Thomas Frank has reiterated that he’s ‘very happy’ at Brentford, but admits there are undoubtedly ‘good opportunities’ elsewhere and ‘you never know what’s going to happen in the future’.
The Dane steered Brentford into the top tier of English football for the first time in 74 years in 2021 and has led the club to 13th and ninth-placed finishes on their return to the big time.
This term, Brentford find themselves down in 16th spot ahead of their final match of the Premier League campaign at home to Newcastle, but Frank remains one of the most revered managers in the English game given the success he has achieved on a limited budget.
Recent reports indicated that Frank had been added to Manchester United’s shortlist of potential replacements for Erik ten Hag, with the Dutchman under intense pressure at Old Trafford.
The likes of Gareth Southgate, Graham Potter, Zinedine Zidane and Thomas Tuchel are also believed to be on United’s radar as INEOS and Sir Jim Ratcliffe consider their options for the forthcoming season and beyond.
Speaking to Danish media earlier this week, Frank distanced himself from speculation linking his name to United, while suggesting that he had already found the ‘perfect club’ in Brentford and ‘felt at home’ in west London.
When asked about those comments at his pre-match press conference this afternoon, Frank replied: ‘I didn’t say it was the most perfect club for me. I think it’s the perfect football life.
‘I think it would be for any football manager or head of media or player or staff member.
‘Yes, we are not Arsenal, City or Liverpool, a club of that size that can compete for titles, so it’s a different club. But what about Wolves or Brighton…?
‘There are so many good things here and so many structures, processes and people that make this, in my opinion, probably the best possible place for a lot of people to work at because the culture is good.
‘It’s a good atmosphere, we’re trying to go in the same direction, we’re aligned.
‘I’m not saying it’s not stressful. It’s painful to lose five on the bounce. I just said to the staff again that before the first season in the Premier League that we were never going to lose five in a row – I just had such belief. And then, boom, we lost five in a row in January so it’s still tough.
‘There are just many good things here and sometimes you need to acknowledge what you have.’
Pressed on whether he can feasibly achieve all of his ambitions at Brentford, Frank responded: ‘I can’t see why not. Ambition is many things.
‘Of course, I never know what’s going to happen in the future… maybe I’m staying here for the rest of my time in football.
‘Am I going to one other club at one time? Maybe. That’s probably also a good opportunity, but you never know.
‘What I know is that I’m very happy here and I think ambition is: how can I make the perfect club? How can we still try to win something? I don’t think that’s impossible.
‘I think the odds are probably against us to win the title but we can win other things. How can you beat the odds and make results where maybe once a year we qualify for Europe? You never know.
‘I don’t want to set any aims because if you put an aim up there, you guys will ask me, “You want to go top four next year and every single time you aren’t top four… Thomas, you said top four but you’re not there yet”, so there’s no reason to say that. But we want to win the next game and we’re very ambitious.’
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