Lee Dykes: How Brentford ’embraced change’ after summer exits

In addition, a plethora of playing talent left the club. Brian Mbeumo was sold to Manchester United for a reported £71m, Yoane Wissa to Newcastle United for £50m plus add-ons and Christian Nørgaard to Arsenal for up to £15m.

Between them, the trio had scored 44 Premier League goals in 2024/25 (Mbeumo with 20, Wissa 19 and five for Nørgaard).

Frank’s replacement was Keith Andrews, promoted from Set Piece Coach, who did not have any experience as a Head Coach. This led many to tip the Bees to struggle this season, but instead they have thrived and currently sit seventh in the Premier League table.

Speaking at TGG Live 2025 in October, Dykes explained that preparation and continuity had been key.

“You have to embrace change and see it as a real positive energy opportunity and maybe to take a leap and a step forward eventually,” Dykes said. “The reality for Brentford is we’ll take steps backwards to go forwards, whether that’s player trading or coach trading.

“We were prepared for it, because Thomas has had lots of interest over the last two, three years and we’d been looking around the marketplace for that period of time. That is the role of a Sporting Director. And I help Phil with that as well, as Technical Director, just to keep abreast of the market and key opportunities potentially in that space.

“And I think that’s the responsibility of everybody at a club. Thomas had it, I’ll have it when I leave Brentford – we leave it with a footprint, we leave it with a lasting way of working in our individual fields that we’re accountable for.

“And then the next person comes in, looks at it, and they either rip it up or they change it or they enhance it. And that’s the role that everybody has in any football club.

“Whether you’re leading an analysis department, a recruitment department, a coaching function, IDP that we’ll speak about later. You have to develop process.”

Many had tipped Andrews to be the first boss to be fired in the Premier League this season, but instead he has excelled. Dykes, who joined the Bees in May 2019, said Andrews had been supported but also given space.

“We wanted to maintain as much continuity as possible, which is why we went for an in-house appointment in Keith Andrews,” Dykes said.

“Keith’s at the very early stages of his management career, so he’s going to need everybody’s help – mine, Phil Giles (Director of Football), John Varney (CEO), Cliff Crown (Chairman), Matt Benham (Owner), all the key people at the club.

“But he’ll find his own space and he’ll find his own way and he’ll do things differently to what Thomas did. And we’re okay with that, because we’re not so rigid as a club to say, ‘We have to play this way, we have to do this, we have to do this.’

“We have beliefs that are driven by research and data and our beliefs on how Brentford can be competitive in the top, best league in the world. But that’s his accountability. It’s not mine, it’s not Phil’s.

“He’s the guy that’s delivering and driving the day-to-day standards and we’ve got to allow him that freedom and that space to grow as a Head Coach. So we’ve embraced it, we’re very excited by it.”

Use of data

Much has been made of Brentford’s use of data, with owner Benham leveraging the analytics power of his company Smartodds to aid the Bees.

Speaking on the Sporting Director panel at TGG Live alongside Adam Underwood and Mladen Sormaz, Dykes talked about Brentford’s analytics capabilities.

“The reality is we probably haven’t got the edge that we once had as a club using data, because lots and lots of people are using data now,” he said. “What we do have an edge on, I think, is it’s Matt’s own data.

“So it’s not a shared platform, it’s not an off-the-shelf version of data. It’s his own tailored data package that he builds himself. So we do have a little bit of an edge in that respect and what we’ve tried to do over the years is tie that into our player profiles, so that subconsciously we’re always finding players or flagging players that fit the style of play in the football club.

“People can interpret data very, very well and people can watch a player and assess subjectively very, very well. I’ve tried to put teams of those mindsets together around the world, so that the data is driving the eyes, but the eyes are also questioning the data.

“And you end in a pretty cool moment there, where the eyes are embracing the data and the data is learning about the eyes side of things, the subjective side. That’s what we try to do at Brentford and we just have to be so quick, so streamlined in our decision-making process and so efficient.

“We are in competition with clubs where, generally, financials drive the end result.”