Brentford's Training Facility to Be Named After Robert Rowan
Tribute to former technical director at new Jersey Road performance centre
Robert Rowan (right) and Thomas Frank. Picture: Brentford FC
The new training facility on Jersey Road due to shortly be opened by Brentford FC, is to be named after Robert Rowan, the club’s former Technical Director.
The Robert Rowan Performance Centre, which is likely to be in place for up to the next five years, will memorialise the popular former member of staff who suffered a fatal cardiomyopathy episode in the early hours of Monday 12 November 2018 and died in his sleep at the age of 28. He left behind his wife Suzanne, whom he married in November 2016.
A ceremony to open the centre will take place later this year and be attended by his family. When the temporary centre is ultimately replaced by a permanent facility the new building will retain Robert’s name.
The application for the performance centre was initially granted permission on 30 June by Hounslow Council and was subsequently approved by the Mayor of London, with works now nearing completion.
This temporary facility has been developed on the opposite side of the site of the Club’s current training facilities at 100 Jersey Road, Osterley.
The new centre will be of a much higher standard and represent a significant improvement, enabling the Club to continue to develop its plans for a state-of-the-art new permanent performance centre in the future.
Robert’s route to Brentford was an unusual one in football terms. He got his first break after writing a scouting report on the 2008 UEFA Champions League final between Manchester United and Barcelona and sending it, unsolicited, to clubs in England and Scotland. He got a few replies and was invited to a meeting with Celtic, aged 18, impressing enough to be offered a job working with their Under-21 side.
A visualisation of the new performance centre. Picture: Brentford FC
After a year at Celtic, time with the Scottish FA and a coaching course at Elmwood College in Cupar, Fife, which enabled Robert to spend time working with a club in Sweden, he was offered a job as Sporting Director at Stenhousemuir. It was his work there that brought him to the attention of Brentford.
He was invited for an interview in August 2014 and, later that year, Robert joined Brentford as the Scouting Coordinator. He was then appointed as the Club’s Head of Football Operations in the summer of 2015. Following the closure of the Club’s Academy in 2016, Robert was tasked with building the new Brentford B team, the Club’s elite squad of players aged 17 to 21. He was promoted to Technical Director at the start of 2018 and oversaw the Club’s recruitment department, a role he held until his untimely death.
Cliff Crown, Chair of Brentford FC said, “It is an honour for us to be able to name our new performance centre after Robert. He was a young man who made a big impact on Brentford. His ideas, his personality and his drive all made a lasting impression before his life was sadly cut short. This will be a lasting legacy for Robert, for his wife Suzanne and for his family.”
Chris Rowan, Robert’s father said, “I sit and watch all of Brentford’s games on TV with a picture of Robert beside me, both of us cheering them on. To hear that their new performance centre will carry Robert’s name fills me and all of our family with so much pride."
Earlier this month, the Club announced a new partnership with leading heart charities, the Heart of West London, in Robert’s name.
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October 28, 2022
