Carl Massey discusses money in The Championship and – with David Button’s impending move to Fulham () – asks whether Brentford’s competitive edges really stands them in good stead for securing a playoff place in the not too distant future.
Competitive Edges
Matthew Benham has mentioned it many times, Rasmus Ankersen spoke a lot about it last season and Dean Smith has fully bought in to the idea. Brentford need new ways to find a competitive edge.
Much has been made of the moneyball approach, the use of statistics, mathematical modelling and a combination of methods old and new in the search for perfect formula. What’s the reasons for this new approach?
Has it been brought about by necessity? A desire to succeed? An inherent passion for progress? The likely answer is a mixture of all three but there is something frighteningly obvious staring us in the face. There’s no other option.
The Rich List
This week should see Wolverhampton Wanderers join the list of one of the richest clubs in the country. That phrase can be a bit misleading and is based purely on one man’s wealth but it is not an unfair reflection on what is about to come.
What it does do however is highlight just what a small club like Brentford is up against. Robin Li is very soon to be the proud new owner of a football club.
Where previous football teams used to be the labour of love of passionate fans, a Jack Walker at at team like Blackburn was a fairly common occurrence back in the day, it has now become the done thing for super rich Chinese or Middle Eastern businessman to buy up clubs and try and turn them in to powerhouses.
To put the Wolves takeover into context, Mike Ashley, much loved and respected owner of Newcastle Utd (note the sarcasm here) has – according to Forbes Rich List – an estimated wealth of $2.7 Billion USD. Robin Li, creator of Chinese Google equivalent Baidu, is reported to be worth just under $10 Billion USD.
Newcastle are a club that aren’t in debt. Despite slipping out of the Premier League, they will now have substantial parachute payments behind them and could be on the verge of selling star midfielder Moussa Sissoko for a ridiculous £35million.
Whether they actually get that windfall remains to be seen but going by transfer fees these days, it wouldn’t surprise me. Mike Ashley also knows that with the club debt free, he can afford to spend in this window in order to guarantee an immediate return to the Premier League.
Wolves’ new owner dwarfs Mike Ashley in terms of wealth and with a large supporter base and well established brand to work with, Wolves could be set for a return to the big time and – providing the club is run properly – there’s no reason it can’t be this season.
Read The Swiss Ramble’s breakdown of Wolves’ finances.
Wolves have had to put a temporary halt on their transfer dealings with only former Fulham ‘keeper Andy Lonegran joining them. But it has already been mentioned in various local papers that as soon as the takeover is complete, there will be up to five new signings ready to go.
So a question for the Wolves board could be, to paraphrase the late Caroline Aherne, ‘So what first attracted you to the billionaire Robin Li?’
There’s no need to go through each club in the Championship and to work out how much richer they are than us. This isn’t a self pitying piece but it is evident that whilst the Championship, Leagues 1 and 2 are not receiving a fair piece of the pie when it comes to television rights and the Premier League is very much the golden goose, money is trickling down and the super rich are recognising clubs outside our top flight.
The Challenge
Last April the Beesotted lads and The Dutchman dissected Brentford’s annual accounts for 2014/15. If you haven’t heard that episode of the podcast yet then stop what your doing and have a nose as it proves to be a very interesting listen.
The figures make interesting reading. It’s very clear that to sustain progress and create growth Brentford need increased revenue streams and new commercial opportunities. But what surprised me the most was that, even with the new ground, we still won’t be on a par with many in the Championship.
Read the Swiss Ramble’s summary of Brentford’s finances.
So with Wolves joining the likes of Newcastle, Villa and Norwich in spending big you also have Leeds, Bristol City, Derby and QPR with the capability to splash out should they wish.
Kemar Roofe is a perfect example of this. Brentford were in for him. Things were looking good and he had to go and ruin it but scoring a bucket load of goals for Oxford in League 2. Leeds and others were alerted and Brentford,with not nearly the same spending power, move to the back of the queue.
