Brentford FC

“We’re the Barcelona of the lower leagues!”

These words have been chanted around Griffin Park over the last decade, with the Brentford fans drawing comparison with the world-famous Catalan club. Despite the standard of football improving in West London in recent years, it is not the playing style they are referring to, but the governance model.

Brentford FC, nicknamed the Bees, are the first fan-owned club in London, and are leading the way in their community-driven approach, with clear links to the famous FC Barcelona “socios” model and their mantra “more than a club”. In this edition of the FIFA Professional Football Journal, we look at how Brentford’s fans have saved and shaped their club, and assess how their focus on community, sustainability and data-driven decisions have paved the way for their growth.

Bees United

Control of the club was handed to the supporters’ trust in 2003, and three years later they became London’s first professional football club owned by its supporters. This was made possible by loans, fan donations and most notably by Brentford fan Matthew Benham, who bought out the previous chairman’s controlling stake. The last ten years have seen the club benefit from substantial investments as well as a strengthened collaboration with the supporters' trust who now have a seat on the board with a “special share” in the ownership structure.

“At a time when football supporters often feel clubs are out of touch with their fans, we have a unique role in ensuring that Brentford remains a club which we - the fans - can call our own,” reads the Bees United manifesto, showing the sense of belonging and ownership that runs through the DNA of the club. Having helped to ensure the club’s survival and renaissance, the trust now plays an active role in ensuring its future sustainability, under the ownership model they helped to create.

Analytics for the win

In addition to the trust’s solid foundations and active approach throughout the 1990’s and 2000’s the new chairman’s contributions, both financially and culturally, have also helped to secure the growth and prosperity of the club in recent years.

A lifelong Brentford supporter, is known for employing a data-driven and statistical method in his entrepreneurial ventures, which now also form the basis of the management approach for both Brentford and Danish club FC Midtjylland (the second club he owns). Parallels can be drawn between this style used in London’s west and the famous “Moneyball” story from baseball, where key decisions and tactics are defined according to algorithms and thorough data analysis.

Following this approach, Brentford have continued to discover and develop hidden talent in search of continual improvement. The club’s focus on a metric strategy has also had an impact on coaching appointments, the installment of a “B-team” development squad in favour of a traditional academy, and the acquisition of undervalued-but-overachieving players. Since the new chairman’s arrival, Brentford have consistently achieved their highest league positions for nearly a century, and have come as close to Premier League promotion as physically possible (narrowly missing out in the 2019/2020 season in a heartbreaking playoff final at Wembley).

Going above and beyond

Off the field, the combination of the new owner’s influence and the guidance and input of the supporters’ trust, has allowed Brentford to create a unique identity. In an area of London densely populated with rival clubs (Chelsea, Fulham and Queens Park Rangers are all within 5km of Griffin Park), the club’s community-driven approach has created a distinctive identity.

This year, Brentford made headlines by welcoming a new young supporter, Woody, who has now become a fan favourite at Griffin Park. The young boy, who is non-verbal and has Down syndrome, had been turned away from other local clubs, and his mother took to social media to raise awareness. The next morning, she awoke to numerous messages of support from Brentford, who invited Woody to be their mascot later that afternoon, in what his mother described as “the best day of his life”. Now a regular attendee and admired by players and fans alike, Woody’s story is a heartwarming example of Brentford living up to their values.

A new home

The club’s guiding principles are sustainability and community, and despite Brentford’s recent rise in form, the club seems committed to staying grounded by “ensuring that BFC remains a club we can all call our own”. This season, the Bees bid farewell to Griffin Park, which has been their home since 1904. The club have set up visits to allow fans to say a (socially-distanced) goodbye to the old ground and announced that it would donate the old seats to smaller clubs in need around the country.

The new stadium, just a short walk away and still in the heart of the Brentford community, perhaps best symbolises the winds of change taking place around the club and the direction the West London team is heading in. As described by the chairman, the stadium is “small enough to create a fantastic atmosphere, yet big enough to enable the continued growth of our supporter base, and offers a brilliant matchday experience to all fans”.

These characteristics not only sum up Brentford’s new playing venue, but they also are a clear indication of the club’s fan-first and community ethos. The new stadium’s design also suggests that Brentford as a club have recognised the growing importance of striking the right balance as far as catering to existing fans and attracting new supporters is concerned. Given that the club’s management and the supporters are working in unison by sharing the same values, there is every chance that soon Brentford’s fans can sing their terrace chant in full voice with a slight amendment: “We’re the Barcelona of the Premier League!”