Dean surprised by Dijkhuizen sacking

Brentford defender Harlee Dean admits he was surprised by the sacking of Marinus Dijkhuizen.

Dutchman Dijkhuizen was dismissed on Monday, also expressing shock at the decision, after winning just two of his eight Championship games since being installed as head coach.

Dean believes the team were on the verge of improving results and has defended Dijkhuizen, insisting any new manager, especially a foreigner, would have struggled to succeed after so much change at Griffin Park.

Dean told West London Sport: “I find it quite surprising because surely they would have looked into all that when they made the change last season, and realised.

“I think anybody coming in would have had difficulty unifying the old and the new players, with so much change, so I don’t think that’s an answer to his sacking.

“He’s a foreign manager coming into a new league, and there are a lot of foreign players coming into a new league too, and we lost a lot of the core from last year, so it was going to be a tough ask for anyone.

“They were fighting an uphill battle and it’s unfortunate because they were nice people. But the powers-that-be have seen something they don’t like.

“From my point of view, and from the players’ side, I think we enjoyed it with Marinus.

“Personally I thought we were just about to start turning the corner but it’s happened now and we have to get on with it.”

Lee Carsley has been placed in charge until the end of the season but says he does not want the job beyond then.

Dean said: “Lee understands football – he’s played the game – and it will be interesting to see how he gets on, because he’s a good coach. Hopefully we can start getting some results.”