Brentford Co-Director of Football Phil Giles has been discussing his role with one of the biggest sports websites in the world. ESPN has put together a long read on the role of Director of Football. Phil was one of a series of people that spoke to Senior Writer James Olley about the job.

The interview took place before it was announced that Rasmus Ankersen will be leaving Brentford at the end of 2021 to set up a sports investment firm. At the same time, Rasmus will step down from his position on the Club’s Board of Directors. Rasmus has been Co-Director of Football since May 2015 and was appointed to the Club Board in late 2016. Together with Phil Giles, the pair have overseen the running of the Club’s football department for six-and-a-half years.

Phil will assume the role of Director of Football on his own at the start of 2022. The news story about the change can be seen here and some of Phil's words to ESPN did reference the way he and Rasmus worked together. But he also tackled other topics.

"We're really chief executives of the training ground," said Phil in the piece. "Outside transfer windows, we are much more focused on building the foundations of the club, making sure [Matthew Benham] the owner's ideas are integrated into the club and he is happy with the way the football side of it works.

"[The owner] has got some pretty clear concepts and we are the architects of putting that in place. For example, at the start of the season we'll put together a football strategy document outlining our aims and targets for the coming season. We'll work with our staff on that to make sure we set the targets appropriately so it is stretching enough for everyone."

Read the full piece here.