I Fear Bees Will Regret Not Taking A Gamble

If I was Thomas Frank, the manager of Brentford, I’d be slightly disappointed going into the new season.

- Sam Allardyce

This is a club who lost 2-1 to Fulham in the play off final and narrowly missed out on automatic promotion with a very talented team.

The summer was an opportunity to say, ‘OK, we’re nearly there. This year we aren’t going to sell our best players. We’re going to keep them, add one or two more and really go for it’.

They could be looking at the biggest prize Brentford have ever won and increasing their turnover by £200m, all on the back of moving into a new stadium.

Instead, they’ve sold striker and Championship Player of the Year Ollie Watkins – who scored 26 league goals last year – to Aston Villa for £28m.

Said Benrahma, another key player, is also likely to leave if Leeds, Villa, or any of several other interested clubs meets the Bees’ £25m valuation.

Looking at that, I don’t think they are going to come anywhere near getting promoted this season.