I’m claiming this one, kind of. Brentford head in to Saturday afternoon’s game with Crystal Palace still buzzing off the back of beating Fulham 3-0 and now knowing a former Bee – with significant Premier League experience – signed a year’s contract at the Gtech on Friday. This is no 0898 121108 Bob Booker moment, though.
Who amongst us, over a certain age, could forget that pre-internet phone bill the payer would never see again? This, after dialling the infamous 33p a minute peak time / 25p off peak landline number to find out which top flight player that third division Brentford had signed. Peter Gilham’s dulcet tones were no compensation for the somewhat underwhelming feeling 180 seconds later that rather than a Gary Lineker, John Barnes or Gordon Strachan the reveal was …Welcome back, Bob Booker!
I know that I called up. As did my friends. Extrapolate this out amongst the broader fan base and at a time when every penny really counted, it was genius.
As we all know, Bob is a club legend and through no fault of his was simply the wrong man in the wrong place for a story that has acquired a sort of rose-tinted infamy. However, with Matthew Benham posting a cryptic clue on Thursday c/o the GPG, it seemed Brentford had an incoming player. The video from Pulp Fiction saw desperate attempts to crowbar in Brennan Johnson and Nicolás González, amongst other mega-million names that have been doing the rumour mill recently.
In the end, it was hiding in plain sight. Samuel L Jackson = Saman Ghoddos. Sam/Sam, with the former even seeming to make a G sign for good measure.
I’m really buzzing about this news. I loved Saman at Brentford and his return couldn’t come at a better time. Thomas Frank revealing in the Crystal Palace presser that both Shandon Baptiste (dislocated shoulder) and Josh Dasilva (hamstring) face lengthy periods on the sidelines.
Now we have another option who, whilst will be doing well to break in to the starting XI based on the performances against Spurs and Fulham, provides both experience and versatility. Although as one North stand observer opined yesterday afternoon in our group WhatsApp whilst discussing that emotional farewell last season alongside Pontus, “Will he have to give that framed shirt back”?
![](https://nickbruzonslastword.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/screenshot-2023-08-26-at-05.59.15.png?w=809)
Ok, Saman may not have a £40million+ price tag attached but he brings all the attributes we are looking for in the short term, given a situation that has also seen Sergi move on to Valencia. Nobody could doubt the energy or will to win he brings whilst, let’s not forget, he is an international and one of six Brentford players to participate in the 2022 World Cup finals (and for a point a piece, the other five were…..? Answer at the bottom *).
It’s not for nothing that he’s nicknamed, The Iranian Messi. Which meant that for the first time in history, yours truly unravelled a Matthew Benham cryptic clue in the Crystal Palace match preview, which you can read here. Kind of. I’m still claiming half a point for the observation: With these clues notoriously impossible to crack (even when you know the answer) it’s as likely to be Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi as anybody else. There you have it: Messi. Ok, the wrong one. But still Messi.
All jokes aside, picking up a player who knows our squad and set up, who is as comfortable slotting in as emergency wing back as he is going forward, is move which sees nothing to lose and everything to gain. Unlike Bob Booker, he’s only been gone a couple of months rather than five years but the one thing they share in common is that cult hero status. Not to mention wearing ther heart in the sleeve. Welcome Back, Saman Ghoddos.
The slightly less joyous news was the realisation that today’s man in black is Peter Bankes. Second only to Simon Hooper in my personal list of modern day referring nemeses. Perhaps his performance at home to Wolves was hindered by the infamous Drone but the non-penalty not awarded to Ivan Toney after we’d hauled our way back in to the game at Fulham last season still smarts. A lot. Peter Bankes? Robin Bankes more like. Here’s hoping for a better showing today….
![](https://nickbruzonslastword.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/thumbnail_book-coer.jpg?w=619)
* And of course, the other five Bees who went to Qatar were: Christian Norgaard, Mathias Jensen, Mikkel Damsgaard, David Raya and Bryan Mbeumo.
A surprise source unearths a real Christmas turkey
30 DecAs Brentford spent Christmas going down to both Ipswich Town and Wolves, it seems that away from the field various sources were busy either writing about, or preparing articles on, the club’s home fixture from the 1983 festive period.
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.
Roger’s wing walking is in the top left corner
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