Over the past few season, Brentford Football Club has been preparing for life in the upper echelons of English football.

The Club has ambitions to compete in The Championship and this summer opened a Category Two Football Academy.

In order to ensure the Club can be a sustainable in The Championship and produce players from its Academy - a stated aim of new Club owner Matthew Benham - there have been upgrades in certain key areas of the Club.

One of those areas which has seen investment is the Medical Department, led by Head of Medical Neil Greig.

Neil spoke at length to www.brentfordfc.co.uk in the build-up to the 2012/13 season about the department and how the staff workto make sure Manager Uwe Rösler has as many players as possible in the best condition possible for every match.

The new staff that have joined Brentford's medical department this summer will come in to work with those already in place.

Neil was full of praise for the work being done by those staff - Head of Conditioning Chris Haslam, Team Doctor Matt Stride, Academy Physiotherapist Richard Clark,Academy Conditioning Coach Darren Stern , Sports Therapist Darren Glenister and Masseur Chris Domoney.

"Chris Haslam is responsible for the conditioning of every player at the Club," said Neil.

"Primarily his focus is on the First Team and he is involved from minute one every morning at the Training Ground.

"He looks at nutrition, what the players have for breakfast, and whether they are all hydrated, he also looks at training intensities and load - he monitors so many areas every day.

"Chris takes care of pre-activation and planning the duration and intensity of training sessions, he is responsible for preparing players for training.

"He also individualises the players' gym based work to focus on areas we have identified as points for improvement.

"Chris has already prepared an outline of training until the end of the season and will adjust it when there are lots of games in a short period of time.

"He has the programme drawn out, but it is flexible.

"On the day of a game he will prepare the players, their meals, warm-up, get them ready.

"Chris worked with me at a previous club when he was studying.

"He has proved himself to be a really key member of staff.

"He has an unbelievable attention to detail; the players have bought in to his way of working and have seen the effects.

"When we had the run of games in March last season, we got through it with no new injuries - that was down to Chris' management of training.

"His recovery strategies are exceptional which adds the vital few per cent to performance on a match-day."

Neil continued: "Matt Stride works with us to help find solutions when a player has a condition that we can't see an improvement in.

"He will go away, research and come back with new things to try.

"He also arranges when a player needs to see a specialist or go to hospital.

"Matt has extensive experience - he worked at Chelsea and at Headley Court, the military rehabilitation centre.

"He is a Brentford fans and loves the Club - he is the longest serving member of the medical staff.

"He has seen the evolution from where we have come."

Neil said: "I have worked with Darren Glenister for a number of years.

"He comes from a forces background and works with us two or three days a week.

"He brings a different sort of experience to us and has a great personality, the players love having him around.

"He brings a positive boost to the room when he is involved.

"Chris Domoney was already in place when I arrived.

"He has vast experience and as well as working as a masseur, he contributes in other areas.

"He tells us about areas on individual players we should be looking at; he is another pair of eyes.

"He is really, really positive, the players love seeing him."

Neil said Richard Clark had recently passed his Masters in Sports Physiotherapy and had an additional role in the department as well as working as the Academy Physio.

"Richard drives the in-service training programme," said Neil.

"As a department we have to do all we can to get better.

"Richard will go on courses to gather information or brings external experts in to pass on their knowledge.

"We are always looking to be better and different from the football norm."

Neil added: "I see my role as making sure we have the right staff in place, performing the appropriate roles with the appropriate age groups.

"Due to the nature of the demands on the players, most of my time is spent working with and supporting the First Team squad, however I have to have an eye on the development of every aspect of medical provision at the club.

"We have programmes in place for the nine-year-olds all the way to the First Team.

"I see my job as supporting individuals to run these programmes.

"My team is only as good as the individuals in it.

"If I can't get people on board, it won't work.

"I believe in every member of this team completely.

"My job is to support and enable my staff to go out and do their jobs well.

"From where we have come from to where we are going is a massive step.

"I have to remind myself of that.

"We have done a good job so far, there is more to do but I am confident we have the components in place to carry that forward."