Brentford supporters' questions answered by the club at fans’ forum | OneFootball

Earlier this month, a fans’ forum took place at Gtech Community Stadium, where supporters were able to ask their questions to Brentford head coach Thomas Frank, director of football Phil Giles, and chief executive Jon Varney.

Around 200 fans were able to attend in person and the event was also available to watch via live stream for supporters to watch at home.

Hosted by presenter Natalie Sawyer, questions from fans covered topics such as the impact of injuries this season, recruitment priorities, ticketing, club partners, football finances, and the long-term ambitions of the club.

Over a hundred questions were submitted online in advance, which were grouped into key topics to be covered at the event. Fans attending in person also had the chance to raise their questions with the panel.

Transfer plans and new signings generated a lot of interest, with Bees boss Frank looking ahead to pre-season, speaking about the reasons behind the signing of incoming Brazilian forward Igor Thiago: “He looked good in many aspects - he scored a lot of goals in the best league in Belgium.

"I like his aerial abilities in both boxes, he’s fantastic in the box when he’s attacking crosses, he’s got the physical presence we want, he’s good at running behind, and decent at the link-up - he's got all the abilities we need.

"Now it’s just about getting him adjusted to the pace of the Premier League.”

Among many other topics, Varney addressed the issue of ticket touting that the club has been tackling this season: “The reality is, when you have that demand and undersupply [at the stadium], there will be a black market and ticket touts.

"I can guarantee, in the week leading up to a game, we’re monitoring various third-party websites. We’ve got a budget to buy tickets from third-party websites. We then look at those and block them.”

Varney also spoke about the actions taken by stewards on matchdays and our security team, who are constantly reviewing CCTV footage and dealing with any reports of away fans, and post-match by our investigations team to sanction fans who pass on their tickets to away supporters.

Giles then reflected on the work that has gone into developing the club’s academy this season: “We were category four in our academy this year and we’ve put a hell of a lot of work, time and effort into building and developing our staff.

"We’ve brought a new academy director in from Manchester City [Stephen Torpey], we've got planning permission for a new facility at the training ground - there’s another £25 million or so going into that next year, with new pitches, a new dome and an artificial pitch - so, there’s a huge amount of work that probably doesn’t get shown.”

Thank you to all our fans who submitted questions, attended the forum and tuned in on our live stream.