Brentford announced that they had parted company with Marinus Dijkhuizen today, just nine games into the new season, with a variety of reasons doing the rounds – the common theme being that it had been decided the Dutchman and his assistant simply weren’t the right match for the club.
Few can argue that it had been a baptism of fire for Marinus, with almost anything that could go wrong having done so… from key players being sold… Pitch Gate… and a list of walking wounded as long as his 6ft 6in legs… it really does seem that a lot has conspired against him… and add to that the weight of expectation that any manager was going to face following on from Mark Warburton and you behind to understand that maybe he was always doomed to fail in his desire to make the job truly his own.
Lee Carsley will be in charge for tomorrow night’s game against Birmingham City and has been appointed as Head Coach for the remainder of the season, with Chairman Cliff Crown stating; “Lee has shown with the Under-21s he is an outstanding leader. His work at the training ground has been hugely impressive whilst coaching the development squad and has demonstrated he understands the Club’s philosophy and the ambitions of Brentford FC.” The news has decided the fans though, and many think Marinus deserved more time to prove himself in the role.
I have to put my hand on my heart and say that the news doesn’t really come as a huge shock to me, and having shared a beer with Marinus and Roy Henriksen in the manager’s office at Griffin Park after the game on Saturday, the dark mood suggested that maybe he had a inkling that a bullet was about to be fired his way. Dan Suh and I chatted to the pair about the unfortunate end to the match against Sheffield Wednesday, but I’d be lying if we didn’t walk away both thinking there had been an elephant in the room with us.
Believe it or not we had been invited to meet Marinus soon after the game so that he could sign his League registration documents to play for Beesotted FC’s Sunday team (the kiss of death?), after he’d shown an interest in turning out for us a few times per season whenever he was able to, and despite the weight of the world on his shoulders, he’d been a man of his word and signed on the dotted line, which makes him eligible to play Chiswick and District League… But that debut now seems as far off as Lewis McLeod’s for Brentford.
Beesotted will don their tin helmets and convene COBRA later to go through this news in real detail, but before that, and no matter what comes out in the wash, I would like to say what a thoroughly decent and honourable guy Marinus was in his short time at Brentford and I look forward to going over to Rotterdam sometime soon to buy him a beer.
We wish him all the best for the future
You can check out our emergency “war cabinet” podcast on Monday night by clicking here
Dave Lane
Spotify
Apple Podcasts
CastBox
Acast
TuneIn
Google Podcasts
So yet another descent man is treated badly by Brentford F.C…..a sad day
6’6 legs?! Bloody hell, was the rest of his body compacted into a paltry half inch?
He’s over 12ft… lol
Thanks for this. Today is one of those very, very rare occasions where I feel a little bit ashamed of being a Brentford fan!
However hard Brentford FC try to shed the tin pot image they manage to shoot themselves in the foot again! Whether it’s installing an away dug out smaller than the home one that then has to be replaced, having a pitch that has to be relaid after just two matches of the new season or sacking a new Head Coach after just 9 games after convincing us that this was the way forward. There are so many good things about our Club but sometimes the decisions that get made by people at the top are just plain embarrassing!
I completely concur with this article. I have gotten to know Marinus over the past couple of months, and as a man, he was great humoured, down to earth, passionate, and hard working.
Whether he was the right man for the job, we’ll never know, but the vast majority of fans felt that he could have been given more time. Regardless, I’ll probably never know the real reasons behind his departure, but the opportunity to get to know a Brentford manager was a privilege for me and I can only wish him the very best for his career.
I’ll never ever forget the integrity he showed by still signing for Beesotted FC, and he has my utmost respect.
I hope the board give Lee Carsley more time. If you weren’t aware, Marinus and Roy asked me to pass on a message to the fans:
“Dear supporters,
What a beautiful club with fantastic supporters and a great talented full team. Here are so many chances, unfortunately, we are not continuing this opportunity. We wanted to stay so badly to build a great future together with you.
Good luck you all and thanks for your support.
Marinus and Roy”
Very hard to form a balanced view from all of this. I feel as though Marinus was treated unbelievably poorly with regard to very basic matters which anybody who has ever started a new job deserves as a minimal welcome. No Griffin Park pitch ready, one solitary home friendly to ‘get to know the supporters’, no first team training pitches ready at the training ground, key player sales well into the season and just days before a game, lack of advisors from within the club to give guidance on last season or the current team members left over from last year and then the unbelievable amount of injuries that could not have been foreseen by anybody but possibly some of it down to the pitch (definitely Bjellands anyway), which blame has to lay elsewhere for this surely but overall a real sense of unprofessionalism laid out in front of him and him being asked to do what he can.
Imagine starting a job in a high powered office but not as an apprentice but as the overall manager but then on arrival on your first day, you find yourself with no phone, or desk, any contacts or stationary or any of the basics and then being asked to show your best ability in improving what was already a very well oiled machine and hopefully making it better but most of your key members of staff had moved on in the months or weeks prior to your arrival? Not sure anyone of us as humans would be likely to succeed. He was pretty much a patsy from the start in all fairness and it does seem to be a bit of a ‘Moyles trying to take over from Fergie’ type situation all over again when being asked to replace a hero in the shape of Warburton, who most fans held in massively high regard and were already unsure of whether it was the right decision to not retain his services regardless of the owners other ambitions.
