How to run a football club…Brentford

[OneEightSixSeven]

Interesting article if you’re interested. 
Are we anywhere near this. Not about numbers, it’s doing thing right.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2023/sep/24/brentford-ben-ryan-thomas-frank-football

[scram]

It is interestig

 

But what is more interesting is that there is absolutely nothing there that is groundbreaking nor difficult to implement

 

He's spotted football cultural issues and tried to address them for the good of club unity

 

I tried to do similar when i managed a department - opened up the club to part time and casual staff - had whole department training/education sessions (including all relevant first team staff down to the students who were on placement) - nowhere was out of bounds other than the managers office etc

 

When my assistant's wife had a baby i gave him weekends off - and usually another day off in the week - weekends off in football?

 

Unheard of. But family is important and football can often forget that

 

It often pays surprisingly poorly for what people might expect - so what can you do to get folk invested and to stick around

 

Sounds so simple right?

 

Well, football clubs can have a culture of them thinking you are actually lucky to be working for them - support staff can be treated abysmally to the point of abuse

 

What Ryan is doing at Brentford is getting buy-in by doing simple things - so, so easily achievable and costs next to nothing

 

Yes, there are other things in the there looking for marginal gains - grass coverage and pitch hardness can easily be spotted and rectified yet so often get put on the back burner and left - the adaptation of the playing kit - and individual nutrition plans (which really should be the norm but not all clubs even have a nutritionist - even on a non contract as-and-when basis)

 

There can be overkill on this stuff - and i think he alludes to that - fantastic amounts of money at some clubs can blind them to individuals in a club - some of the staff lists are incredible

 

Where Brentford have go to hold their nerve is if they suffer a shock such as relegation - a long term plan should be stress tested to survive shocks - but most clubs lose sight of hat made them successful and become trigger happy - i think Norwich is a really good example of that - from one of the country's best run clubs to a bit of a basket case who cannot find the stability they lost trying to regain stability...

[OneEightSixSeven]

3 minutes ago, scram said:

It is interestig

 

But what is more interesting is that there is absolutely nothing there that is groundbreaking nor difficult to implement

 

He's spotted football cultural issues and tried to address them for the good of club unity

 

I tried to do similar when i managed a department - opened up the club to part time and casual staff - had whole department training/education sessions (including all relevant first team staff down to the students who were on placement) - nowhere was out of bounds other than the managers office etc

 

When my assistant's wife had a baby i gave him weekends off - and usually another day off in the week - weekends off in football?

 

Unheard of. But family is important and football can often forget that

 

It often pays surprisingly poorly for what people might expect - so what can you do to get folk invested and to stick around

 

Sounds so simple right?

 

Well, football clubs can have a culture of them thinking you are actually lucky to be working for them - support staff can be treated abysmally to the point of abuse

 

What Ryan is doing at Brentford is getting buy-in by doing simple things - so, so easily achievable and costs next to nothing

 

Yes, there are other things in the there looking for marginal gains - grass coverage and pitch hardness can easily be spotted and rectified yet so often get put on the back burner and left - the adaptation of the playing kit - and individual nutrition plans (which really should be the norm but not all clubs even have a nutritionist - even on a non contract as-and-when basis)

 

There can be overkill on this stuff - and i think he alludes to that - fantastic amounts of money at some clubs can blind them to individuals in a club - some of the staff lists are incredible

 

Where Brentford have go to hold their nerve is if they suffer a shock such as relegation - a long term plan should be stress tested to survive shocks - but most clubs lose sight of hat made them successful and become trigger happy - i think Norwich is a really good example of that - from one of the country's best run clubs to a bit of a basket case who cannot find the stability they lost trying to regain stability...

It’s a very good ethos and I commend you for what you did regarding your assistant, little thoughtful things count to people, it not only makes them happier but hopefully more loyal and productive. This approach should be used, not just in football but in the wider workplace in general, shame that everything these days is geared to short termism. Back to football though, as you say, dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s can have a big efficiency effect and feel across the board at little cost. The whole club from employees, players and fans benefit and long term so does the club.

Oh to have a happy club eh.

[OneEightSixSeven]

Would also add the some companies are so short term that profit is all that matters even to the detriment of not only their employees but their customers also..

[Quickly Kevin]

Brentford have no ambition.

[Kew Owl]

20 hours ago, OneEightSixSeven said:

Interesting article if you’re interested. 
Are we anywhere near this. Not about numbers, it’s doing thing right.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2023/sep/24/brentford-ben-ryan-thomas-frank-football

Brighton are another club also well run. 
 

They had issues in the past - having to play home games at Gillingham and also Withydean for a while, but, through having a long term vision and strategy, they’ve now got a decent stadium

which is virtually full every home game plus, for this season at least, European football to boot !

 

Like Brentford, they’re streets ahead of us, both on and off the pitch.

[matthefish2002]

I would sum up that Brighton and Brentford planned for the long term.

Wednesday under Chansiri have only thought short term.

[scram]

I would say Norwich had planned for the long term - incredible training ground, decent stadium, a football strategy through the club, emphasis on academy and realistic with ambition and finance

 

The insane decision to sack Farke and appoint Smith set them back immensely - which is what i mean about the plan having to survive shocks and unforeseen/undesirable events. Farke should have been persevered with and Smith nowhere near them

 

The same goes for Brentford and Brighton - they must hold their nerve and not lose sight of what got them to where they are should adversity happen

 

Norwich are probably most similar to us in as much as the other 2 did have a very large cash injection (relatively) where Norwich kind of drip-fed the money in smaller amounts as appropriate - but crucially they got the infrastructure in place while building on the pitch

 

To do what any of them have done - even at a lesser level, requires a club vision and strategy

 

This issue we face is that all 3 of those clubs were building while they were either at around, or above, their historical level

 

We haven't stabilised in the championship so the focus initially must be on that - which is the very definition of short termism

 

It doesn't mean the seeds can't be sown - even if minimally at first - while the majority of investment goes on getting the first team healthy for the championship

 

Unfortunately it looks like there is zero funds for anything now and such is modern football i don't see how we break this cycle without either some investment in the team at a sensible level - or luck!

[the_vinyl_frontier]

Step 1: Be in London

[jamsandwich]

two seasons out of the top league will see for them.

 

 

[Southie_Owl]

On 25/09/2023 at 14:24, the_vinyl_frontier said:

Step 1: Be in London

 

Perhaps more the reason why Wednesday's philosophy might be better served in developing young players than trying to attract established ones to come up to Sheffield.   

 

It could be quite an attractive option for young players looking for a quicker route into first team football at a massive club.  

 

[Mighty Quinn]

Ffs Rotherham united are better run than us...

[Owl_For_a_Lifetime]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/67032268

 

Not Brentford or Brighton this time..

 

I know Norwich have had their issues but wouldn't it be nice to appoint a young, driven individual who has done the hard yards at a bigger club to such a key position..