Brentford B celebrate 500 first-team appearances | OneFootball

Brentford's Carabao Cup defeat to Newcastle United saw the 500th first-team appearance made by former Brentford B players.

Yehor Yarmoliuk, Mads Roerslev and Paris Maghoma all featured for the Bees at St James' Park, taking the tally to the landmark figure.

Across the past eight years, 31 B team players have made competitive first-team debuts.

Roerslev leads the way in total games played since graduating from the B team set-up to the first team with 137, with Marcus Forss second with 74, and Mads Bech Sørensen third with 72.

In more recent times, current B team midfielder Ethan Brierley made his debut in the Carabao Cup last season against Newport County, while B team winger Tony Yogane and defender Ji-soo Kim made their debuts this term against Leyton Orient.

Launched in the summer of 2016, the Brentford B project saw a standalone squad formed, which has since acted as a direct pathway to first-team football.

Former Bees technical director Robert Rowan, who sadly passed away in November 2018 due to an undiagnosed heart condition at the age of just 28, oversaw the strategic direction of Brentford B.

Since then, the team has played across the world, participating in a unique games programme that ensures the strong development of players.

With the introduction of the Academy at the beginning of this season, the B team has continued to operate concurrently with the Under-21s team.

The team lifted the Premier League Cup trophy in the 2022/23 season under current head coach Neil MacFarlane, with five players from that line-up since making their first-team debuts.

Other Brentford B head coaches include Flemming Pedersen, Kevin O’Connor, and Lars Friis, who have all helped with the development of the young Bees.