However, if I’m honest I have found myself being worried each week by news stories coming out from within the camp and some of the quotes I have heard from him. Also his body language of leaning against the dugouts in a slovenly fashion or arms folded looking on meekly whilst we were massively under performing in first half of games especially, also his dress sense of ill fitting tracksuits as opposed to suits or smart attire and now looking back on things, his lack of knowledge of the English game. Not in a way that we in England play such a different style of football that Pele, Messi or Maradonna couldn’t possibly do it on a cold Tuesday night in Rochdale but more in a sense of not realising where Rochdale (or any other team in the UK) even is or what we might expect from it with a handful of fans because of distance involved sort of way instead. Something that someone who has played or managed in England before would know instantly.
I was personally also hugely concerned to hear that he had decided to make Bidwell his captain and Dean is vice captain, both of whom I feel are not of the standard required if we have ambition to really go further as a club. Bidwell because of his general 5 or 6 out of 10 performance each week but never anything more and definitely not from what I can see on the pitch from the stands, any leadership qualities or voice whatsoever and Dean, because of a definitely not up to Championship standard football and constant fear of an unforced error in every minute of every game he plays and his slowness and ability to stand still or switch off even when the ball isn’t out of play or out of the danger zone. Unforgivable for a professional footballer at any standard, yet Marinus seemed to not only not see this but instead seen these two as leaders and the foundations of which to build his new team instead. Worrying for me anyway. I also think that Benhams modelling has accounted for Dean and these error prone performances and it is very likely that Beham has already decided that this last year of his contract is to be his last at the club and as such, from murmurs surrounding this situation and his contract talks , would have seemed even weirder had he been made captain and then been moved on next year.
Granted, the candidates for captain were few and far between but Bjelland being a seasoned international was surely one of them or Tarkowski who is more likely to improve to this standard than Dean were 2 options or the ever popular Judge another in my opinion.
I know Marinus’s record was 2 wins out of 8 but that also seems extremely lucky as I’m fairly certain that if Bristol City had not been reduced to 10 men then they would have comfortably gone on to win the game that day which would have been 3 points less for us and also Ipswich self imploding to give us a last minute draw when 2-0 up and already 3 mins in to injury time would not have gone unnoticed by the hierarchy but they also need to take responsibility for this calamity at the minute and not with these airy fairy “club statements” of absolute nothingness alongside a picture of the ever smug looking Cliff Crown with a beaming smile to help appease supporters. A simple hands up, we didn’t quite get his one right folks would be much more credible and less of a sour taste in the mouth in not taking us fans as fools is concerned.
Lastly, I do think from an article that seems to be doing the rounds alongside this story with a reason or explanation is that Marinus did not have quite the relationship he had stated with players he could not sign, so perhaps he might have added a bit of body to some truth or expanded his experience when interviewed for the job and let’s be honest, who hasn’t but now when the club have perhaps asked him to pursue these players, he was not able to bring any to fruition and as such, the club raised their concerns and might, to try to get out of what I think was a 4 year contract, try to use this as some sort of get out clause from paying him up or as a reason why he was not allowed to say goodbye to the players and simply leave immediately, as opposed to giving his angle or take on the whole p#ss poorly managed situation.
After all of the above though, if asked to sway one way or the other, I think the club have made the right decision in relieving him of his duties early, getting in a man with English league experience and without actually saying it with any clarity because obviously they won’t, admitting they got it wrong. And so what, there are clubs far bigger than us who have got it wrong or are continuing to get it wrong as we speak. Liverpool, Arsenal, Newcastle and Man United to name a few because the way they are being run or the manager currently in charge of them at present, isn’t exactly doing it right in many people’s eyes so as you say above, let’s get behind Lee Carsley and continue to back Matthew Benham cos if we survive this season or press on and make improvements, then we will be rewarded with a 3rd term in this division and as a reminder to most older fans, this is unchartered territory for our club for nie on 60 years.
It’s another talking point that has made the British media and has given social media sites, BBC and Sky endless headlines and many of us fans discussions galore but even with all of this, were being talked about and on a level of note because we are now playing at a level of note so still happy, still buzzing to be watching Championship football and regardless who’s in charge will still enjoy the ride Mr Benham is taking us on.
Thanks Marinus, I think we owe you a huge apology for putting you in a position where we did not give you the resources to show your true capabilities or give you enough time with which to improve them but ultimately, having realised the error of our ways, we have hidden behind closed curtains with nonsense like statements and tried to cover our mistakes and move you on as quietly as possible but it is very possibly the right decision overall. Only time will tell I guess.
If we beat Birmingham with a squad playing with renewed vigour then we all forget but if we lose with a lacklustre performance then Behnam won’t have a clue what he’s doing. We as fans are as cut throat as our owners/managements these days but I have a sneeky feeling we might be sitting on 3 more points by Weds morning because of the upbeat feeling caused by Marinus’s exit. Harsh but possibly an early call on a situation that was never going to work out in the end.
“if we lose with a lacklustre performance…”
oh dear…
manager been used as a scape goat like I said at the fans forum we should just strengthen what we already had I have been a supporter for 50 years I was astounded how quickly not only the top table but the supporters acted as if warburton never existed he put bums on seats and gave us the most exciting football this club has ever seen how quick they forget not even the fans magazine guy mentioned him and they call them selves fans
A very decent and correct comment