Saturday 16 May 2015 13:19, UK
Outgoing Brentford manager Mark Warburton is confident he has overseen a period of progression at Griffin Park.
Warburton watched the Bees lose 3-0 to Middlesbrough in their Sky Bet Championship play-off semi-final second leg on Friday night in his final game in charge.
The club decided in February to dispense with Warburton's services at the end of the season despite finishing in the play-off places.
Brentford were promoted to the second tier of English football last season, the first time the club has been at that level for 21 years.
Warburton is content with the role he has played in the progress of a club who plan to move to a 20,000-seat stadium in time for the 2016-17 campaign.
“I am very proud of the players and staff,” he said. “I have spoken many times about the quality of our support staff, I watch them in awe sometimes.
“I joined the club four-and-a-half years agpo and the investment from (Brentford owner) Matthew Benham has been outstanding and I would never say anything else.
“I have done a lot of work and think I leave the club in a lot better place than when I arrived.”
Middlesbrough were comfortable winners in the second leg at the Riverside on Friday night - adding to the 2-1 advantage they had achieved at Griffin Park last week - a fact conceded by Warburton in his post-match assessment.
But the Brentford boss made a point of waiting for the hosts’ celebrations at reaching Wembley to finish so he could thank the 1,500 travelling supporters.
“We didn’t want to spoil Middlesbrough’s party at the end,” he said. "But, even though they were feeling so low, the players wanted to come out and thank the fans.
“I hope that shows our supporters how much we appreciate their support, it has been magnificent all season.
“On a Friday night to bring that many fans up here, signing as they did for the last 10 minutes, speaks volumes about the supporters of Brentford Football Club.”
