Chairman Cliff Crown insists the structural changes at Brentford which will see manager Mark Warburton leave at the end of the season have been discussed since last summer.

While the coming changes, which will also see assistant manager David Weir and sporting director Frank McParland leave, only surfaced last week when details were leaked, they have been in the pipeline for months, says Crown.

Club owner Matthew Benham wants a continental approach with a head coach rather than manager in charge of the team, and a sporting director in charge of player recruitment.

Crown said: “It started at the beginning of the season and has been bubbling under, and then gathered pace just before Christmas and then into the New Year – so it's been a number of weeks.

“We were looking at making the change in the summer, but unfortunately someone leaked the story and it accelerated the whole process. It was not something we wanted to do now, but we were left with no choice.

“We don't know who it was but whoever it was has clearly done damage to everyone associated with the club, which we're not happy about, but it's been done and we've dealt with it.

“We just feel the European way of doing things is more akin to our view, and is likely to have a better chance of success than, for instance, getting another manager.”

Crown pointed out that the approach has worked wonders with Premier League side Southampton, who like Brentford with Warburton, were slated when they got rid of Nigel Adkins after he got them promoted, but have since gone from strength to strength.

He said: “We're aware of a number of clubs that do work under this structure, and the one that seems to work very well is Southampton, who've done remarkably well. We know it works abroad and I'm sure it works here for some clubs.

“Should we try and copy what everyone else does and try and do it better, which is difficult because we have limited resources, or should we do something different and be innovative, and do something that most clubs don't do?

“I'm hopeful that the outcome will be the same as when Southampton swapped Nigel Adkins for Mauricio Pochettino, but there's no guarantees. It's about the long-term sustainability of the club and that's what we have to focus on, and if there's a short-term cost for it, then that's something we'll have to live with.

“We haven't spoken to anyone at Southampton, but I'm sure we will do. We know it's a model that works primarily in Europe, and we've spoken to plenty of people on the continent, but we want to give it a go in the British game, as one or two others have done.”