And, well, yeah, here he is intruding in the first paragraph of a wider piece on the state of the team and the club. This was the underlying and then overlying narrative behind their stagnant 2023/24 season, which ended in a 16th-place Premier League finish. It almost made outsiders forget they were a couple of points away from European qualification the year prior.
That was modern Brentford at their apex. A forward-thinking, ahead-of-the-curve club punching well above their weight, so nearly achieving a dream of continental football - 59 points was no joke. Thomas Frank and his men tried to rely on whatever continuity they had heading into last season, with Toney banned for the first half of it due to betting offences and goalkeeper heading to .
The major signings they did make, namely defender and Raya replacement , took some time to get going. The spanner in the works was an injury crisis which hung over this picturesque patch of west London like a stormy cloud. Seemingly no one was spared and Frank had to rotate his team week on week, cohesion now merely a luxury rather than their strength.
His plans to implement a more progressive style akin to their days in the Championship became complicated. Even heading into 2024/25, Brentford may be forced to change their strategy in regards to Toney, who is into the last 12 months of his contract. His club-record replacement, , is unlikely to play again until December at the earliest after hurting his knee in a friendly with AFC Wi.