Brentford manager Thomas Frank has played down the high expectations around the club ahead of the beginning of the new Championship season.

The Bees will welcome Birmingham City to Griffin Park on Saturday for their 2019/20 campaign opener as they look to improve on finishing 11th last season.

But while many are tipping Brentford to be dark horses for promotion to the top flight, Frank was reluctant to buy into the hype in a league as competitive as the Championship.

“I think we are one of 16 clubs that have dreams and believe and see what’s happening,” he said. “That’s the craziest thing with this league, that there’s a lot of teams that have a chance if they hit a good run of games.

“I know one thing: I know that we will put a side out who will do everything they can every single game to try to win the match and we’ll do that on Saturday.

“If we don’t enjoy the journey and have a big focus on the process, then we can forget our dreams.”

Frank was named as Brentford’s new first-team boss in October last year after Dean Smith left for Aston Villa - and the Dane believes the squad is in good shape for the new campaign.

“We need to be attacking and forward-thinking and forward-playing and we want to be,” he said.

“The aim is we want to be one of the most attractive teams in the league which I think we were last year. We will continue that, but we need to improve the defensive side of the game and I think we made six very interesting signings.

“I think we have a strong squad. Of course, it’s very interesting to compare players, you know, Ezri Konsa, Ethan Pinnock or Pontus Jansson or these things, that’s one thing.

“Second thing is when new players come into the club, do they hit the hit the ground running in terms of culture, chairmanship, all that?

“We never know, but what we know is we are very pleased with the six we got in. It’s just how quick we can get them clicking.”

Saturday’s clash will kick off Brentford’s final season at Griffin Park before moving to their brand-new stadium, but the Bees will be without star-man Said Benrahma.

Frank added: “I’ll tell you one thing, Said Benrahma is not playing Saturday because he’s still doing his rehab so he’s not joined the group yet, he should do that on Monday.

“We’re looking forward to starting at Griffin Park. We know it’s the farewell season of Griffin Park and I just had a meeting with the boys, and we need to do everything we can to make this last season magical.

“We need to give the fans some fantastic experience and enjoy Griffin Park, that’s the aim. We need to play forward, we need to play with a lot of energy, we just want to do everything we can.

“We know we need the fans, we need them to back us and give us a lot of help because we know they’ll be ups and downs but at home we know we have a fortress, we know we are very difficult to play against at Griffin Park.”