Lewis Macleod spent much of his four-and-a-half years at Brentford on the sidelines as the former Rangers midfielder endured some bad fortune with injuries.
Now Macleod is determined to put those tormenting times to good use as he embarks on a new career. Forced to retire at 28, Macleod is taking his first baby steps towards finding a job in recruitment or coaching. He’s started online modules and applied to begin his badges.
And he reveals that lessons learned behind the scenes at trailblazing Brentford will be an inspiration. Macleod soaked up so much knowledge, seeing how the innovative west London club was set up to succeed by owner Matthew Benham’s data-driven and analytics approach. They won promotion from League One under Mark Warburton in May 2014, eight months before Macleod signed for £1million.
On Sunday they travel to troubled Aston Villa as the last word in Premier League coaching continuity, managed by former assistant boss Thomas Frank and competing for a top-half place.
Such a lofty perch is no surprise to Macleod who worked exhaustively with a range of specialists, including a sleep coach, at Brentford. Set-piece coach Nicolas Jover, now scheming the free-kicks for title contending Arsenal, was one early influence.
Macleod said: “I’m not surprised by Brentford’s rise. Being there opened my eyes to how differently you can prepare for games and play. The thought process that goes into a game and how it can benefit the team is something I’m interested in. Hopefully I can take that wherever I go.
“We had two weekly meetings with a set-piece coach to work on our free-kicks and the opposition’s. At the start, you think, ‘What’s this? A set piece coach? I’ve never heard the likes!’ But Nicolas was so passionate, then playing a part in how successful it was – and seeing where he is now – tells you how important it all was.
“Every set-piece aspect you can think of, we covered it. We were totally in sync by game time. And if I have six extra assists from set-pieces, other teams look at that. As much as it helped the team, it definitely helped the individual. That explains why players moved from Brentford for a lot of money.”
Serious hamstring and knee injuries denied Macleod the opportunity to fit the bill at Brentford where players are unearthed for relative bargains and sold for monster profits. Ollie Watkins (Exeter) and Ezri Konsa (Charlton) moved on to Aston Villa at a combined cost of £42m via the Bees. West Ham’s Said Benrahma and Neal Maupay, formerly Brighton and now Everton, are other examples.
Macleod said: “Andre Gray came in for £500,000 and, a year later, got sold for £9m to Burnley in my first season. Watkins, Benrahma and Maupay were the front three the season before I left – and we still didn’t go up!
“The recruitment is superb. They’ll only go on to bigger and better things. The set-up is good and the owner is a great guy who knows what he’s doing.”
Current head coach Frank was promoted when Dean Smith departed to Villa in 2018. Macleod recalls: “Thomas’ one-to-one coaching was superb and he took the step up to manager in his stride.
“Every single coaching session was enjoyable and he was approachable if things weren’t going right. As a player, that’s so important. He would tell you straight, too, never sugar-coated anything. I discovered that a few times I went to speak to Thomas when I wasn’t in the team under Dean. His staff’s dedication and approach is everything I’d want to take into coaching if going down that route.”
Macleod was a star of the ‘The Journey’ at Rangers before leaving midway through 2014-15 – the first season in the Championship.
He said: “I never wanted to go to London but the bid was accepted and that was it. One day I was in doing rehab, the next I was saying goodbye to everyone. It was really weird. Ally McCoist, Kenny McDowall and Ian Durrant – as hard as it was for them taking Rangers at the time – were always great for young kids like me.
“Durrant had bad injuries too. He phoned me last year and said if I needed any help football or training-wise to just phone. I’ll always remember that.”
