Brentford held a fans' forum at Griffin Park on Thursday night with fans grilling the club's leaders on and off the pitch.

Head coach Dean Smith, co-directors of football Rasmus Ankersen and Phil Giles, chief executive Mark Devlin and chairman Cliff Crown were all present to face the questions from the supporters.

Given the club's recent announcements about the new stadium at Lionel Road, there was a whole section dedicated to getting answers from the club.

GetWestLondon were there to observe the Q&A and have produced a transcript of what was asked of Brentford's key staff regarding Lionel Road.

You can read the questions and answers, which all came from Crown unless stated, below.

Will the pitch be the same size as Wembley?

We are aiming for the pitch to be a similar size to what we have now. The only requirement will be to make sure it complies with regulations for Premiership Rugby on the basis that we hope to conclude a deal with a rugby club to play at the new stadium.

Are we going to have a proper area for disabled people?

I can confirm there will be appropriate space and access for visually impaired and handicapped supporters both in the home end and the away end. We're limited in what we can discuss constrained by legal requirements and we will comply with those to make sure there are at least five areas for handicapped supporters.

Lionel Road from above

Has there been any progress on fan engagement for the internals?

There are no specific decisions made yet. We are still in the process of finalising the application which will be going into council tomorrow and there will be various other things we need to get cracking on but when the time is right we will go out to fan groups and have a full consultation.

How will the new stadium impact the playing budget?

The initial calculations should produce many millions of extra income for the club. I can't say how much of that will impact the playing budget. The income will be significantly greater if we sell premium seats. We will significantly increase our core revenue and part of that will be available for the playing budget.

What constraints does the pitch have?

I don't have that level of detail but our advisers have helped to ensure we meet the requirements.

Are we on schedule for a 2019 completion?

We are very hopeful at this stage that the stadium will be commissioned in the summer of 2019. There's still a long way to go and lots to do but that's our intention.

Will there be a Garden of Rest (Memorial Garden) at the new stadium?

We will certainly consider it but, as you all know, it's a very tight site. We'll do what we can.

You hoped some season ticket holders would upgrade; is that based on Championship or Premier League football?

That's based on Championship football based on market research that we undertook earlier this year where we were told approximately 20 per cent of season ticket holders would be keen and interested to take up the premium seat offering. There are varying levels of premium seat offering. It depends on what level you can afford and what you're interested in.

Has anyone thought of the elderly supporters who can't stand around, will there be anywhere to sit?

There will be a number of retail units underneath the south central block which is literally the entrance to the stadium and I expect there will be some form of food and drink offering located there that will include seating. Inside the stadium, you'll be able to sit as well and buy food and drink inside.

Approximately 20 per cent of season ticket holders, is that 20 per cent of the corporate seats, will that be feasible?

Demoltion time: Work is progressing on the stable block at Lionel Road

That is correct.

So where are the other 2,000 coming from?

They will be coming from corporates and other people who would come here and watch us play. There's a large number of companies in the area who we hope will sponsor the club or, if not, they'll want to buy premium seating. We did extensive market research earlier in the year and that indicated that we could hope to sell up to 4,000 premium seats. If 20 per cent of our fanbase, roughly 1,000, there are 1,900 left to completely sell out of the premium seating.

We're hearing 3,000 corporate seats and you've said 4,000?

What I said was the market research indicated that we might be able to sell 4,000 in total. In the stadium we will have 2,930 which is great as if the research is correct then is greater demand than supply as they might want to buy other seats initially. We're happy with the research that has been undertaken and we've got a good chance of selling 2,900 premium seats.

Did you speak to all season ticket holders as part of your research?

No, we spoke to some of them (Cliff Crown was then stopped with the fan asking the question saying valid point thank you).

Work has started: Lionel Road

Could you say a few words about the ownership and structure of the new ground?

My current understanding is it will be owned by the football club and the football club will enter a lease with the rugby club should we conclude a deal.

Is rugby a constraint?

No. We have made sure we have complied with Premier League and Premiership Rugby. As far as a deal is concerned, both parties currently believe it's a win win and we can conclude a deal over the coming months.

Away from the premium seatings, what is the legroom meant to be like compared to Reading and Brighton?

I don't know what it's like compared to Reading and Brighton but it will be better than Griffin Park.

What scope is there to increase the capacity and what are the plans around safe standing?

Increasing the size of the stadium is always going to be a challenge but anything is possible when we have the finances available. We're not going to say it's never going to happen but it's something we will consider as and when we're in the position when we feel we can benefit financially from making that significant increase in capacity. The finances at the moment don't make it viable as we don't have a significantly larger crowd. If we start getting 20,000 people wanting to come to Brentford every week, then it's something we'll consider at the time. As far as safe standing is concerned, that is the most significant area where we have had fan engagement and, as a result, we are planning to have something in the order of 3,000 safe standing places. At the moment we can't do it as it's not legally allowed and we have found out they are more expensive than normal seats. We can have it if we're allowed to do so.

What will the club do to ensure the upkeep of the pitch?

I'm pleased to say there has been significant technological advances on football pitches over the last few years and we're very confident that the pitch will stand up to football and rugby. We'll only go for a pitch that will be good enough for both sports and if there is a problem then we'd have to change the pitch in the close season and we'd do that with our club partner, if we concluded a deal but I'm confident we'll have no problems with the pitch.

In Matthew's statement, he's clear that he can't see a reasonable situation where we expand the stadium. Is this new news?

Artist's impression of Brentford's Lionel Road development

It's not new news. We'll undertake an economic assessment at the time. We don't have that demand now so why would it be necessary to do it anytime soon. If we're in the Premier League and we have demand for 30,000 tickets every game and our limit is 17,250 we'll do the maths and look at it. If it works, we'll do it and if it doesn't we wouldn't do it. If we're at 20,000 the extra income is likely to be minimal in comparison to TV. It probably wouldn't make sense but we'll assess it when we get there.

20,000 won't make sense; 30,000 might make sense?

It's just speculation. Let's have that problem when we get there.

Has a survey been done for underwater watercourses at Lionel Road as most of the problems at Griffin Park has been caused by an underground river?

I don't know. I do know underneath the pitch there'll be something called an attenuation tank. Other than that I don't know.

What's the capacity for away supporters?

CC: I believe the away capacity will be 2,500.

Mark Devlin: It will fluctuate. It will allow us to go from 1,400 to 2,500. We are still trying to see what we can do with those numbers at the moment.

CC: We've got 1,650 at Griffin Park so 2,500 is a significant increase.