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Brentford present a fascinating example of the outcome when a efficiently managed club parts ways with its long-serving manager and key personnel. Can the processes that drove the club so far withstand such change? Can a much-admired data-driven recruitment model find suitable replacements? Hiring a manager with no frontline experience, Keith Andrews, further challenges the strength of the club's structure.

Mixed Indications but Encouraging Outlook

The signs thus far are mixed but optimistic overall. As sainted as the former manager is in the club's history, his departure to join Tottenham highlighted that development was not straightforward or a fully upward trajectory. A club with a stated wage bill of £50m a season, one of the lowest in the Premier League, has significant challenges to swim against. That last season’s tenth position came accompanied by disappointment in failing to secure European football indicates how high expectations had risen.

Testing Periods and Significant Wins

On Sunday, the reigning champions face a side kicking off in the moderate security of thirteenth position, despite oscillations from defeat 3-1 at Fulham a two weeks ago to a deserved 3-1 at their ground defeat of Manchester United last Saturday. With the caveat that several find them a soft touch, and one of the previous manager's final matches was a 4-3 win against the Portuguese manager's squad, beating them nonetheless held significance for the new head coach. Not a single team have beaten United and City in back-to-back fixtures since Spurs in January 1996.

Known Face in a Fresh Role

Andrews was no stranger to the club. Last season, he occupied the technical area as the manager's set-piece specialist. The Tractor Boys' Kieran McKenna, the Norwegian side's their coach and the Sheffield Wednesday boss were linked. The likeliest internal candidate was number two Justin Cochrane, but he followed Frank to North London.

Shifts Both On and Off the Field

The summer was a period of transformation on and off the pitch. The owner, with an data-focused strategy stems from his achievements in the sports betting sphere, sold a stake to former Autoglass chief executive and Labour party donor Gary Lubner and the film-maker a Hollywood figure, with his wife, Claudia Schiffer, has been drawing photographers to the directors’ box.

Stability and Leadership

The continuity at the organization is provided by Jon Varney, and Phil Giles. The director, who has been at the club for a ten years, spoke publicly recently, where he admitted Brentford can never rest on laurels with the management congratulating itself for jobs well done. “You can never say we are established,” he said. “It’s not even a football word. When are we established? Almost certainly never. For a club of our stature, it's unlikely you can ever become comfortable.”

Rebuilding and New Talent

The team kicked off versus Manchester United in seventeenth position, the safety zone. Losing Frank, and key stars such as the forwards the Cameroonian winger and Yoane Wissa, the engine-room and captain the Danish international plus goalkeeper the Dutchman, seemed as if a team’s core was being torn away. Benham, the CEO and Giles had a strategy; the new boss inherited talent to work with. Igor Thiago was at the team, the previous summer’s big signing unavailable to Frank through injury. The forward's quartet of strikes from ten attempts have come at the best conversion rate of every Premier League player this season.

Squad Strengths and Tools

The speedy Kevin Schade was entrenched in the attack; he joined the forward and the winger in scoring ten or more goals in the previous campaign. The experienced midfielder adds elite know-how in the center of the park where statistics show Yehor Yarmolyuk, 21, as among the top pressers in the division. The Ukrainian can distribute the ball, as well. The Danish playmaker's stuttering gait masks serious inventiveness and the full-back is a attacking back who launches the long throws that are key components of the arsenal. Caoimhín Kelleher, who made a spot-kick stop from the opponent's the playmaker, is relishing being a No 1 goalkeeper and Dango Ouattara, Mbeumo’s successor on the wing, scored the goal against the Midlands club in the early season that secured the manager's maiden home win.

Style and Mindset

Under the new boss, Brentford remain high-tempo, resilient, difficult to play against. Though a little more guarded publicly than his predecessor, the head coach – a former broadcaster on the Irish radio network who previously held a longstanding role as among the broadcaster's EFL analysts – handles the press relations well. Following his team snatched a draw from Chelsea after a Schade's set-piece that raised chaos, he reflected on the set-piece specialism, and the “disruption” it creates, that is currently part of the majority of sides' makeup. “I believe there is a little bit of elitism in the sport regarding situations like that, but if the top teams employ it then it appears accepted,” the coach said.

Inspirational Personalities and Scrutiny

The head coach has attempted to refresh the squad by bringing in a pair of Irish athletic icons, the rugby union player the former captain and Ryder Cup-winning leader the golfer, to speak to his team. However, not all from back home is willing on Ireland’s first top-flight coach since Chris Hughton. The head coach questioned the international management of Martin O’Neill and the ex-captain during his media career. The former boss has been scathing; the pundit a little more conciliatory towards a person he gave the full treatment in recent years. “I have encountered a lot of unreliable talkers over the last 10 years and Keith Andrews is up there with the top ones,” were Keane’s words. The manager accepting the club's task is the truest test of those claims and the robustness of his team's foundations.