Manager Mark Warburton believes he and Brentford owner Matthew Benham will remain good friends, despite parting ways on difficult terms.
The pair worked together, originally, on the NextGen Series; a tournament pitching the best clubs at U19 level against each other before it was swallowed up by UEFA, who released their own version.
Benham brought Warburton to Griffin Park in 2011 as assistant manager to Nicky Forster before he became sporting director in Uwe Rosler's 30-month reign.
After the German left for Wigan in December 2013, the owner appointed Warburton as manager and was rewarded with promotion to the Championship.
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However, Benham, who has road tested his theories at Danish side FC Midtjylland, wants to bring the same to Brentford; much to Warburton's frustration and he elected to leave.
While the Bees boss admitted he was angry, he is keen to move forward and retain a strong relationship with Benham.
He said: “No the relationship hasn't suffered but there's a sense of frustration on my side. I'm going to be angry at certain times but you have to deal with it and the focus has been the group of players. I'm sure we'll remain good friends.
“It's been more professional but we're friends as well, we worked closely on NextGen and various other projects.
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“Matthew gave me this opportunity and I'll be ever thankful for that because it was a brave call on his part, there's no doubt about that.
“It's well documented we were travelling back from Carlisle after an FA Cup tie and I literally had 27 calls from some well known managers and coaches who were keen for the job.
“So I literally thought I had no chance of the job. Very brave call on Matthew's part and I'm very thankful for it. And we've worked closely on player recruitment over the last few months.”
Warburton and Benham used to speak on the phone every day but contact has been minimal in these past few weeks.
The Bees boss explained: “In the sporting director role it was every day. But not as much as I used to.
" I always inform him of the team and why I have made a change. If you own something you should get as much information as possible.”
Despite the fact Warburton is disappointed at the change in structure, he retains the full respect for Benham and knows Brentford would not be in with a chance of winning promotion to the Premier League without him.
He added: “Investment is important. When I first came here there was one building and a poor training pitch.
“That costs money and sound investment. What we have done is create an environment conducive to development.
“That way they enjoy coming to work every day - we have medical support, the pitches have improved, we stay in the best hotels, we give them an opportunity to take their careers further.
“We want to challenge them and offer them a pathway. Young academy players come in here, we have taken one or two on the bench and they have to see a pathway otherwise they're seeing a brick wall.
“You have to respect the fact that someone's put so much money into the football club, and put it into this state of health - the biggest game in 70 years - there's a reason for that, the investment's been good and the club will move forward from here. It's just frustrating for us we can't be part of that new structure.”
