A Test by the Tips. Brentford Surprises with Its Meticulous Approach to Selecting New Players

In the summer of 2021, Brentford returned to the top flight of English club soccer after defeating Swansea in the Championship promotion playoff final (2–0). Since then, the “Bees”—who had spent many, many decades struggling in the lower leagues—have surprised many by showing no signs of weakness that might “help” them slip back into the English quagmire. Brentford clearly understands that everyone within the club must give their all to remain at the top level, where there is not only glory but also money.

To achieve this key goal and remain in the Premier League, Brentford has developed and actively uses a scouting system—virtually unique to the division—for evaluating potential new players, which to some extent resembles the legendary “Moneyball” model, which is well known to many thanks to the incredible film adaptation *Moneyball*, starring Brad Pitt. The architect behind the “Bees’” successful player selection and excellent personnel and transfer operations is 42-year-old Lee Dykes, who has served as Brentford’s technical director since the summer of 2022, and previously served as the club’s director of scouting for three years.

With Dykes at the helm, Brentford began placing a strong emphasis on the use of algorithms, necessary for analyzing vast amounts of data, which ultimately allowed the club to build the most competitive squad in the Premier League with the minimum possible investment. With this meticulous approach to evaluating every potential newcomer, Brentford has become something of a pioneer in European soccer, and now many other clubs—which cannot rely on the bottomless pockets of investors but strive to achieve results with reasonable capital investments—are following the “Bees’” example.

But by adopting the Moneyball strategy, Dykes also introduced several other elements into Brentford’s scouting process, the importance of which cannot be underestimated in the slightest. The Bees’ technical director realized that behind the raw statistics and the image on the screen, the human factor of each individual player is very often overlooked. This is something that cannot be analyzed using mathematical models at all, but rather requires a different approach and methods of study. After all, no matter how talented or promising a potential newcomer may seem, if he doesn’t demonstrate integrity in his daily life, the risk of running into problems with him eventually becomes very likely.

That’s why Brentford has devised additional criteria that must be evaluated when assessing every potential recruit. These could be loosely referred to as a “character check.” The “Bees” want to see only those players in their ranks who, in everyday life, come across as decent and level-headed individuals—who don’t get caught up in scandals or become the subject of tabloid attention out of the blue.

To this end, even before contract negotiations begin and a transfer to Brentford is finalized, the “Bees” conduct thorough daily background checks on potential new signings—players who seem perfectly suited to the club from an analytical and statistical standpoint. Dyks has a dedicated team responsible for gathering information that characterizes the daily behavior of the players Brentford plans to sign. This may include interactions with restaurant owners, nutritionists, shopkeepers, delivery drivers, barbers—in short, all the professionals and service providers the player might come into contact with during his time away from soccer—in his everyday life. The purpose of these checks is to determine whether the subject resembles a sort of “Good Samaritan,” and if so, only then does the department give its approval for negotiations and subsequent transfer talks.

Dyke’s “spies” have truly become almost legendary in the English Premier League. These people meticulously investigate even the seemingly most insignificant details of their potential new recruits’ behavior. They visit shops, cafes, restaurants, and leisure spots that are favorites of their “subject.” By talking to the staff at these establishments, Brentford representatives determine how friendly the player is in everyday life, how polite and considerate he is, and how generous he is (here, as they say, it even goes so far as trying to find out the amount of tips left by players who have caught Brentford’s interest) and how willing they are to help others. An important part of assessing a potential “Bees” recruit’s daily life is determining his true attitude toward alcohol or other harmful habits.

Brentford coach Keith Andrews

If obtaining this information proves difficult (as was the case, for example, with Ukrainian midfielder Yegor Yarmolyuk, who moved to Brentford in the summer of 2022, after the full-scale phase of the Russia-Ukraine war had already begun), the “Bees” rely on a wide network of informants. They call coaches, sports doctors, agents, and other industry insiders to ask for their opinions—people who know practically everything about a potential new recruit.

At Brentford, they’re confident that if a player doesn’t cause trouble out of the blue in his daily life, he’ll behave the same way within the team. This will help create a team with the much-talked-about “family mentality,” where every member is willing to fight for a teammate on the field, giving their all for the team’s success, rather than allowing the situation to devolve into the formation of separate “cliques” or the emergence of “party leaders.”

Essentially, this model has allowed “Brentford” to become a team around which no scandals arise. In recent years, the “Bees” have not faced anything of the sort, and this is also a huge credit to Lee Dykes’s management style. For example, in 2023, Brentford forward Ivan Tawny received an 8-month suspension from the Football Association after being accused of 232 violations related to soccer betting, which is strictly prohibited for active players. However, even in this situation, the club did not abandon its player. Townley pleaded guilty, and the “Bees” helped him undergo treatment for gambling addiction; after which the forward returned to play, but was soon sold—for 42 million euros to Saudi club Al-Ahli.

On the other hand, in terms of reputation, the scandal surrounding Tooney was more than overshadowed for Brentford by the events that took place in March of this year. Around 2:00 a.m., two “Bees” players, who were returning home after an away match against Leeds, in southwest London witnessed a drunk man assaulting a Nigerian security guard in a racially motivated attack. The Brentford players (whose names were not disclosed for some time, but were later identified as 28-year-old Vitali Yanelt, a German of Bosnian descent, and his 24-year-old compatriot Kevin Shade, who has Nigerian roots), intervened in the situation, undeterred by the risk of injury in the altercation. Together, they managed to subdue the assailant and hand him over to the police. According to eyewitnesses, both Brentford players ended up covered in blood as a result of the fight—whether it was their own, the victim’s, or the attacker’s. However, they managed to protect the man and detain the hooligan, who was later brought to trial and fined for his unlawful actions.

So when you hear that Brentford’s player selection process involves a labor-intensive analysis of vast statistical datasets on potential new recruits, don’t forget that, in reality, the “Bees” study the individual characteristics of each of their new recruits just as thoroughly. This is the only way the team manages to build a competitive roster and, for the sixth consecutive season, stay afloat in the most competitive, lucrative, and strong national championship in world soccer—the English Premier League.