Cliff Crown said he was pleased with what he saw as he watched Brentford’s Under-15s in the Dale Farm Milk Cup Vase Final on Friday.

The Brentford Chairman flew over to Northern Ireland on Friday Morning as The Bees took on Sheffield United in the Vase Final at the long-running Youth Tournament.

Despite losing the game 1-0 to The Blades, Cliff said that he was buoyed by what he saw and the style which the young Brentford players played in.

“I am a big fan of the Academy and the club and Matthew Benham have put a lot of money into the kids,” said Cliff, speaking to Bees Player after the final. “We can see them as part of the future of the club so I thought it was a good opportunity to come and see the Under 15s. I have seen the Under-16s and Under-18s but this was my first chance to have a look at them. Technically there are some very good players in this group and they play football. I was pleased with the overall performance today but they didn’t get the result that they wanted.”

The progression and growth of the Academy has been one of the central themes of Brentford’s project under Matthew Benham.

Over the last five years the Academy has grown to being one of the strongest in the South East of England with a number of graduates knocking on the door of first-team football.

Moving forward Cliff said this growth and conveyor belt of talent will be key to creating a sustainable future for The Bees.

“We are not in this for the short-term,” said Cliff. “This is a long-term project and we have been working with the Academy, with Ose Aibangee leading it, for the past five years. You can see that they are learning the right things and they are playing football the right way.

“We want them to grow, develop, and improve and hopefully they can get into the first-team in years to come. We want to be a sustainable football club and to do that you have to build from the bottom up. Developing youngsters who can get into the first-team is undoubtedly the right way to go and we are very committed to that project.”

Having seen the talent coming through the age-groups in recent months Cliff believes there are lots of reasons to be positive for the future.

“We all know the statistics in football and they say that only a handful of boys will make it to the top,” said Cliff. “However, I have seen enough good talent in our Academy to know that some of these boys will do well.”