by “I remember celebrating the head of the long launch of Mads Bech Sørensen against Arsenal during our first Premier League match and I had the impression that Rob was sitting next to me,” said Brentford director Nity Raj.
Rob Rowan has died for more than six years, but his memory remains alive in western London. Rowan was expected for a long and fruitful career in football after having become Brentford technical director at the age of 28. He had been promoted to this position after almost four years at the club, mainly as a football operations manager, but nine months later. , in November 2018, the former Celtic scout had a deadly episode of cardiomyopathy – similar to a heart attack.
The death of Rowan at such a tender age amazed Brentford and his community, the owner, Matthew Benham, and his team having committed to leaving a lasting heritage to the man who did so much to help build their foundations.
After a fundraising campaign carried out by the wife of Rowan, Suzanne, which made it possible to collect more than £ 60,000, the Heart of West London program was born in 2021. In partnership with the Royal Brompton and Harefield Hospitals Charity, The Council UK resuscitation and several other local organizations, it aims to raise awareness of heart health problems and to ensure that everyone has the skills necessary to save a life.
“We came in shock,” said Raj. “I was in QPR on a Saturday in 2018 and I saw Rob, as usual, we discussed the match. And then we left and we expect to see everyone on Monday, and especially someone who was only 28 years old. So I could not have imagined receiving a call on Monday morning informing me that Rob had died. If he had benefited from earlier and more adequate support, perhaps his results could have been different.
Anyone who watched Brentford’s moving return of 2-0 to draw against Manchester City last week will have noticed the QR code in the middle of Brentford jerseys who encouraged viewers and supporters to access the video “Restart a Heart” . It was the third consecutive season that Brentford devoted a home game to the campaign, the club having thus examined the heart of 364 people aged 14 to 35, of which 24 were referred for more in -depth tests.
“When Rob is dead, it was suddenly: ‘OK, well, it was really brought to the house’,” said Raj. “This can affect young people, and you will not know that it happens, so have this information, have a better understanding of heart health and risks for a small part of the people who may have no symptoms, who might have No knowledge.
He adds: “RCR is the most important thing you can know. A few years ago, a fan collapsed in one of the salons and someone administered a RCR in a minute and a DAI. [defibrillator] in both. He said he felt good enough to come to the match the following week, but that his wife did not let him come for an additional week. It was a real and visceral reminder of why it is important: someone can come back for another match rather than never being able to see their family again.
Head coach, Thomas Frank, was promoted to replace Dean Smith a few weeks before Rowan’s death and had worked closely with Rowan to set up team B after closing the Academy in response to Restrictions imposed by the Premier League elite player. Performance plan. None of the current players were at the club but several expressed their interest in knowing more about the initiative.
Last week, Yoane Wissa, who surpassed Ivan Toney as a top scorer in Brentford in the Premier League with the first against City, and his wife, Kahina, accompanied Raj during a tour to see the revolutionary research of Royal Brompton , including live projection of a heart.
“It was really interested to see how everything worked,” said Raj. “It’s really nice to explain to the players why we do this for our friend. Thomas was very close to Rob and still supports him. The trajectory of his career has been brilliant – a technical director at 28 is quite impressive at all levels. But the fact of doing it in a club like ours where we progress really quickly at the time and to have had this idea that we could really do something different with team B, we harvested many of these benefits. This was one of the key elements that allowed us to reach this level.
Sørensen – whose delivery to the goal of Christian Nørgaard against Arsenal sealed one of the most famous moments of the club after its promotion via the playoffs – was one of the successes of the B team, even if The rules of the Premier League meant that Brentford was forced to reopen his academy. In 2022 and it was reclassified to category two status in June. The club builds an ultra -modern academic basis next to the Rob Rowan performance center which houses the first team and development teams and must find a way to compete in a congested market.
“If we had to do it, then we wanted to do it very well and have the most progressive and benevolent academy in the world,” said Raj. “Our academy director, Steve Torpey, has done a brilliant job by creating something different. It looks like a continuation of Rob’s story.
