Allen out to muzzle Charlton

By John Sinnott

Allen has transformed Brentford since taking charge of the club

Brentford manager Martin Allen hates the moniker "Mad Dog" that has trailed him since his West Ham playing days.

Intense, certainly - you only have to watch the way he paces up and down the touchline at Griffin Park to get a sense of his commitment as a manager.

But rather than rabid Rottweiler the word that most springs to mind is thoughtful after talking to Allen about Brentford's FA Cup tie with Charlton.

Each question receives a lengthy pause before he gives a considered response.

That thoughtful approach extends to regular updates written by Allen himself on the Brentford website each week.

Last Sunday he even used his website column to tell Brentford's fans he would not be leaving the club for Leicester.

Brentford is set for the future to take off Brentford boss Martin Allen

"I think communication with supporters is very important," Allen told BBC Sport.

"I want to tell the fans as much as possible without it being detrimental the team.

"To give them an insight into what we do and the way we do it.

"It is not scripted by anybody else. It's my words and my thoughts and if anybody changed it I'd be very unhappy."

In his own words Brentford's passage to the fifth round and a money-spinning tie with Charlton has veered between the ridiculous and sublime.

He says his side were awful against Stockport in the third round - "You'd have thought we were the team bottom of League Two" - but Brentford more than made up for that performance with their humiliation of Premiership Sunderland in the next round.

"The FA Cup is a great leveller," added Allen. "Anything can happen in the FA Cup, I don't know why, but it does.

"It will be a tough game because Charlton are full of international, big-money players, but on the day who knows?"

Brentford fans mob striker DJ Campbell after the Sunderland win

When Allen first took charge at Brentford in March 2004 he led the Bees to League One safety with five wins and three draws in nine games.

Last season the club reached the play-offs and despite the distraction of their FA Cup run Allen's side are again mounting a strong promotion challenge.

"I said from day one that this was what would happen," said Allen. "People thought I was mad at the time because we were facing relegation but I knew what could be achieved.

"We have good young players and the club is set to take off as long as we can keep them all together.

"We have tried to adapt our style as we have got better, fitter and more technical players, and to try and pass and play better football."

However Brentford do against Charlton, Allen will have left no stone unturned in trying to get the better of their London rivals - and that includes attending a Uefa pro-licence masterclass in Barcelona the other week.

"Overall it was a great course to be on, and for me personally a great course to be invited on," said Allen.

"It was done by very professional people and you can only learn from going on something like that and broadening your horizons.

"There were no bolts out of the blue for me, but it was great to learn and listen to people like Brian Kerr and Dave Bassett."