Brentford

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Brentford director of football Phil Giles has said "we will never forget" Thomas Frank as the Dane's move to Tottenham was confirmed on Thursday.

Frank spent seven years in charge of the Bees, guiding the club from the Championship to the Premier League in 2021.

"From the moment he replaced Dean Smith, he understood what we were trying to build and his wisdom, coaching ability and emotional intelligence have helped transform the club," said Giles.

"There have been so many special moments with Thomas and nobody will ever forget the day at Wembley for the play-off final or that emotional first Premier League game against Arsenal.

"He forged a special connection with our fans, helped develop and improve players, and was instrumental in implementing the culture that has seen Brentford go from strength to strength.

"However, just as when a player leaves, it provides an opportunity for someone else to come in and make their own impact.

"We will never forget Thomas, but now it is time to thank him and take the next steps in our journey with a new leader who we believe can be just as successful and influential."

Assistant first-team coach Justin Cochrane, head of athletic performance Chris Haslam and first-team analyst Joe Newton are also joining Frank at Spurs.

Sami Mokbel
Senior football correspondent

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Brentford and England coach Justin Cochrane is set to join Thomas Frank at Tottenham.

Frank's arrival at Spurs will be confirmed inside the next 24 hours and the Dane is bringing Cochrane with him across London.

The Bees were keen to keep hold of Cochrane, who had been linked with becoming Frank's replacement.

As Tottenham continue their pursuit of Thomas Frank, it is time to talk about replacements.

Italian Journalist Fabrizio Romano has reported that Scott Parker is under consideration, external to take over at Gtech Community Stadium and is part of a three-man shortlist to become the next bees boss.

Elsewhere, TBR football have reported that Kieran McKenna and Liam Rosenoir have impressed the club hierarchy, external and may be on the radar to become the new coach.

There is likely to be other names floating around over the coming days, but we want to know who you want next in the Brentford dugout. Are any of the rumoured names catching your eye, or is there someone else you want to see in West London?

Tell us who you want to replace Frank here

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We asked for your views on whether Brentford need to act urgently in the transfer market, with the first window closing at 19:00 BST on Tuesday.

Here are some of your comments:

Ian: Everything must be up in the air with Thomas Frank's pending departure! Should he move on, then he has earned that chance. In terms of transfers, so far we have done well on incoming deals. I believe further ins and outs will take place in the second part of the transfer window.

Stephen: Don't let Thomas Frank go! Nothing else matters.

Nick: We look certain to lose Bryan Mbeumo and Thomas Frank. They will take some serious replacing but we have faith in those at the top. I expect maybe three or four incomings, but we also have some players that we have barely seen yet. As fans, I think we just need to embrace the change.

Brian: It would be crazy to buy replacements for players that haven't even been sold. Everybody said they wanted to buy Ivan Toney, but they didn't. We do our business quietly and not in the media. Whatever needs doing has already been done, including a new manager.

Richard: I'm not a Brentford fan but really feel for them. Their deadline day needs change so much if Frank goes to Spurs. He is the perfect fit for Brentford. So many managers and players take the glory team path and fail. Everybody loves Thomas, I hope he makes the right decision.

Today is the first of two transfer deadline days this summer as the window shuts for seven days before reopening on 16 June.

In a change to the summer transfer window norm, it opened early to allow clubs involved in the Fifa Club World Cup 10 days to sign players for inclusion in the competition.

Whether it turns out to be a day of transfer action or a pretty quiet one for your club, you will be able to keep across it all on BBC Sport.

Follow our live text coverage throughout the day here

And keep up to date with all the latest news, views and transfers for your club

It is not just at the top of the Premier League where American ownership has a foothold in English football.

Twenty years on from the Glazer takeover of Manchester United, one third of the 72 EFL clubs now have either majority or minority US backers.

In a special episode of BBC Radio 5 Live's Football Daily podcast, Kelly Cates is joined by a group of experts to investigate whether this trend is likely to continue.

