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The start of the new season has certainly not been plain sailing in the post-Warburton aftermath, and today’s news that Brentford have parted with Marinus Dijkhausen is yet another unexpected tip in a turbulent roller-coaster ride. Regular Beesotted contributor, and experienced Sports Journalist, Jim Levack, shares his thoughts on developments in TW8.

Trying to pick through the clues surrounding Marinus Dijkhausen’s exit is like reading an Agatha Christie novel where the last few pages have been ripped out.

The smoke and mirrors makes writing anything informed very difficult and leaves Brentford fans with more questions than answers over the direction the club is pursuing.

Despite what some may think, I am – as I hope all of us are – full square behind Matthew Benham in his plans for the club, but there must be checks and balances built in to something like this to make it work.

The cornerstone for his vision is the inescapable fact that the market is bloated and swollen, with ludicrous fees being demanded for English players. The only option is to look abroad.

Benham is absolutely right in his assertion that for Brentford to compete at this level we must find alternative sources of players, and to that end the likes of Gogia, Vibe and Djuricin have been good signings who will only get better.

Even Konstantin Kerschbaumer, whose appearances have been largely anonymous, looks like being an asset once he bulks out a la Dallas next season. To throw him straight into the physical Championship cauldron though is both unfair and naïve on the part of whoever took that decision.

But – and here is the main stumbling block – to embrace the wholesale introduction of new uncut diamonds from lower foreign leagues, you also need to have some degree of continuity during the transition.

To my mind we have tried to go for the ‘let’s get it done, now, quick and total’ approach from top to bottom, with manager, players and back room staff pretty much all new faces.

That slash and burn approach to all the good stuff that went before now looks slightly flawed in terms of the managerial appointment.

I liked Marinus Dijkhausen. He was a good, honest man but if truth be told he was thrown in at the deep end and the hapless victim of a decision not to integrate the new foreign lads more gradually.

The post match press conferences were slightly bizarre, with media asking if he felt he needed a couple of English loan signings to bring some steel – obvious to anyone in the current situation – only for him to state that he had minimal control over that.

More worrying though is the claim in Tom Moore’s getwestlondon article that Dijkhausen was not allowed to pick his skipper. If he wasn’t then who did?

If it was a non football employee – and with the greatest respect Matthew is a devoted fan and Rasmus Ankersen and Phil Giles are stats experts – then that is not right and certainly something I would guess/hope Lee Carsley will not be happy with.

All of that said and notwithstanding the U-turn after Ankerson said poor results would not mean Marinus’ departure, I might be in a minority in thinking that Matthew has acted quickly, decisively and bravely here rather than letting it drift on.

I don’t think that even with a full squad to pick from Marinus was the right fit. His appointment was a little contrived… he did well with a small club in Holland so the same will be true here. Wrong. Carsley will be a much better fix as long as he’s allowed a little more say than Marinus appeared to be.

Had I been the Dutchman I’d have been hammering on the door of anyone who’d listen, saying that to simply wait for the injured players to return is not good enough.

Brentford patently need a couple of English loan signings to help them weather the injury storm, so when I asked as much of Marinus, his non-committal answer smacked of impotence to influence the situation.

The bottom line is that you need football people looking after the football side of things. If they are being influenced over details like who will be captain, then where does that influence end?

Under Carsley I think we will see a more ‘English’ approach with Ryan Woods knitting things together and possibly Canos from the start. If Kerschbaumer starts then the list of questions from Brentford fans will grow that little bit longer.

Throw into the mix the rumours that Harlee Dean isn’t being offered a new deal, and the mystery thickens. Never has a club needed a player like him to be on board and fully committed more than Brentford right now.

I’ve been told by various well informed sources that Dean is “not liked” by Matthew Benham (for the sake of free speech and the promise that Beesotted have made to contributors that – as long as their posts are not libellous and are well written and balanced as this post is, we will encourage you to share your views – but without a source we would like to point out this is conjecture and neither Harlee Dean OR Matt Benham or a source have confirmed this is actually true – Ed) , but quite frankly I’d have Atilla the Hun at centre back if he could help us keep a clean sheet.

There’s a difficult balance to be found when assembling a squad, but again if the non-footballing people are influencing decisions on his future, that’s not right.

Of course I might be wrong and Dean is simply asking for the kind of bloated sums I mentioned earlier, so to some extent this article is built on assumptions that can only be corrected by a little more clarity from the club.

I found Phil Giles and Rasmus Ankersen’s answers at the recent Forum quite interesting and can see they share Matthew’s vision, which I believe will reach fruition in the long term.

But, and it’s a big but, they are not football people, so the need for them to listen to the football department and take their views on board is crucial. That was my main grouse at the start of the season and it remains the same today.

We will be mid table this term (if we get some loanees in to see us through the injury crisis) and we will learn from this recent series of events.

It’s all part of the evolution going on at Griffin Park, but sometimes evolution can take a little longer than expected.

Jim Levack