Set volume to 11, forget Stroud (and grab your cooling technology)

Brentford travel to Sheffield United today for a League One fixture that has the name Keith Stroud indelibly burned onto my brain. You’d have to have been living in North Korea not to know the facts of this one from last season but the pertinent details bear repeating.

Nine yellow cards, three reds (two for the Bees including a season spannering ban for Tony Craig), four penalties (two missed, ours scored by Marcello Trotta) and an equaliser at the death for Brentford. Shaun Wright-Phillips being the man to rescue a point from a game we could have gone on to win – the Bees were 1-0 up and dominating at HT –  before Stroud lost the plot.

It was a match famously described after the event as “The maddest game of football that ever existed”by the Beesplayer commentating legend Mark Burridge but, in a way, Stroud might have done us a favour, long term.

To read the rest of this article, season 2013/14 is now available to download onto Kindle, in full. Containing previously unseen content, you can do so here for less than the cost of one matchday programme.

 Thanks for reading over the course of the campaign. For now I need to make space on this page for any follow up.  The ‘close season’ / World Cup columns continue in full, further on in this site.

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Oldham hold ‘em but Brentford and Wolves move clear

So Brentford have come back from Oldham  – the second of three successive road trips up North (Sheffield United are next, on Tuesday)– with a point that takes us further clear of third placed Leyton Orient.

As the Football League Show would later comment, it “wasn’t vintage Brentford but they remain rock solid in second spot.”

Few who travelled would argue otherwise.

To read the rest of this article, season 2013/14 is now available to download onto Kindle, in full. Containing previously unseen content, you can do so here for less than the cost of one matchday programme.

 Thanks for reading over the course of the campaign. For now I need to make space on this page for any follow up.  The ‘close season’ / World Cup columns continue in full, further on in this site.

Manchester United morons redefine loyalty as Brentford plan Arctic trek.

Its fair to say Manchester United have had a car crash of a season, relative to their recent standards. Their Premiership title is all but lost, entry to next season’s Europa League looks unlikely whilst they are ranked as 33/1 rank outsiders in a field of eight, for a last hope of glory – the Champion’s League.  Sadly, I’ll miss what could be (yet another) defining moment in the Old Trafford debacle as I’m going to be travelling North to watch Brentford at Oldham.

I say sadly. My footballing choice will always start and end with Brentford – moreso if that rare opportunity (in this first season of parenthood) to ‘play away’ presents itself. However, I have a ghoulish interest in what is due to unfold, quite literally, as Manchester United take on Aston Villa at lunchtime.

To read the rest of this article, season 2013/14 is now available to download onto Kindle, in full. Containing previously unseen content, you can do so here for less than the cost of one matchday programme.

 Thanks for reading over the course of the campaign. For now I need to make space on this page for any follow up.  The ‘close season’ / World Cup columns continue in full, further on in this site.

A bit of perspective, please, as ‘that joke’ is cranked out

What can you say? Well played Rotherham United as Brentford slipped to their second defeat in only twenty five League games. Meanwhile, a good win for Wolves (eventually – it looked squeaky for a while as their insurmountable lead was reigned in) and a massive present from Oldham at Leyton Orient see things remain ‘as they were’ at the top of the table.

The only real difference being that Wolves have the title back in their control, for this week at least, as Brentford are now four points off the summit, albeit with a game in hand. And we are still two games and three points clear of third placed Leyton Orient who, intriguingly, now have Rotherham breathing right down their necks.

To read the rest of this article, season 2013/14 is now available to download onto Kindle, in full. Containing previously unseen content, you can do so here for less than the cost of one matchday programme.

 Thanks for reading over the course of the campaign. For now I need to make space on this page for any follow up.  The ‘close season’ / World Cup columns continue in full, further on in this site.