Brentford director of football Phil Giles and head coach Thomas Frank have stressed the importance of a player’s character when looking at potential new signings.

The pair were asked about the Bees’ transfer policy during this week’s Fans Forum at the Gtech Community Stadium, which was streamed online by Club partner BlueJeans by Verizon.

Giles said: “Obviously the character of the player is absolutely key, so that's the one thing that goes across all new players and staff members.

“In terms of attributes, with players that can vary depending on their position, vary depending on whether we need a set-piece taker or some aerial threat. Maybe we need some pace in the team or some experience. You try to get that balance throughout the squad, so in any given window you're looking for different things.

“If we’re looking for a left-back, for example, we’ll put together a dossier of all the different things we want. We want him to be good at one-on-one defending, good with crosses, good in the air - there are many different things.

“When it comes down to it, it’s really two things. One is to really prioritise what you really need and the second is looking at what we can actually get at the time, who is out there to buy right now because that isn’t always a perfect fit.”

Frank added that doing your homework is a key part of the signing process, especially when you are talking about a subjective topic like player personality traits.

He said: “It is difficult. When we meet the player it is, of course, about having a good feeling, but the process is more about having a lot of references for the player. So, we’ll have more or less ten references, and if we see that one of them is bad it could be enough to make us think about things.

“Going on with what Phil said, it's extremely important that we have good characters. I think a lot of the players would say it themselves, they are so aware of the team mentality and that's why I think we have a chance to go to Manchester City and beat them.”

Giles also spoke about the approach to outgoing transfers and how player contracts are looked at from inside the Club, as well as mentioning the difficulty in negotiating a winter window.

He explained: “We plan no more than two windows ahead of time. Once you get to the summer each year, the key thing there is looking at contracts. Once you have player contracts with maybe one or two years to go, you know which ones you want to extend and the ones which are unlikely to be extended. Then you can look go from there.

“All the best ideas and plans are always a bit tricky in January to get the right deal and the right price. We’re always trying to do what we can do in terms of quality players to improve the team. I don’t know where we’ll get to in January, but we’ll give it a go.

“I don’t look at this team and see an obvious gap or hole in the squad. We are pretty strong all over the place, we trust the players, and there’s no reason to go and throw money at someone for no reason.”

“It's extremely important that we have good characters. They are so aware of the team mentality and that's why I think we have a chance to go to Manchester City and beat them”