No sooner have Birmingham City left Griffin Park than Brentford are preparing for the next home game – a Capital One Cup tie with Felix ‘nil points’ Magath’s Fulham team on Tuesday. Whilst, no doubt, there’ll be further build up to the Fulham game in the next column, for now here’s a chance to catch up on those other things that there simply wasn’t enough space to write about following the draw with Birmingham (along with an 11th hour bonus).
My feelings on referee Robert Madley have been well documented in the past and, disappointingly, these were proven to be spot on as this fusion of Stroud, Biggar and Attwell once again showed all the decision-making ability of a tombola.
View from the terrace – David tells Madley to button it, as Tony troops off
The one positive for me is that at least I wasn’t alone in this opinion. Any thoughts of “Could it have just been me?” were dispelled with a read of Greville Waterman’s BFCtalk column on the subject. A very therapeutic piece for those of you seeing red about the card happy man in black.
Still, at least Robert wasn’t alone in having a stinker on Saturday. The BBC didn’t even have the excuse of having had to make a snap decision. I’m not sure which match their correspondent was watching but on returning home I read their website with amusement. Specifically the part of the match report that described how goalkeeper Tony Craig had been sent off – although at least substitute ‘keeper David Button had made some smart saves.
Not even West London’s leading journo called this transfer swoop (the BBC have, since, corrected)
I’ve also had to rise to the challenge, following nomination from Luis Adriano. You can catch the wobbly action, some of the worst shorts Brentford have ever worn and the next set of nominees (and do feel free to encourage them along) here. Warning:it does involve some slipped pecs and paunch.
Sunday afternoon saw a thumping 4-0 win for Tottenham against the Loftus Road mob. A four goal defeat mirrors that suffered by Fulham the day before and gives a wonderful sense of symmetery to the bottom of the Premiership and Championship tables.
The BBC have, at least, got the tables right. Enjoy
Interestingly, Monday morning sees the Daily Telegraph reporting that Fulham boss Magath only has one game left in which to hang on to his job. You can read their story, here and then think on about the significance of what that next game is….
As one correspondent put it, “Tuesday just gets better“.
With Charlton Athletic due to visit Brentford on Saturday in our Championship opener I made a somewhat outlandish claim in yesterday’s column as to where I think we’d finish the season. I stand by that and I’d hope history repeats to help this happen – the last time The Bees entertained Charlton at this level saw a 2-0 win for us back on Nov 7th 1992.
That said, I hope there aren’t too many more similarities between the forthcoming campaign and that one, given 1992/93 saw us return to League One (as is) after a solitary season. At times the season was exciting; at others, it offered nothing but the bitterest frustration.
Regular correspondent Bernard Quackenbush asked for ‘my memories’ of this and, whilst somewhat hazy, it did get me thinking. So here are the top five highs and lows from the last time we tried try our luck in English football’s second tier.
The lows:
5: Dean Holdsworth. If Wigan Athletic fans are wondering why Brentford supporters are so upset about the Adam Forshaw talk, this is why.
To read the rest of this article, season 2014/15 is now available to download onto Kindle (and other electronic reading device) in full. Containing additional material and even some (poor) editing, you can get it here for less than the cost of a Griffin Park matchday programme or Balti Pie.
Thanks for reading and all your comments over the course of the season. For now, I need to make more space on the site for any follow up. However, ‘close season’ will continue in full, further along.
BrentfordFC 
New Brentford ‘keeper sees red as Tuesday just got better
25 AugNo sooner have Birmingham City left Griffin Park than Brentford are preparing for the next home game – a Capital One Cup tie with Felix ‘nil points’ Magath’s Fulham team on Tuesday. Whilst, no doubt, there’ll be further build up to the Fulham game in the next column, for now here’s a chance to catch up on those other things that there simply wasn’t enough space to write about following the draw with Birmingham (along with an 11th hour bonus).
