Q&A: Brentford CEO Jon Varney ahead of match in Atlanta

The Bees, located in West London, finished 13th in 2021-22 and topped that with a ninth-place finish in 2022-23.

Brentford CEO Jon Varney, a lifelong fan of the club, spent a few minutes Monday talking about some of the reasons behind the club’s success, what it hopes to accomplish on its tour of the U.S., and what one might expect if looking for a Premier League club to support.

(Some questions and answers have been edited for clarity.)

Q: Brentford came in two years ago to the Premier League yet finished higher than I think a lot of people predicted, then did even better last season. How has the team made this happen?

A: I think it’s a lot of hard work from a lot of people. And particularly massive credit goes to Matthew Benham, the owner who’s had the club now for a number of years. And it’s really his vision and his drive that’s enabled us to get to where we are today.

Q: It’s mostly proven, the amount of money you spend will determine where you finish, or is a big determinant. Y’all are smart spenders, I think is a a good way to put it. You’ve spent 55 million pounds or so, so far, in this transfer window. So there’s a lot that goes into this success story. What are the fundamentals that you’ve tried to follow when building the roster for this success?

A: I think it really goes down to good recruitment of players.

We’re known for using the data to identify our talent. And that’s probably what we’re probably most famous for, other than our old stadium that was famous for having a pub on every corner.

Our use of data has been well-described. But I think it’s a lot more than that. I think it’s about having really good people in the organization, a very clear philosophy on how you want to play your football, and clearly, we’ve got an outstanding coach and support team with Thomas Frank leading the charge.

Q: For those in Atlanta, who maybe aren’t as familiar with Brentford and its playing style, describe it for for people.

A: I think we work incredibly hard. I think if you look at our running stats, they’re always very high in comparison with other Premier League sides.

We try and try to play an attractive brand of football. We’ve had some good goal-scoring opportunities over the course of the season. We’ve been very fortunate with some great strikers along the years.

But yeah, I think the one thing that would describe our style of play is hard working.

Q: This is the team’s first time in the United States. How does this tour and trip help the team grow, not only as a team, but as a brand?

A: We know that we are in the most competitive football league in the world. Therefore, preseason to us is incredibly important that we make sure that we go into that opening round of a Premier League season, in as best shape as we can possibly be.

Historically, we’ve stayed very local in terms of our training camps, gone into Europe. But we were presented the opportunity to come to the U.S. Clearly, lots of Premier League clubs have been here before us, and use it very much as a brand-building opportunity.

But I think before we start to look at the brand-building opportunity for us, it was all about can the U.S. give us an outstanding preseason camp? We’ve just been blown away with the facilities that we’ve had here in the States.

We flew into Washington last week. We’ve been staying just outside Washington in Georgetown, great hotel, we found a great training camp. Clearly the weather has been a bit warm for us. But the games program is so important. We’re up against top opposition. So that will get us into a really good place leading into the Premier League season.

Q: I was curious about that. You’re facing other Premier League teams on this tour. Was there any concern about facing a team that you’re going to face soon?

A: No, I think it’s not always ideal. For example, we played Fulham yesterday in Philadelphia, and we’ve got Fulham very early in the Premier League season. But believe you me that the pitch conditions, the weather conditions will be very different compared with the way that we played them in Philadelphia.

Q: Now the weather conditions, you’re not going to have to worry about Wednesday because the roof will likely be closed. And Mercedes has put in a new pitch. I’m curious to see what the pitch looks like since they’ve brought in the grass. Have you had a chance to go to Mercedes-Benz stadium yet? Look around?

A: No, you’re our first port of call.

We’re really excited about playing at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Clearly we’ve seen lots of it on the television when we’ve been tuning into the (sports), and it looks amazing. We’re really excited. All of the stadiums that we’re playing in look incredible and what an opportunity for Brentford to make some friends in the U.S.

Q: You talked about data being an important part of the process. Has the team started scouting MLS? Is that a thing that you’re now turning your attention to is, as part of the metrics that you’re looking at?

A: I think data guys are looking at every single league across world football. I don’t think there’s a specific league that we highlight more than any others. We’re always on the lookout for good, young talented footballers that we want to bring into the football club.

Q: I know you grew up a Brentford fan. Did you have any hesitation about taking on this role?

A: Yeah, I did. I have to say, I’ve spent the last kind of 30 years of my life working in sports marketing. I’ve worked across lots of different sports. I’ve worked across football, rugby, cricket. When I was approached about the Brentford job, I did actually say to my wife, “I don’t think this one’s for me.” Because it’s kind of what I did at the weekend to get away from work, was to go and watch the Bees.

