Thomas Frank admits he takes extra pride from Brentford’s success being achieved “against the odds”.
Brentford return to action after the international break seventh in the Premier League, and with a first top-flight visit from neighbours Chelsea since March 1947.
Fulham and QPR have been frequent west London visitors in recent years, but it is a measure how far Brentford have come under Frank that it is the European champions who are now making the short journey across the capital.
Thomas Tuchel’s league leaders are packed with international talent and this summer smashed their transfer record to re-sign Romelu Lukaku from Inter Milan for a reported £97.5million.
“Our feeling of being proud of this performance to achieve promotion to the Premier League is massive,” said Frank, whose side are four points adrift of pacesetters Chelsea after taking 12 from their opening seven games.
“The feeling would be big no matter if we were clearly the best club with the most money in the Championship. It’s that bit extra, you’re even more proud when it’s a little bit against the odds.
“You know you don’t have the most money, you are a smaller club, you build it over time – and that definitely gives me fantastic satisfaction.
“I think when you are up there as the best teams – and City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Man United are the four teams that stand out – all of them have much more money.
“They are very proud when they win the title, but when you compete against the odds I think that gives you bigger satisfaction.”
Newcastle’s takeover has been completed since Brentford last played, the 2-1 win at West Ham that extended the Bees’ unbeaten Premier League run to three games.
A consortium led by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund bought the Magpies in a £300m deal.
Asked if Newcastle’s cash injection made his job tougher, Frank said: “I may be the wrong manager to answer that question. I believe we have the lowest budget of all clubs in the league.
“If another club gets more money than us, then so be it. It will always be like that as long as we have a competition like this in Europe, and not in the USA where they are doing it differently.
“Some clubs have more money than other clubs, so that difference will always be there.
“I just hope that this Financial Fair Play can actually be executed and looked after.
“It’s something you need to look into if you want a relatively fair competition.”
Brentford meet Chelsea buoyed by the fact they have already beaten Arsenal and drawn at home to Liverpool this season.
“There is no doubt our fans have been amazing and we need a top performance from them again to be on it,” Frank said.
“The thing I was pleased with against Liverpool was that the two times we went behind the noise was even higher in the next couple of minutes.
“That is so important, because no matter who you are – a world-class player from Chelsea or a good Premier League player from Brentford – there are moments in the game where are you ARa little bit down mentally and that’s where we get help from the fans.”
