Phil Giles and Rasmus Ankersen, co-directors of the London Bees, Brentford FC, are two interesting characters. Thanks to their specific approach to the game of football and their view of the world in general, small club joined the country’s best and is hungry to go even further.The two were brought together in 2015 by Matthew Benham, the boyhood Brentford fan turned professional gambler who now owns the London club. Together they have taken Brentford into the top flight for the first time since 1947. Against all the odds.Two African speedsters force you to seek assistance from unusual mentorsWhile reading statistics at Newcastle University, Giles had studied pandemics. And as a student, he would use ‘past data to predict how these epidemics would spread’.‘I stopped doing that in 2005 and started using past data from football games to predict future football results,’ Giles explains. ‘Far more interesting.’ And far more useful for much of the past six years.‘I’m not a lawyer, an accountant, I haven’t got any football qualifications, I’m not a medical person… nothing. The one qualification I did have, though, turned out to be useful. Against all the odds.’‘You know these guys who build statistical models that predict how these things will evolve and how many cases there are likely to be in the future? I was doing that,’ he explains.He knew how the crisis could develop. So Brentford quickly negotiated wage deferrals with their squad.‘By doing that early, we put ourselves in good shape to see it through without having to take emergency measures later on,’ Giles says.Shocking discovery shows that a convicted Chinese criminal wants to become Wayne Rooney’s bossThe 37-year-old Ankersen, once a promising player at Danish side Midtjylland, saw his career cut short by injury. His angle joined with Giles’ gave birth to a complete vision of the project.‘When Covid first broke out, we didn’t know what to make of it,’ Ankersen says. ‘This is something I never thought I was going to use in football. But this is my PhD.’‘We’ve come in to this world with a different view… that’s probably an advantage,’ he says.‘Phil is a very good, logical, rational thinker… that’s a very good skillset to have in football because it’s often an emotional industry.’Friday, 22.00: (4.00) BRENTFORD (3.50) ARSENAL (1.93)Having two directors of football is not unique but Giles and Ankersen are a curious pair – they are strikingly different characters with contrasting qualities.The partnership attracted some initial scepticism, particularly after their first managerial appointment, Marinus Dijkhuizen, lasted just nine matches.‘We probably tried to change too much at the same time,’ Ankersen remembers. ‘That set the project back 12 months or so.’However, Brentford now have hit jackpot with Thomas Frank whose managerial skills combine perfectly with both the players and the co-directors.Thomas Frank (©Gallo Images)Digging out young talent, developing it and then selling for a profit are the guiding principles which allow Brentford to punch above their weight. Sound simple.————————–Some of the examples are:Neal Maupay – brought for 2.8 million USD / sold for 28 million (to Brighton)Said Benrahma – 2.3 million USD / 34.5 million USD (to West Ham)Ollie Watkins – 2.5 million USD / 44.3 million USD (to Aston Villa)Ezri Konsa – 4 million USD / 16.5 million USD (to Aston Villa)Chris Mepham – free / 16.5 (to Bournemouth)————————–Remarkable success in the transfer market has translated on to the pitch thanks to innovation, smart use of data and a human touch.‘The league table isn’t always the best way of measuring (success),’ Giles insists. ‘It’s perfectly plausible that we actually do pretty well – we play quite well, improve the team and still get relegated… that’s just the way football is.’Foxes outsmart the Citizens – after the FA Cup, Leicester win the Community ShieldApart from the pandemic, another peculiar element of their research affected the approach of the two – runners of East Africa.One of Ankersen’s books, The Gold Mine Effect, examines the secrets of high performance and why certain areas produce great athletes.‘I visited this small village in Kenya (Iten) that produced the best marathon runners. When I went for a run I saw three world champions,’ he explains. ‘When you are close to them it demystifies what it takes to be good… and it gives you belief.’“If you want to beat the Kenyans, you have to live and train with them” – is a famous saying circulating at Iten Running camp and such philosophy was implemented when Brentford closed their academy and created a B Team. It presented an opportunity.‘One thing we did was really try and get them close to the first-team. So they eat together and often train together,’ Ankersen says. ‘We brought in a couple of 17-year-old Danish players and suddenly they speak to to one of the best first team players and a EURO 2020 participant at lunch.Directors of Football @BrentfordFC Phil Giles & Rasmus Ankersen met fans down the pub for a live podcastWhen the evening ended Rasmus had a well-received farewell for Bees fans”See you in the #PremierLeague”🎙https://t.co/gLnRC7CgHw…Catch BOTH pod episodes in the link👆🏾 pic.twitter.com/Tye9BpsWE1— Beesotted Brentford (@Beesotted) June 22, 2021 The duo relies quite a lot on KPI’s (key performance indicators), which can be measured to demonstrate whether an organisation is meeting overall targets.‘Last season in the strategy, there was nothing about achieving promotion.’ Ankersen says. They just wanted to improve.Brentford divide the game into phases, searching for opportunities to make gains, examining how each department (sport science, style of play) can contribute. Two years ago, Brentford noticed they were conceding too many goals from set pieces.‘I think we ended up being the best defensive set-piece team in the Championship in the last two years,’ adds Ankersen.They have already explored several alternative methods all-around: experts in sleep, throw-in coaches and ball-striking to name a few. And they do not intend to stop.Clubs like Brentford and directors like Giles and Ankersen could be held accountable for a new age of football analysis. There is still romance in the fact that small club is improving rapidly without Qatar investors or Russian oligarchs.
