Brentford Football Club’s new training facility, set to open in the coming weeks, is to be named after former Technical Director Robert Rowan.

The Robert Rowan Performance Centre - which is likely to be in place for up to the next five years, enabling the Club to continue to develop its plans for a new permanent performance centre - is set to be ready for use by the end of November.

It will be officially named after Robert as part of the Club’s tributes to his memory and formally opened by his family in an official ceremony later this year.

Robert suffered a fatal cardiomyopathy episode in the early hours of Monday 12 November 2018 and died at the age of 28. He went to bed the night before and died in his sleep. He left behind his wife Suzanne, who he married in November 2016.

Robert had been Technical Director since February 2018 and had been with Brentford for just short of four years.

The application for the performance centre was initially granted permission on 30 June by Hounslow Council and was subsequently approved by the Mayor of London, with works now nearing completion.

This temporary facility will be in place for up to five years and has been developed on the opposite side of the site of the Club’s current training facilities at 100 Jersey Road, Osterley.

The new training facility, whilst temporary, will be of a much higher standard and represent a significant improvement, enabling the Club to continue to develop its plans for a state-of-the-art new permanent performance centre in the future.

Both the temporary facility and eventually the permanent performance centre will carry Robert’s name.

He joined Brentford in late 2014 and was appointed as the Club’s Head of Football Operations in the summer of 2015. Following the closure of the Club’s Academy in 2016, Robert was tasked with building the new Brentford B team, the Club’s elite squad of players aged 17 to 21. He was promoted to Technical Director at the start of 2018 and oversaw the Club’s recruitment department, a role he held until his untimely death.

Cliff Crown, Chair of Brentford FC said: “It is an honour for us to be able to name our new performance centre after Robert. He was a young man who made a big impact on Brentford. His ideas, his personality and his drive all made a lasting impression before his life was sadly cut short. This will be a lasting legacy for Robert, for his wife Suzanne and for his family.”

Chris Rowan, Robert’s father said: “I sit and watch all of Brentford’s games on TV with a picture of Robert beside me, both of us cheering them on. To hear that their new performance centre will carry Robert’s name fills me and all of our family with so much pride."

Robert’s route to Brentford was an unusual one in football terms. He got his first break after writing a scouting report on the 2008 UEFA Champions League final between Manchester United and Barcelona and sending it, unsolicited, to clubs in England and Scotland. He got a few replies and was invited to a meeting with Celtic, aged 18, impressing enough to be offered a job working with their Under-21 side.

After a year at Celtic, time with the Scottish FA and a coaching course at Elmwood College in Cupar, Fife, which enabled Robert to spend time working with a club in Sweden, he was offered a job as Sporting Director at Stenhousemuir. It was his work there that brought him to the attention of Brentford.

He was invited for an interview in August 2014 and, later that year, Robert joined Brentford as the Scouting Coordinator before he was eventually promoted to the role of Technical Director.

Earlier this month, the Club announced a new partnership with leading heart charities, the Heart of West London, in Robert’s name. See more on that here.

His memory lives on with Brentford FC and with those that worked with him.