RALPH Hasenhuttl reveals that he and Sport Republic co-founder Rasmus Ankersen have spoken about the Dane’s former club ahead of tomorrow’s Premier League clash.

Ankersen departed Brentford at the end of 2021 after five years of working with manager Thomas Frank in a co-director of football and boardroom role.

Founding Sport Republic with Dragan Solak and Henrik Kraft, Saints have become the business’ first acquisition and in a twist of fate their first Premier League match will pit them against Ankersen’s former employers.

Frank credited Ankersen with having played a massive role in the London outfit’s Championship promotion, adding “he will be missed”.

Hasenhuttl will look to put Ankersen’s knowledge of the club to good use, but was keen to stress the St Mary’s analysts already give him a clear picture of opponents.

For sure we have spoken a lot about the club,” the Austrian said. “He has a lot of knowledge about Brentford.

“But we have also our analysts who know a lot about every opponent we play.

“This is a team that we are following, like all the other teams, we are preparing for the game and like always COVID and injuries we never know but we know their strengths and their qualities.”

Brentford’s model under director Ankersen has been dubbed by some media with an American term – 'Moneyball'.

To put it simply, Moneyball describes a data-driven approach to recruitment and decisions in the transfer market, leading to both an on-field improvement and eventual profit through sell-ons.

Obviously, every team seeks to do that. The idea of Moneyball is that you take advantage of obscure and undervalued metrics to find players that are affordable but will actually remarkably fit one’s style of play, or make distinct improvement on an area of the squad.

The term comes from a model employed by Oakland baseball team in USA to ensure they could compete despite a lower salary bill.

Hasenhuttl was asked about Ankersen and the Moneyball philosophy, responding: “There’s more to it I think.

“As I always say, money alone is not a guarantee for success, and hard work and knowledge also not so – but when both come together.

“It is always important what you do with the money, I think it was very based on facts what they tried to sign, in the end they had a lot of very good signings that they could sell on for a lot of money and this is a very good combination for your team, without losing your targets."

He added: “That means promotion for Brentford, which was always the biggest target.

“They have shown both is possible even losing your best players all the time and still getting promoted.

“When you have specifically a plan and you follow this plan it is in some moments better to let the players go and get the money for them, because they think they are too big for the club or whatever, and then it is interesting that you can still find players that can help you.

“This is a very valuable way to run a football club.”