We caught up with Chief Executive, Jon Varney, at yesterday’s partnership launch where he announced that the stadium will be renamed as the Gtech Community Stadium.

Jon spoke about the stadium preparations, hosting the UEFA Women’s EURO and the growth in the team behind the scenes.

Shared values

Bringing a stadium naming rights partner on board has been big undertaking for the Club, with Jon confident that we have found a great partner.

“We’ve been incredibly cautious about the type of organisation and brand that we put above the door here and give the naming rights to,” said Jon.

“We genuinely feel we’ve found a real partner in Gtech; an organisation that shares our values.”

The EUROs – a fantastic showcase for the Club

Jon also reflected on our experiences in hosting the UEFA Women’s EURO: “We've had four Women's EURO matches and they've been great fun to host. They've really put Brentford on the map, not just in the UK, but in international markets. It was just brilliant for the organisation and a fantastic showcase for the Club.”

Safe standing, one of many summer projects

Fans attending the EUROs also got a chance to see the new safe standing areas in action; another significant stadium project carried out over the summer.

Jon said: “I think everyone that doesn't work in football thinks that the minute the final whistle is blown on the last game of the season that we all go off on our holidays for six to eight weeks.

“But the summer months are probably our most intense. We're planning for the season coming, we've got kit launches to do, there is a lot of development within the stadium, including the safe standing areas that have gone in.

“We're really pleased to have safe standing. We did a survey with all of our fans about 12 months ago, and the overriding desire was to get safe standing in. So, we've installed it in the West Stand and in the away areas. Hopefully it will add to the atmosphere at what is already one of the most atmospheric stadiums in the Premier League.”

New staff to support Club’s growth

With all of that in mind, Jon outlined that a number of new staff have been recruited to help support the next phase of the Club’s plans.

“We're also growing the organisation rapidly, not just here at the stadium and our offices at Great West Road, but also at Jersey Road,” said Jon.

“I feel more prepared for this season coming than we did our first year in the Premier League. Winning that play-off final at Wembley Stadium and then starting a Premier League season so soon after meant that we weren't quite ready for it. But we've had a year under our belts and now we have more staff and we're far better prepared.

“Our main priorities are clearly to finish as high as we possibly can. That's what we went into last season with and our strategy hasn't changed.”