Thomas Frank is a Danish football coach and former amateur player, who is currently serving as the head coach at Brentford. After 18 years in youth coaching, which included spells as manager of multiple Danish national youth teams, he became a senior manager when Brøndby IF appointed him in 2013, departing in 2016. He moved to Brentford as assistant head coach in 2016 and was promoted into the role of head coach in October 2018.
Managerial career
Denmark
After a short playing career in amateur football as a midfielder, Frank began his coaching career with the U8 and U12 teams at Frederiksværk BK and he moved on to Hvidovre IF in 1998, B93 in 2005 and Lyngby in 2006. In July 2008, he was appointed manager of the Denmark national U16 and U17 teams. In 2011, Frank led the U17 team to the European U17 Championship finals for the first time in eight years and to the U17 World Cup for the first time ever, in which the Danes were eliminated in the group stage. Frank was promoted to the Denmark U19 manager's job in 2012, but he failed to achieve qualification to the 2013 European U19 Championship.
Brøndby IF
Frank was named as manager of Danish Superliga club Brøndby IF on 10 June 2013, his first position in senior football. He achieved 4th- and 3rd-place finishes respectively in the 2013–14 and 2014–15 seasons, high enough to qualify for the Europa League qualification stages, but he failed to lead the club into the group stage in either season. Frank resigned on 9 March 2016 after receiving criticism from chairman Jan Bech Andersen, under a pseudonym, on an online supporters' forum.
Brentford
On 9 December 2016, Frank moved to England to join Championship club Brentford as assistant head coach alongside Richard O'Kelly. He signed a 2½-year contract. In addition to being a "bridge between the players and the coaching staff", co-director of football Rasmus Ankersen revealed that Frank would also "look after the players between the B team and the first team and make sure there is a pathway for them and take care of their development". In February 2018, he signed a new contract, running until the end of the 2019–20 season. On 16 October 2018, after the departure of head coach Dean Smith, it was announced that Frank had been promoted into the role. He took over a club rocked by the recent death of technical director Robert Rowan and endured a tough start to his tenure, winning just one of his first 10 games, before stabilising the team's form after a change to a 3–4–3 formation. Seven points from a possible 9 in January 2019 saw him nominated for the Championship Manager of the Month award. He guided Brentford to the fifth round of the FA Cup and an 11th-place finish in the Championship at the end of the 2018–19 season. After an uneven start to the 2019–20 season, 10 points from five matches in October 2019 saw Frank nominated for the Championship Manager of the Month award. With Brentford in the play-off places, Frank and his assistant, Brian Riemer signed new three and a half-year contracts in January 2020. He received his second nomination of the season for the Championship Manager of the Month award in June 2020.
Personal life
Frank is married with three children. He was awarded BA in Physical Education by the Copenhagen Institute of Sports Medicine in 1999 and studied sport psychology and coaching-based leadership at the same institution between 2002 and 2005. He also taught at Ishøj College in 2004. Prior to moving to London in December 2016, Frank lived in Hvidovre.
