Brentford B Head Coach Neil MacFarlane has just begun his fourth season in charge of the young Bees.

They go into the 2022/23 campaign following a successful 2021/22 season which saw a Premier League debut for Nathan Young-Coombes, a London Senior Cup campaign which culminated in winning a trophy, as well as a chance to compete in first team tournaments in Cyprus and Portugal.

A new season for the B Team has also seen a number of new faces arrive after the likes of Dom Jefferies, Ben Hockenhull and Lewis Gordon earned permanent moves to the Football League whilst Young-Coombes, Paris Maghoma, Daniel Oyegoke and Lachlan Brook all secured exciting loan opportunities. Those new players in the group mean there is a fresh feel about this current crop of B Team youngsters who will set about an exciting year of development at the club.

“There have been a number of changes to our group with players leaving us at the end of last season,” said Neil. “It’s been pleasing to see some of those players go on to join some good clubs. We have players who have joined us this season and are starting to gel. It (the team) will settle down in time, and we know we have great recruitment at this football club and we will get stronger and stronger.”

The new faces within the B Team come with 16-year-olds Isaac Holland and Tony Yogane whilst Ukrainian midfielder Yehor Yarmoliuk has also joined the group. Added to that, wingers Max Dickov, Michael Olakigbe and Kyreece Lisbie have linked up with the team alongside forward player Lucias Vine and central midfielder Max Wilcox.

On some of his new recruits, Neil says he is excited to watch their development over the coming campaign. He continued: “We have a really good blend of those younger players in Isaac and Tony from Sheffield Wednesday. We’ve also been able to sign Yehor from Dnipro-1 and he has settled in remarkably well. It’s huge credit to him and everyone at the club working together to help him settle in. He’s getting stronger and stronger by the day as are all the players in the group and we look forward to the games ahead.”

Having seen the likes of talented players in Nathan, Paris, Daniel and Lachlan step out on loan for the season to build on their experiences away from Jersey Road, Neil says he’s excited to track their development in first team football.

“Our job is to prepare them for first team football at Brentford, but we know the standards of the Premier League and we have to keep rising to that,” explained Neil. “What’s hugely encouraging is that we know that we’ve made them ready, and we expect they will have their ups and downs within their spells, but this will be a great learning curve for them. Nathan is off to a flyer, Daniel started against Sheffield Wednesday and he did terrifically well. Paris is an influential player for Wimbledon in the middle of the park and Lachlan has scored and assisted to help Crewe to a fantastic start. It’s another element to this season to watch them grow and then in the meantime it’s about gelling this new team and seeing them grow through the months which will be hugely satisfying.”

That relationship with the first team is a key factor of the B Team and a couple of the current squad had the chance to join Thomas Frank’s side on tour in Germany in pre-season with a few additional players involved in and around the squad in friendly fixtures on home soil as the side prepared for their Premier League season. Both Tristan Crama and Ryan Trevitt travelled to Germany with the side whilst Alex Gilbert and Yarmoliuk have featured in local matches in pre-season.

Neil says the work will remain the same to prepare the players for when they’re called upon. “Tristan, Alex, Ryan, Yehor and a number of other boys have had opportunities to be with the First Team squad,” said Neil. “We know the standard and we want to keep doing our bit within the B Team and making sure that, when Thomas requires players to train up, that they are ready to do so and then they grab that opportunity and hopefully go on to make their debut and many appearances as a number of boys have done.”

The new season has also brought about a new competition for the B Team as they will take part in the Premier League Cup which is a tournament designed for Under-21 sides to challenge for silverware. The young team have been drawn in Group D where they will face Aston Villa, Blackburn Rovers and Peterborough United all home and away before the competition reaches the knockout stages.

On the chance to compete in a new competition for his side, Neil explained: “We’ve been a really intense team and no game that we’ve played has ever been played as a friendly, even though we are not within the leagues. If you look at our time in Portugal in the Atlantic Cup where we played some top matches, if we can get more opportunities like that to compete in a competition-based environment then it can only make them (the players) stronger and better.

“Aston Villa will be really strong, and Blackburn have had a good start at first team level and have many good young players. We’ve also played Peterborough a number of times so we know we will have tough games but that’s what we want, fixtures to be really hard, demanding, and really push our young players.

Looking back on his previous seasons with the B Team, 10 players (including Ryan Trevitt recently) have made a debut for the first team, and Neil was keen to praise the staff working alongside him as well as the individual players who have earned their opportunities.

He continued: “We work together, it’s not just me, it’s all the staff. We have players who have come with us to make debuts and have many more encouraging moments. Mads Roerslev has played a number of games and was involved in a moment which got us to the Premier League at Wembley and has gone on to play really well. There are many moments through our tenure, and we want to keep striving to improve and get better all the time. We’ll never stop pushing the players to try and achieve their goals.”