Former Hearts midfielder Neil MacFarlane may have been one of the less glamorous names to pull on the maroon jersey. But he’s now tasked with guiding footballing royalty into the first team at Brentford.
As head of the Bee’s B team, MacFarlane has one Romeo Bekcham in his ranks, the son of Manchester United legend David on loan from Inter Miami 2. He’s not the only youngster with a famous last name on the books in West London, but he has the most recognisable.
Arguably, one of them will be more familiar to MacFarlane on a personal level after playing alongside his dad at Tynecastle, but it’s not about who you are in his team. It’s how you play, and Brentford do it a little bit differently to everybody else. It’s why Beckham trusts McFarlane and the coaches there with improving his boy, and the Scot is proud that famous footballing dads ate comfortable with their lads learning their trade with the club.
“We've got Max Dickov, Paul's son, Maxwell Wilcox, Jason's son, and Aaron Pressley, Steven's son,' MacFarlane explained to the Daily Mail.
“There's also Kyreece Lisbie, the son of Kevin. And also Romeo. He (Romeo) had been out of football for three or four years and had gone out to Inter Miami 2.
“I knew I could make him better and it's been an absolute pleasure to work with him. He wants to practise every day and to learn. He's got a great attitude.
“His dad has been in and around the club a few times watching the training and has had chats with us. He loves the way we go about our business.
“He can see his boy improving. He comes to the games the odd time. As a family and a player, they've really bought into it.
“We're hugely proud of the fact that these fathers who've done so well in their careers are trusting us to make their boys better.”
Brentford don’t play in a youth or reserve league. Instead, they play a series of Friendlies - against first teams if they can - with the odd cup match thrown in. And it seems to be working.
MacFarlane continued: “We try and play against as many first-teams as possible where we are testing them against the best.
“We'll still play the elite of the Premier League's Under-23s ? teams like Arsenal and Chelsea. We'll also dip into London cups and Middlesex cups and also play as many Conference teams as possible, so we get a real variety in our games programme to really test them.
They also recruit a little differently as well. He added: “A lot of these boys are a little bit damaged or have been let go by a club or something has been not quite right.
“It's up to us to look at every avenue and make sure every individual is cared for, whatever it may be. We try and give them everything so that, when they leave the building, you can look each other in the eye and say: ‘We gave you everything’ and it's either worked or it hasn't.'
“It's a brilliant model. If everyone stays together, focused and hugely driven, the club can continue to move in the right direction in the coming years. This year, we've taken it to another level with some of our results against Manchester City, United and Arsenal.”
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