Is the Brentford beard club going to lose its most famous member? In a move akin to Stevie G departing Liverpool, TW8 reacted to reports that Jonathan Douglas seems to have been declared surplus to requirements for the coming season and can leave the club. This, despite having a year left on his contract. And over in Gibraltar, local Champions Lincoln Red Imps hosted Matthew Benham’s other team, FC Midtjylland, for the second leg of their Champions League second qualifying round.
But first, Dougie. A seemingly nailed on selection under Mark Warburton, his time at Brentford looks as though it has come to an end.
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Thanks for reading and all your comments over the course of the season. For now, it’s the annual clean up to make more space on the site for the inevitable follow up. However, ‘close season’ will continue in full, further along.
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We did. And we still are !
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If the rumours are true it’s a tough one – possibly justified but never easy saying goodbye to a Bees great. Where I disagree slightly is in your description of JD as tough tackling / leader – that’s something we have lacked for a while and the more physical sides exposed it – think Ipswich, Forest at GP, and yes Boro – 4 times!
So do we have someone to do that job amongst the plethora of midfielders at the club? I’d argue not, and we may now have an issue with Toumani who played virtually all of his best football with JD sat next to him. Finally the 20+ crucial goals from Douglas and Pritchard will now have to be found elsewhere,
Whatever happens I hope that JD’s situation is handled well – he really deserves that much despite the shift to more clinical / sentiment free BFC.
Still time I know but the squad looks very unbalanced – couldn’t be a more interesting opening fixture to see whether they are up to it or not.
The departure of TC and now Dougie being told he can leave is possibly the most unsurprising development of the summer at GP.
Those of us who watched week in week out saw 2 different Dougie’s last season. The first half of the season saw the midfield box to box player having huge effects on games. The second half saw Dougie having far less of an influence with matches occasionally bypassing him. Whether he was unsettled by the Warburton situation, the emergence of Toums, a loss of form, or simply Father Time tapping him on the shoulder, I dont know.
It was clear that a new regime would not look favourably upon the bearded one, or indeed Tony Craig.
Its likely that come August 8, Dougie will be running out of a different dressing room, but if not im sure he can still make a contribution if called upon. He just has to accept he will for the first time in many years not be an automatic choice in the team.
Whatever happens, there is no doubt of the contribution he has made to Brentford FC, even from that very first outstanding appearance against Yeovil in Uwe’s first game. In my opinion Douglas would be in my all time Brentford XI