And she said, “Well just read the job description and see if you like what it says.”

I looked at the job description and I thought, “Oh, I can really do this.”

When I go into the process, I couldn’t think of anything I’d rather do than this job.

So yeah, I think it adds an additional layer of stress, if you can go from running a Premier League football club that you’re a fan as well.

Of course, having grown up in and around Brentford and with lots of mates that are Brentford fans, when things aren’t going well there are plenty of people to remind you how to work a little bit harder.

Q: The follow-up question was going to be is it still your fun thing to do on the weekends now? Or have you found something else?

A: How can it not be? Yeah, genuinely, every day, it’s a privilege to work for the organization.

Clearly, lots of people see what we do on a Saturday afternoon when we play games. But it’s so much more than that. We’re a football club on an incredible growth journey. If I look at the staff numbers, I think when we exited the championship, we had an off-field staff of around 55-60 people. Going into this Premier League season will be 130 people.

We’ve had to develop all of our facilities down at our training ground on Jersey Road. It was a little bit rough at the seams in terms of a training ground, but we’ve just spent many millions of pounds, putting in new buildings, laying new pitches, new gyms, new catering facilities. So yeah, I think there, there is a real legacy that the Premier League has created for us in terms of our infrastructure at the football club.

Q: What are you looking for in terms of Brentford coming out better from this trip? What what are some of the components for you?

A: Clearly, it’s all about preparation for that first game of the Premier League season, making sure that we get as many minutes into the legs of the players as possible across the whole squad.

Definitely this weather is going to help with getting them more conditioned, which is fantastic.

I think the other important factor around the preseason is to bond the squad together. I think we’ve been really careful with this trip to ensure that there is a really good balance between technical work, conditioning for the games program, but also some great life experiences for the players.

We’ve been incredibly fortunate to spend some great time in D.C. We got invited to the White House. Clearly just walking the streets, the monuments. We went to a baseball game and the boys, when we go back to Washington, are going to go to a concert for for the night. So there’s a lot of things other than just a football program. So those life experiences are really important.

And also, away from just the players, one of the charities that’s really near and dear to us as a football club is about cardiac health because we lost a colleague a few years ago, just at the age of 28, who had a cardiac arrest and sadly died in his sleep. So, on the trip to Philadelphia, we spent some time at the Penn University Hospital, who are kind of world leaders in cardiac health. We were telling them about what we’re trying to do in the UK to raise awareness for general cardiac health and particularly around resuscitation. And you know, it was an incredibly moving experience spending some time with them.

(Note: The team is going to visit Emory while in Atlanta.)

Q: So I guess the million-dollar question for you is, let’s say, I’m an unaffiliated Premier League supporter, in the city, sell me on becoming a Bees supporter.

A: I think if you want to be a Bees fan, you’re gonna be in for a roller-coaster ride. We are the club that has really climbed that pyramid of English football, and has finally reached the land of milk and honey.

We’re a club that’s really connected to its supporters. After every single game, win, lose or draw, Thomas takes the team around the field at the end of the game for a lap of appreciation. So there’s a real connection between the players and the fans.

As I said earlier, I think you’ll see a really hard-working side. But it’s a team that plays with a real smile on its face. And a team that’s really ensconced in its community back home. And that’s what we want to try and do here is build communities. I mean, we had an unbelievable experience down in Philadelphia, where we started. Since our arrival in the Premier League, lots of little fan groups have sprung up, and we put on a kind of a “fans welcome” evening at a pub in Philadelphia. You just didn’t know how many people were going to turn up. And I walked through the door, it was absolutely packed and everyone was telling different stories of how they became Brentford fans. There were Brentford fans that are traveling over from the UK.

Actually, I chatted to one family that had driven, left Chicago at 3 a.m. to come to Philadelphia to watch Brentford for the first time.

And then I spoke to this other guy, and I said, “How did you become a Brentford fan?”

He said, “Well, I was I was over in Europe on holiday in Rome. And I had to go back via London Heathrow (Airport) to get back to the States. And I got back to Heathrow from Rome and there was an announcement that my flight was going to be delayed 15 hours.”

So he looked at his phone, and he thought, “What can I do around London over the next 15 hours?”

And he saw that there’s a football team called Brentford that is 5-1/2 miles away from London Heathrow Airport. We’re playing the game, and this predates our day in the Premier League and you could just rock up and get tickets for the game. So he went to Griffin Park to watch Brentford, and he’s been a lifelong fan ever since.