In the shop window but Thomas Frank and Unai Emery fit perfectly where they are

WANTED MEN: Aston Villa manager Unai Emery (left) and Brentford manager Thomas Frank during the Premier League match at the Gtech Community Stadium, London. Pic: Kieran Cleeves/PA Wire

Premier League: Brentford 1 Aston Villa 1 

The immutable law of football decrees that clubs choose managers.

Sometimes they choose the right ones and bring success. More often than not these days, it seems, they choose the wrong ones and are then forced to disguise their poor choices in a flurry of post-sacking excuses.

But what if it was solely down to managers to choose the right club for them? Would the success rate improve or the longevity of managerial tenures stretch back into years rather than months, as has become the norm?

Watching Thomas Frank and Unai Emery on the Gtech Community Stadium touchline on Saturday afternoon and afterwards deep inside it in the media conference room, it was hard to dispel the notion that they could not have chosen better clubs than their current ones.

Frank is all about community, so he fits the name of Brentford’s home as well as its ethos.

So often players parade around the pitch after the final whistle because they need to be seen doing the right thing. Frank and his players know it is the right thing to do.

Take away Brentford’s collective spirit and you would be left with a collection of adequately skilled players built around a superstar spine, with keeper David Raya at one end of it and striker Ivan Toney at the other, the pointy end.

Toney converted his 20th goal of the season with trademark conviction and aplomb. His strike partners, Bryan Mbeumo and Kevin Schade, had missed similarly presentable chances.

Yet there was no sense of Toney being more important than his teammates in the goal celebrations.

That comes from Frank.

When asked whether he took pride from seeing Toney on one side and Ollie Watkins in Villa colours having added stardust to both players as Brentford coach and now manager, Frank’s response reflected his genuine personality.

He said: “Yes, I do, but there’s a lot of people who deserve credit for what Ollie did at Brentford. I hopefully had an impact on him but there are a lot of other staff and players who helped him. The same with Ivan.

“As a head coach, you like to create a team that plays in a specific way and you are happy. I know that tomorrow when the sun rises and I wake up, I will be very happy with today’s performance. 

“Winning of course is always nice, but developing people and players is also a big thing, so of course we are pleased with that.” 

Having gained promotion with Brentford, enjoyed a thrilling debut Premier League season and now made the notion of second-season syndrome seem a folly, Frank ought to be on every Premier League club’s wish list as a potential future manager.

But would he work elsewhere? Would his values be appreciated quite as much as they are at Brentford and therefore would the sun actually be shining if he woke up outside the corner of west London he adores?

Well, look at Emery. Watching him undertake interviews as manager of Arsenal was to see a man who didn’t ever quite seem at ease with his surroundings.

It is not that Arsenal was too big a club for the Spaniard, or Paris St Germain before that, more that he hadn’t built those clubs through his teams.

In Spain, at Valencia, Sevilla and Villarreal, Emery built sides of which those clubs could be proud. He strapped each club to his back and took it with him through the building process.

In Saturday’s post-match interview, there was a relaxation and an ease about Emery that wasn’t apparent at the Emirates.

Villa hadn’t played well, yet they had stolen a point to maintain their push for Europe. Just as with Brentford, it was a collective will that brought about Douglas Luiz’s 88th-minute equaliser.

Emery said: “To play at Chelsea is not the same as playing at Leicester or the same as playing at Brentford today.

“We have to adapt and adaptation is difficult. The first 30 minutes of the second half was very bad, but our reaction was very good.

“We didn’t have big chances, but we were clinical with them to draw. Whether it was deserved or not, this is a very good point.” 

Emery has had bigger clubs come calling before. Frank hasn’t, and has yet to experience the temptation. For now, both men should appreciate where they are.

BRENTFORD (4-3-3): Raya 6; Hickey 7, Pinnock 7, Mee 7, Henry 6; Jensen 7 (Dasilva 90, 6) , Norgaard 6 (Onyeka 46, 7), Janelt 6 (Damsgaard 75, 6); Mbeumo 6, Toney 7, Schade 6 (Wissa 75, 6). 

Subs not used: Cox, Zanka, Roerslev, Ghoddos, Baptiste. 

ASTON VILLA (4-2-3-1): Martinez 7 (Olsen 46, 5); Young 6 (Chambers 66, 6), Konsa 6, Mings 6, Moreno 7 (Digne 66, 6); Dendoncker 6 (Traore 66, 6), Luiz 7; McGinn 8, Buendia 7, Ramsey 6; Watkins 5. 

Subs not used: Sinisalo, Carlos, Duran, Revan, Patterson. 

Referee: Michael Salisbury.