In 2013/14, Brentford finished runners-up in League One. It was the Bees’ first promotion to the second tier in more than 20 years and marked the beginning of the club’s eventual rise to the Premier League.

To celebrate the 10-year anniversary of Brentford’s 2013/14 promotion-winning campaign, we’re speaking with the key members of the squad and staff to discover the secrets of a successful season.

First up is former manager Uwe Rösler, who was Bees boss from 2011 until halfway through the 2013/14 campaign, when he played his part in guiding the club to the Championship.

Uwe Rösler makes it clear from the outset that the way the 2012/13 season ended for Brentford did not render it a failure.

For anyone not familiar, Marcello Trotta first struck the crossbar with a penalty in the dying embers of the final-day fixture against Doncaster at Griffin Park. Had it been scored, automatic promotion would have been secured. The Bees then lost to Yeovil in the League One play-off final a few weeks later to compound the misery.

“That was such a big disappointment, having such a good season and then ending up with nothing to show for it,” he says, speaking from Denmark, where he is currently working as the head coach of AGF. “We were so close.

“Everyone went on holiday, and I was left asking myself how we would return from this.”

The introspection was natural, but it might have been more negative had it not been for a pep talk from Brentford owner Matthew Benham, who came into the dressing room immediately after the defeat to Yeovil at Wembley.

“He saw us all looking so disappointed and spoke when we needed him the most,” Rösler recalls. “He said: ‘Boys, we will raise the budget and we go again’.

“I didn’t need to hear anything else because I saw an owner believing in our project, who believed we were on the right track, who was not emotionally scarred by the end of the season, who gave us a chance again. This was why I recaptured my energy and I tried to give that to the players in pre-season.”

His side won four of their six friendlies in the summer of 2013, two of which came during a training camp in his native Germany, but the season proper did not start in the manner anybody had hoped.

Brentford picked up nine of the 15 points on offer in August but laboured as they did so, and September started with a 4-0 defeat at Bradford, during which goalkeeper David Button was sent off after less than half an hour.

They lost three of the next five games, the last of which was away at Stevenage. Clayton Donaldson put the Bees in front after 13 minutes, but they were unable to recover from Francois Zoko’s double, which handed Boro a 2-1 win.

What came next is the stuff of legend in TW8.

The team did not emerge, as expected, from the dressing room at the Lamex Stadium shortly after the full-time whistle. In fact, it was around an hour and a half until they did so.

Behind closed doors, Rösler had initiated clear-the-air talks in an attempt to break his players out of the rut they had started to slide into.

“There was a hangover and we didn’t start the season well,” he concedes. “The Stevenage game was a milestone. The internal talk we had after the match was not a punishment, it was just like ‘now is the time to talk’.

“I had taken a lot of belief from the words of Matthew, but every human being is different - I got strength from this and I felt supported, but the players maybe had to deal with this differently to the way I did.

“I opened up the gates completely and everyone had the possibility to talk. The players and the staff were forced to talk and say what we could do better to get back on track. When you open up the gates, the truth comes out - and the truth had to come out. I think the players appreciated the opportunity to get their feelings across. There was no plan, just instincts.

“I got a clearer picture of what the players wanted and needed; the players probably got a better picture of what they had to do better from my side and then we came together because we were speaking eye to eye.”

The open conversation had exactly the desired effect. It was almost scary the way things knitted back together so quickly. Brentford won eight of the next nine games in all competitions and climbed to fourth in the League One table. Before long, the chants of, ‘We’re Brentford FC, we win every week’ were emanating from the Ealing Road terrace.

“Our inner strength, our culture and our camaraderie brought us together in the most difficult situation and we turned it around,” says Rösler.

“Before the talk, I was trying things out to change momentum and I chopped and changed a bit because we were not happy with the results. After that, we found clarity, stuck to one system - that was the key to turning it.

“We had shown the year before we had the quality, so it was not about the players. First, it was just about getting momentum again, then the clarity of what we needed, what we had to do to win matches in that league and to get cracking - and that is what we did.

“When the first win comes, the second win comes, then everything gets easier. People perform better when you have good momentum; when you don’t everything is harder. We found the momentum, we won those games at a crucial time, and it just went from strength to strength.”

As December rolled around, something happened that threatened to derail the second-straight promotion push altogether.

On 5 December 2013, Rösler was given permission to speak to Wigan Athletic about their vacant managerial role and, two days later, he was appointed as Owen Coyle’s successor.

It had all happened so quickly and there was - as is to be expected - anger and frustration from fans, as well as accusations that he had gone for the financial benefit of managing a team in a higher division than Brentford.

As he explains, in his own words, that was simply not the case.

“Wigan contacted me, my agent and Brentford out of the blue. They knew about my family situation, that my family lived in Manchester. My wife is Norwegian and she was alone with two small kids because we didn’t have any family here.

“I had an apartment in Ealing, which I shared with [assistant manager] Alan Kernaghan. I travelled back and forward and lived alone for most of the week. I didn’t complain because I wanted the job, which was a big chance for me to get a foot in the door in English football and I enjoyed what we achieved together.

“But I was on the road for two and a half years, which took its toll. I saw the family suffer, especially the kids. Brentford gave me the permission to speak, the clubs agreed on a compensation package and then it was up to me.

“Football-wise, there was no reason to go. This was purely down to my family situation. Not a lot of people understand that because they felt I went for the money. I didn’t go for the money; I went for my family. That’s the truth. I said that at the time, but maybe people didn’t believe it.

“As a coach, you can never make anyone believe what you say or make everyone happy, but that was the truth. I left the club in a far better position than when I started and I think we laid the foundations for promotion 20 games later.

“Before I went, Matthew asked me who should take over after me and I said Mark Warburton because he knew the players best, had been part of it with me and was an educated coach. I’m not saying that because of my opinion he got the job, though.

“There were no disturbances as a result. When it’s not broken, you don’t need to change things. Consistency was key to getting over the line.”

As Brentford went on to secure promotion four months later, Rösler helped Wigan to the Championship play-offs, where they were beaten at the semi-final stage by eventual winners QPR.

From afar, he was watching the project he started come to fruition.

“I was very happy for all people involved and genuinely really happy that the project had succeeded after three years.

“When we started, Matthew told me that in three years, he wanted to be in the Championship, which took exactly three years. Then he said two years later, I want to be in the Premier League.

“An owner with a big vision and an understanding of what is possible with his special type of recruitment, and also with Brentford as a unique football club, was mind-blowing and I will always cherish that.

“When we needed help from the fans, we got help. I have the feeling that, over my two and a half years, they backed me, even through difficult times, and not a lot of managers can say that.

“They always gave me the feeling they were absolutely behind our project and supported our team during difficult times.

“I’ve been a coach for 20 years now and have had success with different clubs in different countries with different football cultures, but I have to say the team we had at that time, spirit-wise, was the best I have ever worked with.”

And, on reflection, how does he look back on his time at the club?

“I see myself as part of a very successful rise from a bang average lower League One team to a team with a different type of football, with value in the squad. You can see some of the players we got in and how some of them got sold later - that wasn’t the value in the team when we took over.

“From the business side, the results side and the connection to the players, to the staff, to the supporters, I feel proud to be part of this journey and especially when it all started.

“I’m always looking out for the Brentford result - obviously after Manchester City - but Brentford will always be a special place.”