tiny bit because it needed to be better. We need to be among the best on set pieces if we want to do well in this league so it’s a massive, massive area for us.
Bees United
David Sissons – “Why do we take few shots from outside the box? We always seem to be wanting to walk the ball in.” I’m aware that you do have metrics for your preferences for shooting. What’s your policy on that?
Thomas Frank
Two things. One, we are a big believer in making the chance bigger. The bigger chance is not 25 passes and we need to square it three times inside the six yard box. It’s not about that, but creating good opportunities where we increase the opportunity to score. So that’s maybe producing a cross from a better position or just playing the chance bigger. Our owner Matthew Benham is a big big, big, big believer of almost never shooting outside the box. So I’ve been sharing a lot of stats on that. So it’s not that we can’t shoot outside the box but if you’re running into three players and you’re shooting out of balance, I kill the players because I think that’s the most stupid thing. So if you count all the amount of stupid shots that players for any team are taking where they’re non-balanced, I think that’s horrendous. If you’re in balance, with a good opportunity then I think it’s a good idea to do that sometimes. But we have a big, big focus on playing the chance bigger and if you can’t have a clear good shot opportunity then produce a good cross that we believe we can create from.
Bees United
When Matthew Behnam has statistics to prove to his point of view a certain thing, doesn’t that put you as the head coach under a certain pressure to agree with him?
Thomas Frank
Yes and no. I think I’m quite logical person. So it makes sense for me not to shoot outside the box. We know that from the stats, I knew that before. What is it? 90% of all goals are scored inside the 18 yard box? So why shoot outside the 18 yard box? It doesn’t make any sense if that’s the case. So if the stats are backed with that, then I buy it. We have another discussion about how many offensive players you need to have on the pitch. I like that – but not against Man City, for example. So we have good discussions, Matthew and I. I’ve said that many times. Matthew is a top three onwner in the world and the only reason I’m not saying one is because I don’t know all the other owners.
Bees United
Slightly different type of question from David Anderson. You clearly watch a hell of a lot of games in preparation for our fixtures. Which do you actually enjoy watching, partly to try and learn tactically interesting new things both in Britain or in Europe?
Thomas Frank
I think Brighton are doing well. I like the way they are setting up and their structure. I think Arsenal this year, not only because they’re top of the league but I think they play some top football so I enjoy preparing for them. Barcelona are getting a little bit back. I know they went out of the Champions League but in La Liga they are doing well.
Bees United
Some personal questions. From Ronan Doyle, “if you were offered the Denmark national team manager job today, would you take it?”
Thomas Frank
That’s a very good question. As a Dane it would always be a massive job, potentially in some ways the biggest because you’re representing your country. I’m a football fan. I’ve been in Parken, the national stadium, many times supporting Denmark. I was in ’96 in England, hanging around in pubs, being massively p***ed and supporting Denmark, cheering them on. So I know the feelings. It would be a very proud moment if that happens one day. I think in life and football it’s all about timing. I don’t think the timing is right. I’ve said that many times. Also in terms of other speculations about my future. I love my job at Brentford. I love being part of what we all have together. You fans, me, staff, players, everyone. So the timing would not be top – So I guess the answer will be no.
Bees United
I think we were all sad to see Denmark go out because I think some of us have them as a second team, but I think people will be pleased to hear that this isn’t an immediate option you’d like to take up. But what does it actually feel like when you seem to be linked every time a job comes up. It’s flattering on one hand but is it possibly a bit distracting?
Thomas Frank
I think we’re all only human. I can only speak for myself but I guess most people get flattered if you’re linked with other jobs. For me, a two second thought goes through my head “hmmm, nice. Someone must recognize we’re doing something good here.” Then I come back and look at my players, the team, the staff, the club, the fans, and I’m thinking “why leave?” I’m very happy here. Very happy in many, many ways and there’s a lot of unfinished business I want to achieve here in a in a very special place.
Bees United
So what would be an example of the unfinished business?
Thomas Frank
I just think we still have a lot of things to improve. I still think the team can be better. I still think we can improve the club, improve the performance level. I’d love for us to be even better playing in phases. I know all of us have already made remarkable, magical, historical moments and results but I want to make more here. I’m happy. It’s a good place to be.
Bees United
William Singleton, who is 16, says, “I must tell you you are a football genius. My question is what is your favorite Brentford Premier League goal?” You’ve mentioned Sergi’s one against Arsenal. I suppose Ivan’s against Man City would possibly be a contender. Any other ones that come to mind?
Thomas Frank
I will go with Sergi’s. Maybe it wasn’t the best build up or whatever but I think the meaning of it and everything behind it that just kicked off our Premier League journey. That is special. I think it’s special for everyone in many ways.
Bees United
Quickfire ones now. Who’s going to win the World Cup?
Thomas Frank
Brazil.
Bees United
Do you think Brentford will be in the Premier League top 10 this season?
Thomas Frank
I always say we end as high as possible and try to win the next match. I need to stick with that and as high as possible could be that.
Bees United
What is your wildest dream? I presume that’s a football dream!
Thomas Frank
Honestly, I think that must be to win something with Brentford right now because I don’t know if I’m going to club or not in 10 years time so, yeah, win something with Brentford.
Bees United
Christmas is coming up. What’s the top of your football wish list for Christmas?
Thomas Frank
Definitely a Boxing Day win against Tottenham!
Bees United
Now a few left-field questions before we finish. How do you keep your hair looking so good?
Thomas Frank
That’s a good question. I should use more conditioners and stuff like that. My wife and my hairdresser say that to me but I think I’m privileged with some good hair genes!
Bees United
Lief Peterson wants to know about the significance of the chewing gum. Does it make you more relaxed in stressful moments?
Thomas Frank
Does it look like that sometimes?! Honestly, I think it’s just a bad habit I’ve got of chewing gum and of course I’ve heard the comment many times that it’s crazy how much you’re chewing. Then I look at it and think “Wow, that’s crazy.” But probably I can’t help it. It’s one of my bad habits.
Bees United
A couple of these are messages as much as questions. Keith McInnes emailed to say “could I express my greatest appreciation and gratitude for everything you do.” Nigel Baldwin says “Merry Christmas to you and your family. Thanks for all the pleasure you have given every Brentford supporter.” I guess, Thomas, that everyone on this call would agree with that – and thank you for that.
Thomas Frank
We do it together. Thank you very much.