Marinus Dijkhuizen said he was excited by the possibility of becoming the new Brentford Head Coach and felt his vision matched that of the Club.
The 43-year-old Dutchman was announced as Brentford’s new Head Coach on Monday, 1 June.
He spoke to Bees Player for the first time yesterday, Thursday 4 June, as part of his media unveiling and said Brentford had approached him earlier this year.
Marinus was Head Coach at S.B.V. Excelsior before taking the Brentford job and said he felt Brentford was a bigger version of the Dutch club.
Marinus told Bees Player he was following the fortunes of FC Midtjylland – the Danish Superliga champions where Brentford FC Owner Matthew Benham has the majority shareholding.
He said he had also heard a talk by Rasmus Ankersen – Brentford FC Co-Director of Football and Chairman at FC Midtjylland – and was keen to work in a similar project.
“Brentford contacted me and asked if I would be interested,” said Marinus.
“I was excited by the prospect as I was following the vision of FC Midtjylland already, I had read Rasmus’ book and seen a presentation from him.
“The vision was interesting.
“When I was asked if I was interested, I said ‘yes, of course’.
“I came to London four times and met everybody.
“We had a lot good conversations about how to play football and what their vision is.
“Also, what my vision is.
“I felt it was a good fit.
“This is a club a bit like Excelsior, a family club, but much bigger.
“I felt I wanted to the job.”
Marinus said his wife and two daughters would not be moving to London with him.
He said that was a sacrifice he had to make.
“I wasn’t thinking about moving to another country,” said Marinus.
“I was very happy at Excelsior.
“We spoke about it at home.
“I was excited about the opportunity but I have two daughters – five and 11 – and my wife doesn’t want to come here at the start.
“I will go back and they will come over when they can.
“It is a big opportunity and you have to make sacrifices.”
Marinus outlined how he wanted Brentford to play.
“My vision is to play football from the back,” he explained.
“I have seen Brentford play and they play very good football.
“I liked the attacking play.
“When I took over at Excelsior, I started to play attacking football because we were one of the best sides in the second division.
“We scored a lot of goals, that is how I want to play – pressing forwards and entertaining the public.
“But getting good results is the most important thing.
“Sometimes you have to sacrifice the football for the results.
“This season at Excelsior we were more defensive because I felt it was realistic to play that way, we were not one of the best teams in the top division.
“We stayed up.
“You have to be realistic about your way of playing, attack when you can but you have to defend.
“We hope to have one of the best teams in the Championship, I want to attack.”
Marinus admitted he did not know much about the Sky Bet Championship.
He said one of his tasks was to get used to the league.
“I don’t know much about the Championship,” said Marinus.
“I have seen a couple of games but we will have to get used to it.
“There is good football.
“I hope that we can play good attacking football and add a tactical aspect on the field.
“It is new for us, we will watch games and we will get used to it.”
The Bees finished fifth in the Sky Bet Championship last season and lost in the Play-Off Semi-Final to Middlesbrough.
Marinus said he did not feel a pressure to better that achievement but he wanted to do it.
He said that having finished fifth, Brentford still had four places above to target.
“I am not thinking about it as a pressure, it is a good base to build on,” he said.
“Brentford play good football and finished fifth.
“That is better than finishing tenth and not playing good football.
“That would be more difficult.
“We can start at a high level and hopefully give a bit more.
“It is a big opportunity for us.”