In 2013/14, Brentford finished runners-up in League One. It was the Bees’ first promotion to the second tier in more than 20 years and marked the beginning of the club’s eventual rise to the Premier League.

To celebrate the 10-year anniversary of Brentford’s 2013/14 promotion-winning campaign, we’re speaking with the key members of the squad and staff to discover the secrets of a successful season.

Next up is Alan McCormack, whose versatility saw him feature as a right-back and centre-midfielder during the promotion season, which led to him winning the club’s Supporters’ Player of the Year award and a place in the League One Team of the Year.

Scorching sunshine, six goals and a thrilling penalty shootout that led to a Wembley final. Brentford’s League One play-off semi-final second leg win over Swindon Town in May 2013 will live long in the memory.

Of the many classic matches at Griffin Park, this one was right up there.

In hindsight, it was a strange day for Alan McCormack. What turned out to be his final game as a Swindon player was, ironically, played at the stadium he would call home for the next four years.

Before Brentford had even played Yeovil Town in the aforementioned final, they had made an approach for the Irishman. Two years earlier, they had pounced to sign Jonathan Douglas after he rejected the Robins’ contract extension - and now history was about to repeat itself.

“Uwe Rösler called after the play-off game and, after I went on holiday, we managed to sit down and chat,” McCormack explains.

“I loved his vision, loved where the club wanted to go. Regardless of the division Brentford were going to be in, he still wanted the signing to be done, so that was quite nice because I knew it was a serious conversation. I joined for pre-season and the rest is history.”

McCormack signed a two-year contract and quickly became a key component of the Bees midfield. The fact he never shirked a tackle and his effort levels rarely, if ever, dipped made him a fan favourite, but also a favourite of Rösler.

“Uwe was very demanding," McCormack continues. "He didn’t like players dropping below the standards and he was vocal about that every day in training, that sunk into a lot of players.

"A lot of them were driven by Uwe’s style of coaching and his demanding presence around the place to push themselves for any manager they played for after that. 

“Sometimes you just wanted a minute to yourself, but he was on you - and rightly so. To compete at any level, you have to be on it every day. He wanted men that were willing to have a tear up. 

“It’s a big thing nowadays for managers to have trust in players and he did. You knew that, if you weren’t at your best, technically or tactically, you could certainly physically go at people and win a game just being a physical presence running, winning your 50/50s, your duels and all those little things. When you have a dressing room like that, you set your own standards and don’t let them drop.”

In previous editions of On the Rise, the midfield unit of 2013/14 has been a topic of conversation. With the likes of Adam Forshaw, George Saville and Toumani Diagouraga in there, its strength is undoubted.

Though McCormack started in the middle of the park, from October 2013 onwards, he was Shaleum Logan’s replacement at right-back, with Rösler seemingly displeased with performances from the defender, who left for Aberdeen in January 2014.

Previous experience playing in the backline helped him to excel in Logan’s place.

“Paulo Di Canio had converted me to a centre-back in the first year at Swindon," says McCormack.

"Height was always going to be a challenge, but I felt I was really suited to it and I learned so much about the tactical side of the game from him. Being able to see and control the midfielders in front of me helped my development in that area.

“Uwe kept me there and I loved it. I could run, I could get up and down, I liked a tackle and I was a decent passer of the ball.

"Technically, I was fine, and I wasn’t a bad defender in one-v-one situations. Playing in a possession-based team, where we dominated a lot of the time, made it a lot easier to fit in. I’m sure it would have been different if I was getting run at every weekend, though!”

From the start of September onwards, McCormack played in all bar two games until the end of the season, the majority of which came on the right side of defence. His efforts earned him the Supporters’ Player of the Year award and a place in the League One Team of the Year.

His celebrations differed to those of many of his team-mates, though. He was first kept away from the group after a random drugs test at the end of the Preston game and, after a memorable night at the Lord Nelson, he decided not to go on the trip to Las Vegas - for good reason.

“My partner was pregnant and was due during the trip," he recalls. 

"I had booked on, then booked off, and then re-booked on because I thought it would be okay - and then I finally saw sense!”

McCormack remained at Brentford for another three seasons after the promotion, with his presence, without doubt, invaluable to the cause.

But the appearances were a lot less frequent to that first year; after 45 in 2013/14, he managed only 56 across the next three, which represented an average of 19 per season.

