Brentford is winning the league... in spending efficiency
The moneyball club is proving their method works.
Brentford is having a special season. A season so special in fact that there was a 1 in 4,000 chance of it happening.
Brentford’s exploits as a moneyball club are well reported. A structure dominated by intelligent scouting and ruthlessly efficient contracts - they are an outlier of financial stability in a football world rife with financial turmoil.
Relatively safe from relegation at 15th in the table this season’s performance may not look special to the naked eye. When you consider the full financial picture of Brentford’s operation relative to their Premier League peers those same eyes start to pop out of their sockets cartoon style.
Financial disclosures show Brentford is currently spending around £13m on player salaries which is a whopping 17 times less than the team that tops the league in that category: Manchester United. That’s not the most shocking number you’ll see though.
Teams in the Premier League are fighting for points and table position while club owners are fighting to make a profit or generate value, and only one team stands at the top of that list.
For every million £ spent on team salary, Brentford are winning an astonishing 2.84 points. The next closest team is Leeds at 1.78 and from there every other team drops off towards the average of .86 points per million £ spent.
While Leeds and Brentford break away from the pack, they are far from being in the same category altogether. Leeds’ efficiency should be lauded and is impressive but there is a marked difference to Brentford. There was a 1 in 18 chance of Leeds having the season they are having, while Brentford’s story is 1 in 4,000.
On the bell curve of points per millions spent, Brentford is 3.5 deviations away from the mean putting them in the top 0.025% of efficient teams in the Premier League this year.
In a post-covid world with new financial fair play rules on the horizon, Brentford look set to make themselves comfortable among the financial elites of the English Premier League. With sensible policies, a consistent manager, and a belief that the roster-building process is working, “the bees” seem poised for a long stay in the top division.
Do you really think our budget is £11m? Because that's just absolute nonsense