Thomas Frank and Brentford will hold Leeds’ Premier League future in their hands in Sunday’s final day relegation shoot-out.
Leeds may need to win depending on what Burnley do in their last two games to avoid slipping back down to the Championship after two seasons in the top flight. Bees fans will relish this scenario after the bitter rivalry between the sides during the promotion battle in 2020.
The bad blood between the clubs began in February 2020 when Frank claimed Leeds would “fear” facing them at Griffin Park because they had lost four of their previous five games. Leeds drew and went on to walk the Championship and they remembered Frank’s jibe during their celebrations.
A video has recently resurfaced showing Liam Cooper and Stuart Dallas singing, “Mind the gap, Thomas Frank” as they danced with the Football League trophy. Brentford striker Ivan Toney retweeted the clip with the message “Hmm” and the clubs’ fortunes have changed since they were rivals in the Championship two years ago.
Frank claims Leeds can expect no favours from Brentford and says they have to be professional and give their all on Sunday.
“First and foremost, we have to be very professional and want to win every game for the Brentford fans and also I think it’s very important to respect to the league and try and do everything we can because if I was in that situation, I’d expect that from the other teams,” he said.
“Of course, we will put our very best team out there and it’s so important to understand we need to do our very best to win.
“It’s nothing about Everton, Burnley or Leeds and I know at my press conference next week, I will get a lot of questions about the story about me and a video with some Leeds fans, but there is no story there from my perspective.We want to try and do our best to win on Sunday and if Brentford can finish in the top 10, then that would be remarkable.”
Frank has tried to play down the re-emergence of the video showing Cooper and Dallas. “It was a story from two years ago in the Championship,” he said when asked to explain it. “I’m very transparent and honest and I don’t do mind games and I by mistake said I think they will fear coming to Griffin Park, that’s what I said. That’s the only thing I said two years ago. I haven’t said anything bad and I think Leeds is one of the biggest clubs in the country.
“I think they should be in the Premier League with their story and their history, I think they have done remarkably well. Of course, I can’t say I want them to stay up more than Everton or Burnley. The three of them need to fight for it and then we will see who is there.”
Pontus Jansson will be fired up to face his old side and the Swedish centre-half joined Brentford from Leeds in 2019. When Frank was asked if Jansson will feels Sunday’s game is extra special, he replied: “I think you need to ask him about that, but I think it will be.”
