Thomas Frank labelled all workers fighting the Coronavirus pandemic on the frontline as 'massive heroes'.

The Brentford boss is spending the current lockdown period with his family while keeping in regular contact with his high-flying squad, who sit fourth in the Championship table.

But the Dane is acutely aware there are issues much bigger than football at the moment and had a clear message - including a special thank you to Bees fans.

“All people who are working in the NHS, or who are key workers or doctors who are working with this virus, are massive heroes,” the 46-year-old said.

“All the ones who are Brentford fans are a tiny bit closer to my heart, but everybody who is working is remarkable, and what they are doing every single day to make sure we’re one step closer to getting through this is incredible.

“My biggest regards and thoughts go to them, because it’s crazy.

“It’s been a strange month and it’s a difficult situation for a lot of people in the world - including us who are working in football.

“Of course, football is secondary at the moment and it’s about the general health of the world and society, and what we can do to help each other.”

Before the season came to a halt, Brentford climbed five points above of seventh-place Bristol City in the Championship but ten points adrift of West Bromwich Albion in the second automatic promotion spot.

The indefinite suspension of all EFL football came at a bad time for the West Londoners, who were enjoying a run of just one defeat in their last eight matches and romped to a 5-0 triumph over Sheffield Wednesday in their last game some weeks ago. 

While the Covid-19 pandemic has put the season on hold, Frank says he is prudently planning for the future while also keeping his current squad busy.

“On the football side, I’m trying to look at some players for - maybe - the coming transfer window,” he added.

"Though in some ways that is strange because there are so many more important things out there to think about, and I can’t stress that enough.

“Our players have been given a programme so they can keep up a decent level of fitness, and some decent core stability strength.

“When we don’t have a start date it is difficult in some ways to plan and difficult to focus, and I think that demands quite a lot of mental strength to keep going.

“We’re doing what we can - we’re splitting the players between five members of the coaching staff to make sure we can at least have contact with them once a week.

“Hopefully when we’re back in normal training, we’ll be in a good place.”