Former Brentford chair Dan Tana passed away in August 2025 at the age of 90.

Under his stewardship, Brentford earned promotion to the Third Division at the end of the 1977/78 season alongside manager Bill Dodgin Jnr.

Tana remained involved with the club until 2002, when he resigned from the board.

On what would have been his 91st birthday, Peter Gilham, Bob Booker, Jackie Graham and Steve Phillips have shared their memories of one of the most important and influential figures in Brentford’s post-war history.

Peter Gilham

"When Dan became chairman at Brentford, it was a time when I was travelling on the train with the fans and, indeed, he used to travel on the train and would mix with fans. He was a really good guy. He wanted to talk to the fans, to get to know what they wanted and was very keen on that aspect, unlike the vast majority of chairmen, who wouldn't even think about having time with fans.

"He was an amazing man and so good for Brentford. We needed somebody like that at that time. It wasn't a great period in our history, certainly if you look at our more recent history, but we just needed somebody like him to come in and try to put the club back on track, which he did. He stabilised the club because we were in a poor way and he brought good people in.

"I got to know him better over the years and he was the most interesting person I've ever met in my life. I was lucky enough to have dinner with him on a number of occasions and I could sit there all night.

"He was a people's person and just very, very approachable. In certain respects, he opened Brentford up because he was so personable. I think a lot of people warmed to Brentford Football Club at a time when we had been struggling, thanks to Dan's personality.

"He was a real football man and, wherever he was in the world, he would call me probably every four or five weeks to talk about Brentford and how things were going. He would follow Serbia as well and I think he’d been to every country in Europe just with football. His in-depth knowledge of football was incredible.

"If he was in London, we'd try and meet up. He came to Brentford two seasons ago and I gave him a tour around the stadium. Another time, I invited Bradley Walsh and Chris Kamara, who knew him as well.

"There were so many wonderful stories he could tell you. For example, he met up with Marilyn Monroe the night before she died, as her house was just a few miles from his restaurant. A short walk away was The Troubadour, where everybody started out in the States, and he even had stories about presidents.

"Dan Tana’s opened in 1964 as a restaurant and it became the hub. Spago or Dan Tana’s were the main two restaurants stars would go to after the Oscars. In 2004, they had been going for 40 years, and he had 12 footballs signed by 40 stars, including George Clooney and Elizabeth Taylor.

"10 of those he kept in the States, one went to a guy he knew at Red Star Belgrade and the other he sent to me at Brentford - and I’ve still got that ball wrapped and secure at the training ground. He told me the very first one went to auction in Hollywood and sold for $100,000.

"He sold the restaurant to a friend of his for about $6 million in 2009 and retired back to Belgrade. He still had his place in Jelsa on the island of Hvar.

"The last time I heard from Dan was just a few weeks before he passed away.

"Up until the end, he had a love for Brentford, he wanted us to do well, wanted to know what was happening and was on top of the situation. He would know the results and we’d talk about games that were coming up.

"His daughter Gabrielle lives in London most of the time as a film producer and I keep in touch with her. She was at the Aston Villa game. I told her what we were doing as a tribute to Dan and she said she was going to send a film crew herself, but I told her we could get it covered.

"I picked up an email after the game and she said she was actually there at the game and was so moved by what Brentford had done.

"We were very close friends. Like I said, there probably wouldn't be any more than two months at any time that he wouldn't contact me, over the last five or six years particularly. It was just a fantastic relationship and one I hold very dear.

"He was, most certainly, one of a kind."

Bob Booker

"Dan was my first chairman and, people might disagree, but back in the 70s and 80s, that’s when chairmen were chairmen. They let the manager get on with the job in hand and that was important.

"When Bill Dodgin was manager, Dan stayed out of his way, but he wasn’t one of those that kept away from the club; he was involved with the players. He was a player’s man and would keep the club functioning.

"You would see him at social events and the games and you knew you could just have a normal chat with him as he was very approachable.

"We had a couple of trips out to his place in Yugoslavia. I remember getting a boat to this fantastic little island where he had a villa and restaurant. The waiters came out with a pig roasted on a spit and he would sit and have a beer with us.

"He knew his football and had strong opinions about the game. On the Friday before most home games, we’d have a nice meal at a restaurant in Ealing and Dan would turn up and have a glass of red wine with us. It was all very laid back; he was just part of the group.

"He gave me my first contract, so I should thank him for that! Bill signed me, but the chairman had to A-okay it. I left my job in 1978 on £350 a week and signed for Dan for £60 a week - my mum went mad and my dad was happy!"

Jackie Graham

"He was a really nice guy; just a really smashing guy and very interesting to talk to about what he’d done. He wanted to get to know us all and no one had a bad word to say about him.

"He had a good sense of humour and I’ve got some good stories I couldn’t mention here!

"He tried to get me over to America to play as well, but Bill Dodgin wasn’t having any of that. I had been in Dallas when I was at Dundee United, but I don’t like flying. Eventually, he took Andy McCulloch over for a little while.

"I never heard him interfere with the playing side of things. He’d always encourage us in the dressing room before games and would shake my hand. He used to bring stars to the dressing room as well sometimes. He wined and dined us up in London.

"I met him a couple of times after I left in 1980 and we’d have a chat and a drink and he was just the same guy he always was.

"I will just remember him as such a gentleman. He was just a lovely man - one of a kind."

Steve Phillips

"Dan treated everyone the same the whole time I was there, from the apprentices to me and Andy McCulloch. He was as good as gold with them.

"When we got promoted in 1978, he celebrated with us in the bath with his suit on! That night, we all went round to Jackie Graham’s house afterwards - you wouldn’t see a chairman in a player’s house today, would you?!

"It just so happened that he brought the paper round with him and Spurs had offered £120,000 for me. He asked me what I thought and I asked he if wanted to sell me. He said no, so I said I wasn’t bothered about going. In those days, I would only have been sitting on the bench. That was the end of the conversation.

"After that, we all went up to Morton’s in Berkeley Square and there were three or four of us, Bill Dodgin, Dan Tana and Rick Wakeman. Rick was on the piano playing, shall we say, rugby songs, and we were all in there having a drink. It was absolutely brilliant.

"He later put me on a good contract and added a clause that no one could earn more money than me. He said, if another player came in that wanted more than me, I would get a rise, so I said, ‘Well, I’d better sign it then!’

"Another time, when I was looking to buy a new car, I went to the bank to get a loan and he told me after training one day to leave my car open - and it turned out he put the money underneath the seat for me. When I left, I mentioned paying him back and he denied all knowledge!

"He was like a friend and all the players thought the world of him. He was a lovely man."