Listen on BBC Sounds

On Tuesday, the first of two summer transfer windows will come to a close.

So, do you expect business to be done at Brentford before the deadline? Do you want players to come in or exit? If so, what or who do you think is needed?

Let us know

Tottenham will have to pay in excess of £10m if they want to bring in Brentford boss Thomas Frank to replace the sacked Ange Postecoglou. (Mirror), external

Want more transfer stories? Read Saturday's full gossip column

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Brentford boss Thomas Frank has emerged as Tottenham's leading candidate to replace Ange Postecoglou as manager.

Multiple sources have told BBC Sport that Spurs are strongly interested in Frank and that initial work has been already been undertaken to enquire about his availability.

Frank has a good relationship with Spurs technical director and fellow Dane Johan Lange, which could be a deciding factor when club chairman Daniel Levy comes to decide who he appoints.

But the likes of Bournemouth's Andoni Iraola, Crystal Palace's Oliver Glasner and Fulham's Marco Silva are among others understood to be in the frame.

And Tottenham have even given consideration to reappointing former manager Mauricio Pochettino, who is currently in charge of the United States.

Read more here

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Brentford forward Bryan Mbeumo says it is clear to see he and Yoane Wissa are "very good friends" because of the way they play seamlessly together.

Mbeumo and Wissa comfortably filled the void left by Ivan Toney's departure, which many anticipated would be an issue for Thomas Frank's side.

A total of 39 goals between them in the Premier League has made them a formidable strike partnership and that is credited to their friendship off the pitch.

"He helped me a lot with the mental part," Mbeumo told BBC Sport Africa's Ian Williams. "I get angry really easy and he helped me to just stay cool.

"And in different things in life outside of football he has helped me a lot.

"I used to live really close to him, just one minute away. Sometimes I was joining him at his, having dinners."

Mbeumo also believes their shared Franco-African heritage is what made them close when Wissa signed for the Bees in 2021.

"First of all he can speak the same language as me," added Mbeumo. "When he came, I tried to help him because I think it is hard when you go to another country.

"I just wanted to help him as much as I could, and with the time we just became very good friends.

"I think we can see it on the pitch, we can find out each other really well."

Nicola Pearson
BBC Sport journalist

As the dust settles on the 2024-25 Premier League season, we have been taking a look at some of the alternative ways the the table could have finished...

Passing in football has become an obsession.

The tiki-taka style of Barcelona has now become the basis of managerial philosophies across the leagues and lands of Europe and beyond.

The problem is, few teams have the ability to execute it at the level required to make it effective.

Pep Guardiola took it to another level when he was in charge of the La Liga giants and it has served his Manchester City side well since he took charge in 2016 having won 18 trophies in the following nine years.

And, if the Premier League season had come down to how well teams pass the ball, unsurprisingly the eight-time champions would have been celebrating a ninth title.

With nearly 90% accuracy, they rarely put a foot - or pass - wrong.

And yet, in reality, it did not translate to success on the pitch this year.

Whether it was teams finally finding the chinks in the passing-machine armour or the side's misplaced passes proving more costly than in previous seasons without key players, City could not take advantage of their dominance with the ball.

And for one of the most acute examples of ability with the ball not translating to on-the-pitch success, we only have to look at Southampton.

The Saints at one point looked set to break Derby County's record for the least amount of points in a Premier League campaign, and yet they were less than 1% behind actual league champions Liverpool when it came to passing accuracy.

While fans could have some appreciation for watching nice football, they might have appreciated some scrappy displays that resulted in hard-fought results and possible safety more.

In contrast, Crystal Palace had the least accurate passing of any team in the league.

And yet, Oliver Glasner's side ultimately finished 12th - just three points off a top-half finish - and won the FA Cup final against the club with the best passing ability of them all.

They are not the only team to have had successful seasons in their own right while being in the bottom six for passing accuracy.

