“It is important to know when to stick to the plan and when to seek change. We have a much more rational view of the situation than the classical and emotional one in other football clubs.” – Rasmus Ankersen (Deputy Director at Brentford)
In most cases, such words appear as an attempt to alleviate tension, which soon leads to a complete denial of the words and thoughtless actions. We have often seen fired managers and sold football players based on the negative emotional impact that is not based on statistical data. Brentford, however, once again proved to us that the Moneyball model offers us rational and adequate decisions, in which there is no frivolous emotionality. The latest example of this is the staying of striker Ivan Toney at the club. At the moment, the fans of the “bees” are thrilled with the Englishman, who scored 5 goals in the first 6 games in the Premier League. However, a few months ago, the same fans would have been extremely satisfied if Toney had left for a decent transfer fee, as the striker made mistakes off the field not once, but twice.
“Damn them, Brentford!”
The first indecent display of Ivan Toney towards his club became public knowledge at the end of January. Then the star of the “bees,” seemingly in a good mood, repeated the exclamation of the woman next to him, which was short and clear: “Damn them, Brentford!”.
The fans began to protest and demand that the top scorer be sold at the first opportunity. Later, Toney himself had to publicly apologize for his behavior:
“I am aware of the video posted on social media. I used expressions that are unacceptable. The video is edited and taken out of context, but I have to accept the consequences and realize that I should not have put myself in such a position. I explained to the coach what happened and apologized, but I also want to apologize to all Brentford fans. I respect the ways in which all of you support the team, and I have to say that I love playing for the club and for you. I will return to training next week, and work hard to score more winning goals until the end of the season.”
In the end, the club decided not to punish Tony in any way, and Thomas Frank took advantage of his services at the first opportunity – in the away game against Everton for the FA Cup, in which the Englishman scored a penalty.
“Where do you play? In a boring place.”
Two months later, after the aforementioned situation started to be forgotten, Tony again entered the spotlight for a negative reason. A video of the striker was uploaded to social media in which he was asked which team he played for. He jokingly replied, “In a boring place.
After already garnering the disapproval of a large portion of fans, such a statement was bound to lead to a new round of criticism. In this case, however, neither the club nor the player himself paid attention to the negativity surrounding the situation and did not let their emotions take over. Tony remained a consistent starter until the end of the campaign.
Interest in Tony and Brentford’s refusal to sell
Ivan Tony was one of the most wanted strikers among the top English clubs, and Brentford could easily have sold him. Initially, it was thought that Brentford’s goal scorer was the missing piece of the puzzle in Brighton’s attack, which inevitably led to transfer rumours in the south of London. Then there was talk of interest from Manchester United, but Brentford were adamant in their demand for a minimum of 40 million euros to part ways with Tony, which led to the “Red Devils” refusing a potential deal.
So the big conclusion here is…
Thomas Frank’s long tenure as head coach of Brentford is in itself proof of the patience that Matthew Benham (Brentford’s owner) has. The case of Ivan Tony was also a unique test for his “Moneyball” project – whether the sports-technical management would be swayed by the emotions of the fans and sell their star player, or trust their accurate assessment based on the right evaluation of the player’s transfer value and statistical data. Once again, Brentford made a sober and accurate decision, and how many clubs would have acted like the “bees”, including Bulgarian ones – we leave that for you to judge.
