Thomas Frank | Brentford Manager

I cheered when he got the red card. Yes, I am petty. Dracula’s getting relegated this season.
 
A bit sad to see some of the reactions on here and how Thomas Frank is getting characterised, speaking as a fan of both Brentford and United (the product of many years when it felt like the clubs inhabited different worlds). I can see why his comments on Wednesday grated with some people, and yes he's passionate and perhaps exaggerates at times.

Fundamentally he's a really decent guy though. All season he's been at pains to emphasise the positives of Brentford's performances and to support his players - the anti-Mourinho, if you like - and that was essentially what he was doing again. Some good wins aside, there've been lots of games this season (big ones especially) when Brentford have just been lacking that little bit of composure or final ball to get results they otherwise might have deserved, often missing the necessary touches of stardust in attack. The first half of the United game epitomised this, a few days after pushing Liverpool close for a good 60 minutes or so. Coming off a run of difficult fixtures without much to show for great efforts, Brentford are looking a bit more vulnerable again, and his frustration is understandable.

I was at Brentford-Wolves today and it was difficult to make out exactly what happened post-match, but the whole stadium was furious with the referee after some awful decisions that exacerbated a frustratingly stop-start (for reasons largely beyond his control) and increasingly bad-tempered game. The confrontations seemed to start with Jansson and Moutinho. Of course managers should know better than to get involved, and it looks like Frank has apologised.
 
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A bit sad to see some of the reactions on here and how Thomas Frank is getting characterised, speaking as a fan of both Brentford and United (the product of many years when it felt like the clubs inhabited different worlds). I can see why his comments on Wednesday grated with some people, and yes he's passionate and perhaps exaggerates at times.

Fundamentally he's a really decent guy though. All season he's been at pains to emphasise the positives of Brentford's performances and to support his players - the anti-Mourinho, if you like - and that was essentially what he was doing again. Some good wins aside, there've been lots of games this season (big ones especially) when Brentford have just been lacking that little bit of composure or final ball to get results they otherwise might have deserved, often missing the necessary touches of stardust in attack. The first half of the United game epitomised this, a few days after pushing Liverpool close for a good 60 minutes or so. Coming off a run of difficult fixtures without much to show for great efforts, Brentford are looking a bit more vulnerable again, and his frustration is understandable.

I was at Brentford-Wolves today and it was difficult to make out exactly what happened post-match, but the whole stadium was furious with the referee after some awful decisions that exacerbated a frustratingly stop-start (for reasons largely beyond his control) and increasingly bad-tempered game. The confrontations seemed to start with Jansson and Moutinho. Of course managers should know better than to get involved, and it looks like Frank has apologised.

I don't think that anyone has (or if they have, I don't think people should have) attacked his character. Nobody is commenting about his general man management as far as I can see. But the comments are regarding the comments he made in the aftermath of the United win earlier this week, and then his behaviour last night.

There's stress and frustration in every job, and it's clear that both are playing a role. The post match rant after the last match was a little odd, wasn't it? Repeatedly harping about how United cannot score "which is why (they) bought a 72m GBP player to sit on the bench". "We destroyed them. Little Brentford destroyed them".

The preponderance of the comments seem to be about his behaviour the past 5 days, rather than anything else.
 
I don't think that anyone has (or if they have, I don't think people should have) attacked his character. Nobody is commenting about his general man management as far as I can see. But the comments are regarding the comments he made in the aftermath of the United win earlier this week, and then his behaviour last night.

There's stress and frustration in every job, and it's clear that both are playing a role. The post match rant after the last match was a little odd, wasn't it? Repeatedly harping about how United cannot score "which is why (they) bought a 72m GBP player to sit on the bench". "We destroyed them. Little Brentford destroyed them".

The preponderance of the comments seem to be about his behaviour the past 5 days, rather than anything else.

I'm saying that his post-match interviews and behaviour yesterday should be interpreted in the context of his general man management. And even the point about Sancho has been overblown here. Yes it wasn't as articulate as it could have been, and was badly-timed considering the reason for Sancho's absence. But essentially Frank was just giving an example of the gulf in resources between the two clubs and how that ultimately affected the result:
TF: "... We played the Brentford way, first half."
Interviewer: "Yeah, and the second half though? I mean the game opened up..."
TF: "The game opened up, and, you know, they hadn't had a chance before their goal. And of course that's why they pay 72 million for Sancho that was not even included in the team, uh, and that's why that little glint of brilliance created the first goal..."
(youtu.be/7oIvA3UefjI?t=86)

He's not so wrong about the balance of play in the first half either, though he could have used more diplomatic language. Dalot did have that one long-distance shot off target for United, but apart from that there were gilt-edged chances after gilt-edged chances for Brentford. It was quite possibly the best that Brentford have played all season, apart from actually getting the ball in the net, and an on-fire de Gea played a big part in that (together with close-range blocks from the likes of Varane). I can't imagine many United fans were saying much different at half-time!

