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Brentford open the season at home (Gtech Community Stadium) with a bang jumping right into a London Derby as North London side Tottenham Hotspur head to West London on Saturday, August 22, 1130a CST.
Bee’s are buzzing after a great season. Putting their set-piece coach as their new manager was quite the risk, but it paid off. They will be looking to leverage their “moneyball” approach again this season and will be put to the test in week one against a BIG6 club looking to bounce back after a rough season.
Brentford
2025/26 Finish - 9th
Best Ever for the Club
49 - Over/under projected points
Brentford is a “moneyball” style team - leaning heavily on data analytics for young players, buying low and selling high. Thomas Frank had this club consistently exceeding expectations, but he left before last season for Spurs. Enter unproven Gaffer, Keith Andrews the Set Piece coach at Brentford who took over the team and had them contending for Europe and finishing ahead of their previous season, their best season ever. Probably not a surprise, Brentford leadership just make great decisions.
This club buys low, develops, and sells high. They have recruited well, develops players and finished mid table. They punch above their weight.
If you’ve been to London, in particular West London, you know Chelsea is the historical Big Club of the area, but they have had their hands full with neighbor Brentford.
Always new players coming into the roster looking to replace production that was sold, this season will be no different. Expect the Bee’s to do what they do, exceed expectations and finish mid-table.
The Club
Located in Brentford (West London)
Brentford Community Stadium aka Gtech Community Stadium, 17,000 capacity
Rough estimates
$225M Annual Revenue
$175M Player Payroll
Home Kit
Away Kit
Ownership
Matthew Benham is a finance executive turned gambling analytics startup entrepreneur. Benham was hired by Tony Bloom, BHA owner, to work at Premier Bet. Benham made a significant sum of money in the Asian betting market, using a statistical model developed by Stuart Coles and Mark Dixon at Lancaster University, which was able to predict the probabilities of football scores more accurately than the bookies. He had a falling out with Bloom and started Smartodds in 2004 and then Matchbook in 2011. In 2005 his favorite club was struggling financially, and he became a mystery investor to bail them out. In 2012 he became full owner.
Biggest Rival - Fulham
West London Derby
West Lond Derby is any match between 2 of 4 teams - Brentford, Fulham, QPR, Chelsea.
Unlike other Derby’s this one has suffered from the clubs often being in different divisions.
Fans would say Fulham is the biggest rival and that has shown up with fan violence on occasion.
Brentford record against Fulham is 25W 26L 19D.
The Culture
Community. In a survey conducted by BIAS, Brentford received the highest matchday fan experience rating for both the 2021/22 and 2022/23 seasons. Factors noted are family-friendliness, cleanliness, quality of the staff, the fans ability to impact club decisions, community involvement. So, if you value the best chants with the most swear words in your experience, you may not align to BIAS’ criteria.
The Bees are a London club owned by 1 lifelong fan who, when building the current stadium in 2020, said a priority was to make sure the commercial department did not “fleece the fans”, and to keeping pricing affordable.
For the 2026/27 season the team announced their new Kits would be used this season and next season to keep things affordable for the fans.
Brentford fans are pretty traditional and have ties to West London - that may be a result of being in level 3 and 4 for most of the last 70 years. Casual fans of English soccer may have never heard of Brentford prior to 3 years ago.
Word Association
Moneyball, Matthew Benham, West London, Small, Lesser Known, Recent Success, GTech, Recruitment, Set-Pieces, Buy Low Sell High, Hey Jude.
Moneyball aka Data Nerds
In 2015, the Bees made wholesale changes focused on running the club based on mathematical models. They hired 2 co-directors of soccer, former analytics experts. They club began identifying and buying undervalued talent with high potential, then selling the player for significant profit. There was a constant rotation of the “best players” on the team.
Should be noted, the club does not like the term moneyball.
Supporters You May Recognize
Cameron Diaz
Jim Carrey
Phil Collins
The list is shorter than some London clubs given the lack of play in the top 2 levels for 70 years.
Song
Said to be a symbol of unity, during the 1960s fans were looking for freedom and unity. Paul McCartney wrote the song for John Lennon’s son during his parents divorce. A message of reassurance and support. Through thick and thin.
Sung before each match, the anthem fits with the community culture of Brentford, in Community Stadium.
Game Day Pub Guide
Fan Sites
Official Twitter
@BrentfordFC
High Follows on Twitter
@bfcgpg (13k) (Griffin Park Grapevine)
@Beesotted (17k)
@Brentford_FL (8k)
@BrentfordUSA (2k)
@BrentEssential (4k)
@BrentfordFCCST (5K)
The Team
The Gaffer
Keith Andrews (Ireland), 45yo
Was Brentford’s Set Piece Coach last season.
Great first season as a manager.
ODDS
To Win League +24,000
Top 4
To Be Relegated +2,800
Roster Notes
Full Roster click link
Americans on the Roster
Julian Eyestone (20 yo goalkeeper)
Roster
Igor Thiago
Michael Kayode
Daniel Ouattara
Sepp van den Berg
Yegor Yarmolyuk
Keane Lewis-Potter
Jaidon Anthony
Kevin Schade
Nathan Collins
Goalkeeper
Caoimhin Kelleher
Gtech Community Stadium
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