Brentford were playing some tremendous football under Dean Smith this season and looked set to seriously challenge for promotion.

The pairing of Neal Maupay and Ollie Watkins was formed by Smith and were the focal point of possibly the best, attacking football on display in the second tier.

But with the departure of Steve Bruce as Aston Villa boss just over a week ago, the Bees boss was adjudged to be the best man for the job in the West Midlands.

It now leaves the brilliant attacking unit at Griffin Park in need of a new leader and it should undoubtedly be somebody with a similar mentality.

Who? 

The ideal man for the job is currently plying his trade in League One and goes by the name of Daniel Stendel.

He is a fresh face in management, having only moved to Barnsley after managing Hannover's youth team, but has already shown he has the perfect approach to replace Smith.

Nobody has scored more than Barnsley in League One this season with the Tykes netting 29 times in their opening 13 matches.

With very few arrivals in the summer as well he has shown himself to be a terrific man manager.

The typical reaction to a relegation is to uproot the squad, chuck them away and start over, but Stendel took a measured approach, recognised the quality he has and with a few tweaks has turned them into one of the league's most formidable sides.

Barnsley will not be keen to lose their up and coming manager, but Brentford is an incredibly appealing club for any manager and could be hard for the German to resist.