Brentford Season Preview 2025/26: Can the Bees survive losing the spine of their side?

For this Brentford season preview, we look at perhaps the most pivotal time in the club's modern history and ask the key question: will the Bees continue to evolve?

The Brentford season preview

FFT's view

The Plan

After Brentford’s play-off final loss to Fulham in 2020, boss Thomas Frank tried to rally a dejected club. “You feel the pain,” he said, “but tomorrow the sun will rise again.” The Bees dusted themselves off, went up the next year and have since enjoyed four top-flight seasons without once dropping into the bottom three.

Now comes another new dawn, but without their beloved boss – there has also long been expectation it would be without Bryan Mbeumo, whose 27 goal contributions was a tally only bettered by Messrs Salah and Isak last term. Promoting set-piece coach Keith Andrews is a typically maverick Brentford move as they seek more odds-defying progress.

The Coach

Keith Andrews has a huge act to follow and zero experience as a head honcho. Yet doing things differently is what took Brentford from lower-league mediocrity to Premier League stability, so perhaps appointing the 44-year-old Dubliner will prove another masterstroke.

Key Player

Others may grab the headlines, but Mikkel Damsgaard’s magic is the story behind them. He’s a joy to watch as he glides past players in tight situations and sprays inch-perfect passes; if he can add more goals to his assists (10 in the league last term), he’ll be Danish dynamite.

Lesson From Last Year

In the first half of 2024/25, Brentford beat all-comers at the Gtech but struggled on the road. Post-Christmas, it was the reverse. Why? Predominantly a quirk of the fixture list and the relative quality of their opponents, but the point remains that consistency is vital if Brentford are to build on last season’s 10th-place finish.

Thanks to Andrews, they conceded only twice from set-pieces – a league low – while scoring 13, and no side won more aerial duels per game (16.6) nor scored more headed goals (14). Kevin Schade struck four of them en route to a career-first 10-goal campaign. If it ain’t broke, Keith, don’t fix it: aim high and aim those passes higher.

The Mood

Traditional cautious optimism at the Gtech has been replaced by plain old caution – how will life look after Frank? Still, some things don’t change: Nathan Collins didn’t miss a minute of 2024/25, and he can help to manage the transition.

One To Watch

Yehor Yarmolyuk. The improving Ukrainian midfielder, 21, had a sustained run in the team at the tail end of last season and earned himself a new long-term contract.

Most Likely To

Look like he has zero control of his legs, while simultaneously being great at football: Michael Kayode. The 21-year-old Italian right-back already has a chant referencing spaghetti and Moretti, too.

Least Likely To

Be linked to joining Frank at Spurs: Caoimhin Kelleher. At least, you’d hope that would be the case, given that the goalkeeper has only just joined Brentford from Liverpool. The 26-year-old has had to be patient – very patient – deputising for Alisson but is now first-choice, and he’ll be busy: the departed Mark Flekken just made the most saves in Europe’s top five leagues.

FFT Verdict

16TH Exits on and off the pitch and the left-field appointment of Andrews may spell a season’s recalibration.

The Number Cruncher

The Fan View

How will Brentford look to buck all expectations – again – and rebuild from the ground up? We get the view from the stands from Billy ‘The Bee’ Grant…

Last season was totally unexpected. Ivan Toney’s replacement, Igor Thiago, and full-backs Aaron Hickey and Rico Henry all barely played, but squad players stood up. We’ll need that again.

The big talking point is Thomas Frank’s exit. We’re gutted. Players leave and we take it on the chin, but he’ll be seriously missed, as he’s a great manager and a lovely bloke. I wish him all the best, but hope we beat Spurs twice and finish seven places above them – again.

Our key player will be Kevin Schade. The German has come into his own after a slow start.

The active player I’d love to have back is Saïd Benrahma. We shredded Championship defences with the BMW (Benrahma, Mbuemo, Watkins). That’s the romantic in me.

I’m most looking forward to visiting Sunderland. We last played them when fans rattled around in their ground as they plummeted to tier three. Different vibe now. Cool new bars; great night out.

I won’t be happy unless we do the double over Fulham, who got a rare one over us last season.

The thing my club really gets right is not following the pack. The way we run our club, choose our head coaches and find our players is just… different.

The one change I’d make would be to build the much-heralded monorail, in the first stadium plans.

Fans think our gaffer is clued up as a Sky pundit...

We’ll finish 10th, and surprise a few people who expect us to be relegated.

These previews originally appeared in FourFourTwo's Season Preview issue which went on sale in July, available here with free delivery