Brian Rimmer is an unknown 44-year-old Dane. Anderlecht will be the first club to start as T1. From day one it has been the top priority of the new sports boss, Jesper Fredberg. The two met for a long time in the Danish Football Association. Reimer was preferred over other, more established names such as Peter Bosse (ex-Lyon and ex-Bayer Leverkusen) and Alexander Plesen (ex-KV Ostend and Genoa).
Negotiations with Rimmer continued for some time. Anderlecht only had to come to an agreement with Brentford, the Premier League club where Remmer has been working as an assistant since 2018. Prior to that, he worked for ten years at the Copenhagen club as coach of the under-19 team and assistant to Ariel Jacobs. In 2013, they became champions with the biggest Danish club.
“I was surprised when I heard the news,” says Jacobs. In Copenhagen, he accidentally became my assistant. My then assistant Johan Lang (Current Sporting Director of Aston Villa, KDZ) He left and we had to quickly look for a new one. A priori, he was supposed to remain a youth coach in Copenhagen, but he made a huge impression on me. He was hardworking, humble and close to the players. A loyal lieutenant always respects his place.
Collective power
In an interview with Bees United, the Brentford supporters’ stand, Riemer gave an insight into his footballing philosophy a while back. “I believe strongly in the concept of ‘teamwork,’” Rimmer said. “I believe that the collective strength of a group is the foundation of all success.”
When Rimmer arrived at Brentford in October 2018, the club was in 15th place. Together with T1 Thomas Frank, they lost ten of their first eleven matches. Eventually they turned around, changed their system and stopped Brentford in 11th place. “I was so nervous those first few months,” Rimmer said. I just rented an apartment and rented a car for three years. I was afraid I would suddenly have to live in London for a while without a job. But things worked out well in the end.”
In the 2021-2022 season, Brentford finished 13th, and last season they forced promotion to the Premier League. “When I arrived at Brentford I was thinking a lot: what the hell are we doing here? We’re really getting rid of players, it can’t go on like this. But I quickly learned that players can handle more than they think.” Rimmer also worked with Christian Eriksen for six months at Brentford.
Today to Crete
Brentford started with a 4-3-3 formation, but occasionally play a 3-4-3 as well. “We want to bring in attacking football with a positive mindset. And when we lead, we will never play to maintain that lead, but to deepen it. I place great importance on data. A study shows that teams that make defensive substitutions to maintain the lead lose more points than teams that continue Pushing and looking for more goals. With a lot of intensity, high pressure and winning the ball back in the opponent’s half, that’s how we want to win our games.”
Today, Reimer, accompanied by Chairman of the Board Water Vandenhout and Frederick, is traveling to Crete, where Anderlecht is training. He will immediately lead the training sessions, with Robin Feldman as assistant. Anderlecht will play two training matches on the stage: tomorrow against OFI Crete (6pm) and next Tuesday against Panetolikos (2pm). Remer’s first official match is the cup match against Racing Genk on Wednesday 21st December. His first major league assignments came on Boxing Day, where he visited predecessors Phyllis Matsu and Sporting Charleroi.
