CAN THE BEES STAY IN THE PREMIER LEAGUE?: BRENTFORD 21/22 SEASON PREVIEW

Featured Image Credit - Brentford FC

Founded on October 10th 1889, 131 years ago, Brentford have a rich history but not with amazing amounts of success.

The Hounslow based unit have just achieved promotion to the top flight of English football for the first time since 1992.

With ambitions higher than ever and a new stadium to match these new ambitions, Brentford look forward to their first ever Premier League campaign.

This is what you can expect to see from the Bees in their maiden Premier League season.

The Squad

Brentford fans have the luxury of a much larger budget than what they are used to this season. As being in the top flight means more income to the club which means more potential investment from your owners, and with their owner being lifelong supporter of the club Matthew Benham, it’s the dream situation for Brentford right now.

Obviously, they have some great talents in their team already, including Ivan Toney, Bryan Mbeumo, David Raya and many more. However, additions were obviously needed if Brentford want to compete to stay in the top flight, and so far, they have done just that. They have brought in Frank Onyeka from Midtjylland for an undisclosed fee and Kristoffer Ajer from Celtic for around £14 million. Onyeka definitely not a shock signing to anyone due to Benham’s majority shares in Midtjylland. Ajer came with the news of the centre back being unhappy at former club Celtic and Brentford moved quickly to snap up the Norwegian and bring him to West London.

Brentford will still need to make more signings to truly compete but they are not far off assembling a solid side good enough to stay in the Premier League.

Behind the Scenes

As mentioned before, Matthew Benham is an owner any club would dream of having. An avid supporter of the club who is always willing to invest, it’s the dream situation for the Bees. The man who made his fortune through sports gambling has always had high ambitions for his club to do well and has also made Brentford into one of the most innovative clubs in the EFL. We all see clubs in the Championship usually selling their better players to teams in the Premier League, but we never usually see clubs pump the money back into the club.

Brentford are one team who can respectfully say that they reinvest a lot of money they make off the transfers and they reinvest it intelligently. Let’s look at last season: They sold Ollie Watkins their talisman to Aston Villa for around £30 million. What was a huge blow to the club was quickly softened as Brentford signed Ivan Toney for around £7 million with potential add ons from Peterborough. Watkins obviously had a great season, but Ivan Toney topped it. With 30 goals and 10 assists in 45 matches for Brentford, he won the golden boot and a crucial goal at Wembley in the playoff final helped to send Brentford to the top flight.

Image Credit - The Guardian

This is just one of the many reasons why Brentford are one of the most well-run clubs in the whole of the EFL. This is a crucial factor as to why Brentford’s potential success has no limits and is so vital to their progress, especially in the COVID world we currently live in.

Can They Compete?

So, the biggest wonder with Brentford is will they be able to compete with the best teams in the country. Obviously, it’s not an experienced Premier League side and the fans don’t know what to expect.

Last season in the Championship, they showed why they were good enough to progress to the Premier League, but inconsistency halted their title-winning ambitions.

Through the season there were times where they couldn’t keep a good run of form intact. They started really well and had a huge unbeaten run, however, after that run ended, the inconsistency crept in and what was a title push ended in a playoff campaign instead.

In the Premier League, you cannot afford to have inconsistency because it will be punished by the best teams, not only in England but in the world. Especially for teams lower down the league, consistency could be the difference between staying up and going down.

If Brentford can stop the poor spells in between a good season, they should be able to compete to keep their place in the Premier League this season. Either way, we know they will put up a great fight and their first Premier League campaign will definitely not disappoint.

Summary

Overall, this season looks like it’ll be a very interesting and new experience for the club and I think all of the fans will be very excited at the prospect of playing at the highest level.

Being able to watch their team at grounds like Old Trafford, Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Stamford Bridge and many more, it will be the first time a lot of fans on the club have had the chance in their lifetime to see these amazing stadiums and experiences.

Hopefully, they can get Ivan Toney firing in the goals and they can imbed the new signings into a solid squad which is good enough to keep their spot at the highest level. It will certainly be a very exciting season for Brentford and it will not disappoint no matter what the outcome.