Well that was some weekend. A 4-2 win for Brentford over Rotherham United will never be remembered as the classic that the scoreline suggests. That said, it will be remembered for the unadulterated excitement of seeing Jota wrap up his first hat-trick for the Bees. Yet with a lazy Sunday beckoning for the Griffin Park faithful and a chance for us all to recover from Saturday’s exertions, the Manchester United – Southampton EFL final at the W place in North London saw one of our number still hard at work.
First up though, the rest of the weekend round up from Griffin Park. Sitting where we do just below the director’s box, it really is the perfect place for seeing the great and the good from the world of football. And with Rotherham United in town, surely this would be the perfect place for spotting a Chuckle Brother or two?
Sadly, neither Paul of Barry were present. Or, if they were, they were maintaining a very low profile. Instead of the Chuckle Brothers, we had to be content with Rasmus putting in an appearance ‘upstairs’ and a rare pre-match sortie along the Braemar Road touchline from Dean Smith. Likewise, suspended Harlee Dean spent the day wandering around Griffin Park.
A prematch appearance in the club shop was followed by a similar touchline stroll to Dean aswell as then being spotted, twice, doing his thing on the forecourt at half time. It speaks volumes about our club that the manager (head coach) and captain can still walk around so easily, albeit happy to stop for autographs and photos, without being harangued by baying masses.
As my own guest for the day, Cousin Charles (and those who know of his ‘connections’ and win ratio should be chaining him to the terrace) would later note – Imagine that happening at Manchester United or Chelsea. There’d be mayhem.
Harlee looking up at the Director’s box before kick off. A fan of the Chuckle Brothers?
Instead, its just Brentford. We know our players. We’ve all met them and, with the tight environs of Griffin Park being what they are, it is the most natural thing in the world to see them up close and personal. Long may this continue. Long may the likes of Dean Smith and Harlee Dean feel comfortable enough to walk around in such close proximity to the supporters.Long may they both be as personable and friendly as they were on Saturday.
But if Dean and Harlee were spotted somewhat out of context, it was nothing compared to Cliff Crown on Sunday. Having been afforded the rare privilege of being allowed to watch an entire football match undisturbed after a roast beef lunch, yours truly took full advantage and wasn’t let down by the EFL Cup final .
Whatever your thoughts on the tournament itself, the game between Manchester United and Southampton was a stone cold classic. United being somewhat fortunate to come away with a 3-2 win that left the neutrals purring and Fantasy Football managers up and down the land crowbarring Manolo Gabbiadini into their teams.
But with United victorious and Wayne Rooney, who hadn’t even made it off the subs bench, kitted up and preparing to lift the trophy John Terry style, there was a surprise in store. Was that Cliff Crown in the royal box? The Brentford chairman? Sure enough, and with apologies for ruining the moment of the Southampton players receiving their runner’s up medals, a double take on the ‘rewind’ button confirmed the very same.
Cliff and Brentford jacket on full display
Even better, he’d gone in there with his Brentford colours on full display. Awesome stuff, Cliff. We may have missed the Chuckle Brothers in the Griffin Park box on Saturday but this more than made up for it the next day.
Brentford at Wembley. Who’d have thought it possible this season? Here’s hoping that next year we get a chance to do it for real.
Nick Bruzon
BrentfordFC 
Nice spot Nick! Good to see a Bees representative attending a reasonably high profile match. That would never of happened pre Greg Dyke. Great result at the weekend for the Bees, if not the performance. Cut out these really sloppy lapses of concentration and we’d be a top 6 side. I hope we hurry up and reach 50 points as soon as possible. Once that milestone has been met I’d really like the management team to start integrating our youngsters into the a squad. Great to see Shaibu on, lets carry that on into other games. get them up to a solid 30 mins on the pitch when things are going well.
CoYB
Hi Rob,Agree completely that now we have achieved virtual safety the stars of the B team should be given every opportunity to break into the first team squad.Also hope that Jota will be offered,and will accept,an extended contract. I cannot see how it would not be in both his and the club’s interests.If the Bees were to be made an offer they could not refuse in the summer Jota would quite rightly benefit from his share of the deal.It,s a win-win situation for both the club and player unless I am missing something! Hope the D s of F agree and act asap.!!
Further to my comment above my ideal outcome would be to see Jota at Brentford for the next 3 to 4 years at least. Another “dream ” would be seeing him playing alongside Alan Judge at Griffin Park. Dream on !!