Nottingham Forest were 19th in this table metric, but in reality were fighting for Champions League places.

Bournemouth and Brentford also battled for possible European spots into the final weeks of the season, and even Everton finished the campaign comfortably away from relegation that at one point they looked set to be in a battle to escape.

So what does this tell us? When it comes to winning football matches, passing the ball well is not the be-all and end-all.

*Table data from Opta

Brentford have rejected Manchester United's first bid for Bryan Mbeumo and want more than £60m for the forward. (Independent, external)

Want more transfer stories? Read Friday's full gossip column

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Simon Stone
Chief football news reporter

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Manchester United are in talks to sign Brentford striker Bryan Mbeumo after submitting a bid of £45m and £10m in add-ons.

Despite that opening bid no agreement has been reached between the two clubs.

United are confident they can complete a deal to sign Cameroon international Mbeumo, 25, who scored 20 times for the Bees in the league last season, after receiving indications they are his first choice for a move this summer.

It is understood there is no release clause in Mbeumo's contract, which still has a year left to run, although there is the option to extend it by another year.

Wolves forward Matheus Cunha has already agreed a deal with United and will complete his move to Old Trafford once his international commitments with Brazil are over.

Brentford will look to appoint Ipswich boss Kieran McKenna if current manager Thomas Frank leaves to replace Ange Postecoglou at Tottenham. (Football Insider, external)

Want more transfer stories? Read Thursday's full gossip column

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New Brentford arrival Caoimhin Kelleher has spoken about the importance of the "impressive" vision pitched to him by the club's hierarchy in helping him decide to join.

The 26-year-old met head coach Thomas Frank, sporting director Phil Giles, and chief executive Jon Varney, among others, and was pleased with the plan they had in place for him.

"I just really like the whole club," Kelleher said in his first interview with the Bees' club media.

"I like the way the manager, the staff, go about their ways. It seems like a really close, tight-knit, family club and they have a really good track record of developing players and improving players, which has really drawn me to the club.

"Last week, I went down to meet the manager, some of the coaches, sporting director and CEO and they spoke to me about why they wanted to sign me and showed me around the training ground. I was pretty happy with that and was excited to join once I met them.

"It was really positive. It was interesting to see their point of view, hear why they want to sign me and what they think they can do with me to develop my game. It was impressive. I think the club is a really good fit for me.

As a first message to Brentford fans, he added: "I'm delighted to be here, I can't wait to get started, and I think they're getting a really good goalkeeper."

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Brentford have confirmed the signing of goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher from Liverpool on a five-year contract with a club option for a further 12 months.

It follows the news that Mark Flekken - first-choice goalkeeper for the past two seasons - has returned to the Bundesliga to join Bayer Leverkusen.

Kelleher departs Liverpool having made 67 appearances across all competitions, keeping 24 clean sheets, and winning seven trophies including two Premier League titles.

"When Mark Flekken had the opportunity to move to Bayer Leverkusen, we immediately thought about Caoimhin as his replacement," said director of football Phil Giles.

"As well as being a very good goalkeeper, I've rarely met a player for whom everybody has such positive words to say about his personality and character. I'm therefore confident he'll be an excellent addition to the squad."

First-team goalkeeper coach Manu Sotelo added: "He is calm and obsessed with improving. His best quality is his agility and he is a clever goalkeeper, with positioning and awareness being key elements of his game."

Despite his success at Anfield, Kelleher has always been second choice to Alisson and saw his chances of becoming number one further limited by the arrival of Georgia goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili from Valencia this summer.

The 26-year-old sees the move to west London as his chance to play every week.

"I don't think it was very difficult for me to leave [Liverpool]," Kelleher said.

"I felt, for my own career, that the time was right for me to go, to be a number one and to play every week.

"I heard of some interest a number of weeks ago. Once I knew Brentford was in for me, it was definitely one I was really excited about and wanted to do as quickly as possible."