My feelings on referee Robert Madley have been well documented in the past and, disappointingly, these were proven to be spot on as this fusion of Stroud, Biggar and Attwell once again showed all the decision-making ability of a tombola.
View from the terrace – David tells Madley to button it, as Tony troops off
The one positive for me is that at least I wasn’t alone in this opinion. Any thoughts of “Could it have just been me?” were dispelled with a read of Greville Waterman’s BFCtalk column on the subject. A very therapeutic piece for those of you seeing red about the card happy man in black.
Still, at least Robert wasn’t alone in having a stinker on Saturday. The BBC didn’t even have the excuse of having had to make a snap decision. I’m not sure which match their correspondent was watching but on returning home I read their website with amusement. Specifically the part of the match report that described how goalkeeper Tony Craig had been sent off – although at least substitute ‘keeper David Button had made some smart saves.
Not even West London’s leading journo called this transfer swoop (the BBC have, since, corrected)
I wrote on Saturday about Natalie Sawyer and Hayley McQueen’s ALS ice bucket challenge. Later that day footage emerged of Matthew Benham completing his own, following a nomination from the Slough Town bound Alan Judge.
I’ve also had to rise to the challenge, following nomination from Luis Adriano. You can catch the wobbly action, some of the worst shorts Brentford have ever worn and the next set of nominees (and do feel free to encourage them along) here. Warning:it does involve some slipped pecs and paunch.
Sunday afternoon saw a thumping 4-0 win for Tottenham against the Loftus Road mob. A four goal defeat mirrors that suffered by Fulham the day before and gives a wonderful sense of symmetery to the bottom of the Premiership and Championship tables.
The BBC have, at least, got the tables right. Enjoy
Interestingly, Monday morning sees the Daily Telegraph reporting that Fulham boss Magath only has one game left in which to hang on to his job. You can read their story, here and then think on about the significance of what that next game is….
As one correspondent put it, “Tuesday just gets better“.
Tags: 2013/14, Adam Forshaw, Alan Judge, Alex Pritchard, ALS, Amyotrophic lateral sclerosism, Arsenal, Barcelona, beard, Bees, Beesotted, bfctalk, Biggar, Bigger, Billy the Bee, Birmingham, Birmingham City, Blackpool, blog, Blues, book, boxing, Brentford, Brentford FC, Brighton, Brighton and Hove Albion, Buster Douglas, Capital One cup, celebrated, Celebrating like they'd won the FA Cup, Championship, Chris Wickham, Clayton, clayton donaldson, comments, Daily Telegraph, Dave Whelan, david button, Derby County, diary, Eddie Howe, FA Cup, Felix Magath, football, footballer, Fulham, Getty images, gloves, goalkeeper, GPG, Griffin Park, Harlee Dean, Hayley McQueen, Huddersfield Town, ice bucket, Ice Bucket Challenge, Jake Reeves, James, James Tarkowski, Joao Carlos Teixeira, Jon Toral, Jonathan Douglas, José Ignacio Peleteiro Ramallo, Jota, just don’t mention that penalty, Keith Stroud, kindle, Lewis Grabban, Luis Adriano, Marcello Trotta, Marcos Tébar Ramiro, Mark Chapman, Mark Devlin, Mark Warburton, Matthew Benham, media team, Moses Odubajo, motor neurone disease, Natalie Sawyer, Nick Bruzon, Northern Ireland International, Norwich City, Penalties, penalty, Peter Gilham, Peterborough United, Premiership, presenter, programme, prosecute, Ray, Ray Biggar, Robert Madley, Russell Brand, Russell Slade, Sam Saunders, Sky, Sky bet Championship, Sky sports, Skysports news, Slough Town, Social media, Spain, Spaniard, Spanish, St. Andrews, Stuart Attwell, Stuart Dallas, Teixera, Tottenham, Toumani, transfer, Trotta, TV, Twitter, Uwe, Uwe Rösler, video, Vine, vital football, volunteer, Warbs, Wigan, Wigan Athletic, Will Grigg, Wolves, World Cup, YouTube