With Brentford announcing their squad numbers on Monday, there were some interesting points of note. Hull City target Moses Odubajo has had his 10 switched to the traditional right back’s 2 despite the contract clause being activated and his asking to be kept out of the team at the weekend. Leeds United bound (?) Stuart Dallas retains his 15 but 8, the former property of Jonathan Douglas, currently has no occupant. Hopefully a sign of this being kept warm rather than any retirement for the, seemingly, Ipswich Town new boy’s favoured number.
Like Dougie, Philipp Hofmann was totally absent although, in his case, it seemed simply down to a mix up on the club site. The earlier quoted Scott Hogan (9) apparently due to inherit 11 and free up that slot for the German striker. And David Button’s 27, leaving Richard Lee’s old ‘1’ clear did make me wonder if Matthew Benham will be firing up the cryptic clue generator to provide further cover. Or does David just prefer to remind us he is in his twenties?
To read the rest of this article, season 2015/16 is now available to download onto Kindle (and other electronic reading device) in full, as : Ready. Steady. Go Again. : Brentford FC season review 2015 – 2016
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 !
Its all about the kit, man. And the Bees.
BrentfordFC 
well said lets get positive no reason to feel otherwise people want to go let them
As I Hull fan I have been following these interesting posts over the lad few days. The talk up here is that Odubajo and Akpom from Arsenal were up in Hull having medicals yesterday so I would expect to see those deals probably announced today or tomorrow. It will be interesting to see what happens with Gray. The scenario seems very similar to the Robbie Brady one who recently left us to join Norwich. It has been going on now for too long for it not to happen. I suspect the lad wants the move and the club accept that but that is a case of the clubs agreeing an acceptable fee. The £8m being mentioned seems inflated but I must admit to not having seen much of him. In any case good luck for the new season.
Can’t read too much into David Button wanting the 27 shirt, understand it is both his and his wife’s birth date.
I think your absolutely right. Its just his lucky number
Debates about transfer fees are highly subjective and always contentious between the seller and buyer, in football “inflated” is the norm right? Connor Whickham sold yesterday for £9M tells you that.
On the face of it were we to sell Moses for £3.5M it would represent a good profit in 1 season, despite having to pay out on a sell on with Leyton Orient. He’ll be hard to replace but i’d back us to find a good replacement.
The issue that most Bees fans have is that he has quickly become our most valuable asset and is now ready to start in a top half Prem side – the likes of Everton would seem a good fit.Leaving his wages aside it would seem that he’d be better off staying with BFC if he’s doing another year in the championship. Even the most conservative Bees fan would value him much higher than £3.5M, he’s been described as our 1st £10M player, that was before we know about the release clause.
Hull have not done anything wrong on this one, our problem is that we feel he should be moving up, and at a market valuation well above the likely fee.
Much as I do not want to see Andre Gray sold, perhaps BFC have some leverage here, pay us a top end fee above £8M for him as compensation for the fee on Moses and we’d consider selling both players?
No one, two or even three players are bigger than the club we all love. If players want to leave to potentially advance their careers then good luck to them and we wish them well and thank them for their service. Brentford have always been a selling club, its how we survive. The difference this time round is we are no longer going to give players away for cheap and therefore why should we except Hulls opening bid and not push for more, that is exactly what Steve Bruce would do if the rolls were reversed and is quite simply good management.
The first player Brentford signed this season “Gogia” looks absolutely superb even though most of us hadn’t a clue who he was and don’t forget we still have the best, most skillful player I have seen kick a ball down at Griffin park “Jota” to entertain us.
I believe this is a team that will be harder to score against and a team that will score more goals than last season and I can’t wait for the season to start
Prediction for Saturday Brentford 3 – Ipswich 0
If any player dos’nt want to pull a bees shirt on sell him simple as that, the club comes first. Its making a refreshing change getting good profits on players who are all under contract didnt happen often pre Benham did it, talking of who you know they are also going to replaced with quality like hes done in the past big Nick being the only exception. ONWARD AND UPWARDS BEES
Everything you say is true and I can’t disagree, so why do I feel uncomfortable about a few things going on at GP right now?
A few words from the great man that has taken us this far would be welcome right now.
Good luck to those that have gone, they’ve looked after themselves and we need to do the same now.
Change can always be difficult to get your head around. Its natural.
Favourites going. Agree with you 100% on Dougie. For Dallas & Moses its a huge step up in wages. For Moses its clear Brentford was only a stepping stone. But part of the Benham revolution is buy low, sell high. We have made pretty substantial profits on the 2 players.
As for Andre, £8m seems a ridiculously over-inflated price. But thats the price. Hull can afford it. Brentford dont need to sell so we can quote whatever price we want. If we are offered £8m for Andre & Andre wishes to go, we should take it. I have every confidence in Hofmann & Vibe to step in as Andre’s replacements. Their pedigrees are outstanding.
Who’s to say also we have finished our own purchasing?
Course we are going to replace moses and stuart would you BET against it, if you do please use Matchbook more money in Matts bank
I was not happy when we let Will Grigg go to Wigan . If we do sell Gray then he would have been an ideal replacement . Nothing we could do about Pritchard but he will be sorely missed and with three more big names leaving this week I fear the dreaded 2nd season syndrome coming on . Hope I’m proved wrong on Saturday.