Jon Varney was a guest on The Athletic Football Podcast earlier this month. The podcast runs four times a week through the season covering a range of topics. Jon spoke to presenter Mark Chapman and Athletic reporter Matt Slater for an interview that was used on the podcast and in a piece on the Athletic website.

Jon spoke about Brentford's move to a new stadium in the summer of 2020 after 116 years at Griffin Park. He outlined the challenges of moving to a new stadium during the COVID pandemic and what it was like to compete in the Premier League, which Brentford are doing for the first time this season. The high profile signing of Denmark international Christian Eriksen was also discussed.

“We have managed to find the most incredibly tight but perfect piece of land — less than a mile from Griffin Park. No, it doesn’t have a pub on every corner, but it is still in the heart of the community. We are located in an area of huge commercial growth.

"We also border Hounslow and Ealing, boroughs that are incredibly diverse. We have the affluence of Richmond and Chiswick next to us. I don’t think we could have selected a better place to lay down our new home.

"I don't think it's changed us massively. Griffin Park was a stadium that I think was very dear to many, many football fans, not only Brentford fans, it was one of the last old school football stadiums but for us as an organization to grow our revenues, it was a handbrake.

"We've now got hospitality facilities for 1,500 supporters and local businesses. That is a massive, massive game changer for us in terms of revenue generating opportunities. But, at its core, I really hope that the matchday experience at the new stadium is as good as the matchday experience was at the old stadium."

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