Players and Agents will also follow the money-laden gravy train. Kante has just left the side that have just won the Premiership – giving up the chance of Champions League football this season – to go to a side that finished 11th. Surely that’s for the new challenge? Not!
Looking forward
Yet this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. We know that Matthew Benham’s money has sustained us and will have to in the foreseeable future. But with Lionel Road creeping closer, we must aim to be more self-sufficient by 2020.
However saying that, new methods may have just snared us the future top talent.
John Egan and Dan Bentley’s careers haven’t really started yet. But comparisons are not unfairly being drawn with some that have already left, or may be soon leaving. If Egan turns out to be equal to or better than Tarkowski, Sawyers better than Pritchard and Bentley better than Button, then we’re onto a winner already.
And Bentley may be able to get his chance to shine sooner rather than later if this video shot by Beesotted in Germany is anything to by.
It almost seems that the club needs to get it right on just a few occasions in one season and for Brentford to get promoted for it all to have been worth it. When you consider what Bournemouth are able to do now that they are in the Premier League, you realise the importance of the strategy we are taking.
If you can’t outspend the opposition then you have to out-think the opposition and – as the impending takeover of Wolves will show – we potentially will need to do a lot of thinking…
Carl Massey
@Thebfcbeesblog
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Nice article, highlighting both the challenges and the opportunities for our club. I’ve posted this admission elsewhere, but it is true that I’ve reflected a lot on the past 18 months & have pretty much changed my mind, I can now genuinely see what MB and team are trying to achieve. And yes i’m on board.
Warbs departure and the ensuing uncertainty was such a shock, and raised many questions about what the hell we were doing, then we watched on as this fine team was seemingly broken up. Wrongly i’d seen much of the upheaval as self inflicted (maybe some was), but now I see the catalyst was a “dash for cash” from players simply doing what players do. MB gets this, and instead of BFC being on the back foot, we make this work to our advantage as the player conveyor belt rolls on, “recycling” I call it, akin to the philosophy at Southampton, Swansea and even Bournemouth. 1 out and maybe 2 in with a bit of cash to spare – when it all works anyway.
Please can someone smarter than me work out what we’ve received in for the deals on Warburton’s squad? It’ll absolutely stagger many to think that these sums relate to Brentford players. Then look at what we’ve invested some of that money in, and so long as we continue to make smart moves at the right times, there is a way to compete at this level and beyond. Yes many of our rivals have huge resources, but many are also less competent than us, some are downright incompetent and will squander it all. MB knows this, sees the long game and exploits it.
So these days i’m comfortable just to support the coach and players, but to now channel all my adulation on to this this club, and will try to get 100% behind those that are steering us on this upward trajectory. We have many great pros at GP, but they are employees passing through as their careers develop. Brentford is about us – the fans, and the area, the tradition – and the man / men who have brought us back to life.
Even when I’ve had my doubts and concerns, one of the things I’ve always admired about MB is that he sees the potential for BFC. More so than many of us, sure we’ve been perennial post war underachievers, but we have never been a little club. We have crazy loyal supporters, tradition & history, and through our geography huge potential to grow. The town of Brentford with a population of circa 20,000 supports a professional football club with a record attendance of 40,000, just think about that! And when that new stadium rises above the West London skyline we will fill it and then muscle in on a number of clubs that currently see themselves as “bigger” than us.
Should we reach the next level all bets are off, the financial benefits to making the step up change everything. What a challenge it is for us to try to get there dong it in our way. Long term we may become the target of mega rich foreign suitors, maybe that is part of the plan??? For the moment i’m glad we are what we are and where we are, the super Bees are rising and the question is how far can we go? I may stumble at times but i’m goon to try to enjoy the ride as we find out.
Good article – and very useful to be reminded of the reality of where we are and what we have achieved to get there. Always been on board with the MB approach.
If someone wants to give me the base numbers (see comment above) I will be happy to crunch them. Would also be nice to compare our stats vs. a couple of our rivals