He started as Mark Warburton’s first-choice right-back in the Championship and completed 90 minutes in 12 of the first 14 games but, in the 3-1 defeat at Bolton on 25 October 2014, he suffered a major ankle injury, which certainly had a knock-on effect.

“A couple of lads fell on the back of my heel and I snapped all the ligaments in my ankle,” he says. “I went in for surgery and had them re-done, which put me out for three months.

“As you get into your 30s and pick up a significant injury like that, you try to rush back and I picked up my first calf injury, which led to another. Then I was picking up niggles, then I had a groin problem, and it was just stop-start from then on. 

“The team was playing phenomenally and so I didn’t have much of a problem with not playing. The frustrations came out the odd time and I was frustrated to not be starting but, looking back now, I get it. You don’t change a winning team. It didn’t take the enjoyment and the love out because the team was doing well."

Perhaps because he has had time to reflect, McCormack says those difficult times taught him plenty of lessons: “You learn a lot about yourself. I’ve seen it, over time, that players that aren’t in the team coming in and sulking and not training properly can have a huge detrimental effect on the actual dressing room. That can filter to younger players so quickly and, when they see other players acting like that, they start doing it.

“I probably became a better professional because of that time. I changed things in my lifestyle, started looking into sleep and took on a private chef that changed my diet up. I was looking for an edge to get ahead of people in front of me. 

“It took a lot of what people might call sacrifices, but I’ve learned they are not sacrifices, they are investments.”

McCormack left Brentford at the end of his contract in June 2017 and, after an “unbelievable” presentation was delivered to him by Nathan Jones, opted to sign for Luton Town, who were then in League Two.

That did not make leaving west London any easier, though.

“In all honesty, I was gutted, but I knew it was coming," he admits.

"I don’t hold any grudges because people make decisions for the club and I totally understand from a football and business point of view, but I was just gutted to not be part of the journey anymore. It was one of my favourite times in football.

“I understand what it means to be a Brentford player and a Luton player, and I see so many similarities between the two clubs, which is probably why I love both clubs so much and I have had so many good times at each one.”

After time at Northampton Town in 2019/20, McCormack retired at the end of his fourth spell at Southend United, aged 37, in the summer of 2021. A few months later, he returned to Luton as an academy coach and has since progressed to the first-team set-up at Kenilworth Road.

At the end of the 50-minute interview, he explains his journey on the other side of the touchline so far.

“I did my Level 2 and B Licence at Brentford and I straightaway got on the A Licence at the end of my time at there," he says.

"A year into the A Licence, because I was playing and getting older, I didn’t want to take any more rest time away and fell away from it a little bit.

“I went off to uni and studied a master's degree because I wanted to stay in football, but wasn’t sure whether coaching was for me.

"At Northampton, I was chatting to Keith Curle about my A Licence as it had been about two years since I really should have had it finished.

“He started pushing me to take smaller groups with the first team and the under-15s and under-16s, too. On a Friday, he would take the starting XI for shape work and I would take anyone that was left over for a mini session, which helped me get the bug back.”

After retiring, McCormack had planned to take time away from the game and enjoy a holiday or two during the periods he would not have been able to do so as a player. Six weeks into that freedom, he knew he had to return: “I wouldn’t say it was a sliding doors moment, but Mick Harford asked me to a golf day at Luton and said that a under-15/16s role had come up that I should apply for.

“I applied for it, had the interview, and they didn’t want to not offer me something, so they opened up the under-13s role for me - I took the lead on that for that season.

“I absolutely loved it, but look back and wish I’d have got into that earlier.

“Then I supported the under-21s on a Tuesday and Thursday to get more coaching hours and getting used to leading. 

"I did one year of that, then I got the under-18s job at Luton last year. We had a really strong group, did really well in both leagues, and reached the fifth round of the FA Youth Cup.”

In pre-season, Hatters boss Rob Edwards approached him about stepping up to the first team, for whom he is now a set-piece coach.

“It’s very demanding and the level of detail is frightening at times. You cannot miss anything because, if you do, teams will exploit you," he says.

"The demands jump through the roof from the Championship to the Premier League, as Brentford will know.

“I miss the day-to-day coaching, but that’s not my role now. I’m still a young coach with a lot of learning to do, but I know where I want to go and I’m taking so much on board.”

With the A Licence now complete, Premier League experience - in a historic season - under his belt, as well as a clear career pathway, the sky now seems to be the limit for the Irishman.