In those circumstances – and well aware of the two clubs' respective standings and the need to preserve some kind of momentum for his team – Frank had every right to emphasise the positives for Brentford from the first half.

He really doesn't deserve to be the apparent hate figure that he seems to be becoming for United fans, whether just from the past 5 days or not.
"Hope this cnut gets relegated now. Absolute cretin."
"The guys a certified crank"
"the guy’s a Cnut"
"If it turns out he's got bodies buried in his garden, would anyone be surprised? Guy's an permanently angry fecking weirdo."
"Prize bellend this cnut, grab him a straight jacket"
"Dracula"
 
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Everyone's favorite manager has extended his contract :)


No wonder he was so moody. He was worried about how he was going to feed his family. I expect to see a more relaxed Thomas now that this is no longer hanging over his head.
 
I think people are being too much salty against him. He's clearly accusing a bit of pressure due to a bad string of results, nothing more. I understand his frustration, because if it wasnt Big Dave instinctive feet saves, we could had gone to HT with a couple of goals in the bag.
Glad we reacted in the second half on that game, because things were being tough.
 
No wonder he was so moody. He was worried about how he was going to feed his family. I expect to see a more relaxed Thomas now that this is no longer hanging over his head.
Expect to see the Brentford players performing much better now that the coaches’ contract situations have been sorted. Can’t even begin to imagine how stressed they might have been over not knowing what was going to happen.
 
Forget Pochettino or Ten Hag, lets get this guy.
 
Great season for them. I do wonder if they’re one of those promoted teams who have a good debut season but collapse the second season.

Either way, another season in the league is great for them.
 
Aren't Brentford one of those sides heavily into the analytics? If they recruit wisely there is no reason they should struggle. Losing Eriksen would be a bit of a blow.
 
Aren't Brentford one of those sides heavily into the analytics? If they recruit wisely there is no reason they should struggle. Losing Eriksen would be a bit of a blow.
I think there'll be 3 teams worse than them next season.
 
Great season for them. I do wonder if they’re one of those promoted teams who have a good debut season but collapse the second season.

Either way, another season in the league is great for them.

I mean statically the Second Season Syndrome is a myth there is nothing to back it up in terms of being more likely to be relegated in your second season than staying up again. Also we haven't dramatically over-performed this season, in fact we have under-performed in terms of our xG where we finished I think 8th (not checked since Sunday's game though) as opposed to 13th in the league itself.

IF we keep Eriksen that will be massive fillip but I also trust our recruitment team to once again get it right in terms of bringing in new players. I am under no illusions that every season we are in the Premier League will be tough and we will be favourites for relegation with a lot of people but that's the way our first couple of seasons in the Championship were so we are used to exceeding expectations.
 
Aren't Brentford one of those sides heavily into the analytics? If they recruit wisely there is no reason they should struggle. Losing Eriksen would be a bit of a blow.

Yes we have access to data and analysis of said data that no other clubs do, as it is owned by our owner Matthew Benham and is what has made him a very rich man which we are lucky enough that he has decided to invest with us. The margins are a lot finer in the level we are now operating at though and recruitment will be a lot harder, our advantages will not be as keenly felt as they were in the Championship.
 
To me the manager of the season is a toss up between Vieira and Frank. Brentford have been very, very impressive.

I feel like it's been kind of lost in noise of the season but they produced some absolutely mammoth performances against top teams without always getting just reward, home and away vs Chelsea and their home game vs Liverpool stick out by a mile.
 
To me the manager of the season is a toss up between Vieira and Frank. Brentford have been very, very impressive.

I feel like it's been kind of lost in noise of the season but they produced some absolutely mammoth performances against top teams without always getting just reward, home and away vs Chelsea and their home game vs Liverpool stick out by a mile.

To be fair we did get our reward away to Chelsea WeePat ;) that was result of the season for me.
 
A good little unit. Holding onto Toney and Eriksen would be huge for them but I doubt that both will stay.
 
To be fair we did get our reward away to Chelsea WeePat ;) that was result of the season for me.

To be doubly fair, I did say without always getting just reward. I won't forget that stupid game in a hurry :(
 
he has two first names. he shouldn’t be trusted.
 
If Eriksen goes I think they will be a contender to go down.
 
Surprised Leicester want him, his style is complete opposite of what they do.