Well that makes #BeeTheDJ nice and easy. The four ‘other’ things you have to know about our new signing

So the news is now, officially, official. Brentford ‘Official’ confirmed one of the most heavily touted rumours of the week when the signing of midfielder Christian Nørgaard from Italian giants ACF Fiorentina (their words) was confirmed on Tuesday morning. But what do we know about the latest addition to the squad with the signing of a player who was, of course, one of Thomas Frank’s first signings at Brøndby  – what were the odds of the stats computer coming up with his name 😉 ?  As for Leeds United, with the pain of the play-offs still fresh in the mind they’ve given supporters a boost. Even if it does involve that most awful of football phrases….  

We can only begin with the arrival of Christian Nørgaard at Griffin Park. The club website has their own ‘getting to know…’ piece and you can read that one here. Personally though, I prefer to read between the lines at the less obvious facts to see what we can come up with.

Firstly, that all important question of which ‘signing pose’ would Christian opt for has been answered. There was to be no ‘shirt with name on the back’ (new or old) and no ‘pen hovering over contract’. Instead, we were given ‘club scarf’ – worn in the traditional style rather than held aloft.

It’s always a safe option. Moreso given the unfortunate incident of Marcel Eger and the shirt that looked suspiciously too tight. ‘Noooo’ screamed anyone at a time the player should have absolutely opted to hold rather than wear.

Christian plays it safe with a scarf around the neck

The article in which his signing is announced refers to Christian as “The tall 25-year-old”. As one Braemar Road observer pointed out, this is a nice throwback to the club’s oft repeated description of “Long-legged midfielder Toumani Diagouraga”. One fan’s long-legged is another’s tall, I suppose.

According to the aforementioned ‘ten things’ piece, whilst at Brøndby Christian was described by Sporting Director Troels Bech as the “liaison between the team and this club’s wonderful fans.” This is great news, given the already strong bond between players and fans that we bore witness to under Thomas Frank. Those post-match laps of honour at the latter end of the season really helping crank up the emotion after another three points had been earned. If he does half as good a job as the likes of Yoann, Said, Neal or our official player liaison, the legend that is Peter Gilham, then we’re in for a treat.

As for songs, popular music’s The Vaccines give us an absolute shoe-in for #BeeTheDJ. And should Emiliano Marcondes cede his number 17 squad shirt then I can’t see it beyond the wit of mortal man or woman to come up with an alternate terrace chant, either.

An obvious selection

Moving on, Leeds United. I’m still amazed at quite how they managed to miss out on promotion to the Premier League this time around. Automatic was in their grasp for so long whilst even in the play-offs, they were all set in the second leg after that early goal from Stuart Dallas before hitting self-destruct just before half time against rank Lampard’s Derby County ™. Still, that’s all been and gone. Crying over it won’t change anything. Another campaign in the Championship awaits at Elland Road.

As such, one can imagine the joy after the club confirmed that head coach Marcelo Bielsa will be at the helm for another season. Leeds United chairman Andrea Radrizzani has exercised their option to extend Bielsa’s contract for a second season whilst the man himself has confirmed his intention to continue.

I think Bielsa is great. We’ve written about him many times on these pages and even in the matchday programme. Even though his team would ultimately miss out, one can’t deny the passion he displayed and the enjoyment he gave us over 2018/19. And not just Spygate.

So it was news which I read with genuine pleasure. Until the formal announcement was pointed out. Urghh. They’ve used ‘that phrase’. We go again. I can’t help but associate this with Harlee Dean and his Twitter account – usually used in conjunction with the phrases “Can’t apologise enough” or “The supporters deserve better”.

It’s a phrase that is high up there on the post-match defeat bingo card, nestling alongside Dean Smith telling journalists that “we deserved to win”. I have a(possibly) irrational loathing of this bland platitude, used to describe the fact that your team has been rubbish. Move along, nothing to see here.  File alongside the England Supporters ‘band’, Mrs. Browns Boys, Team GB, goal music, eXpresso, Star Wars day etc etc in the list of things that really get under the skin

On the plus side, at least there was no crowbarred hashtag to accompany the news whilst the picture used put me in mind of Alan Partridge – which can only ever be a good thing. Unlike the Norwich based superstar, Bielsa has been given that much required second season. Here’s to seeing if he can produce more of that liquid football. although perhaps not at Griffin Park. (Yet) another three points from Leeds will do me just fine.

Nick Bruzon  

Brentford make big reveal as two come in ahead of Burton Albion on Saturday

So it was all change at Brentford yesterday. Kind of.  With Burton Albion the visitors this Saturday, and the hope that  we’ll start to bounce back lying heavy in the air following a dismal run that has most recently seen the 5-0 thrashing at Norwich, it was press conference day.

Top of the agenda was surely the arrival of Danish coach Thomas Frank in the role as a co-assistant head coach to Dean Smith, alongside Richard O’Kelly. How his addition helps the Bees will only be seen over time but Dean clearly sees it as a good decision. A post match meeting with the owner this week has revealed the admission that : “I was with Matthew Benham on Monday and he is very positive about us moving forward, as are the Directors of Football”.

Thomas Frank joins the team. Christmas presence for Dean

Three days later, this is announced. Presumably, though, something that has been some time in the planning, given Thomas was chosen by a panel led by Dean but which included several others including our co-directors of football . As ever, the whole thing is on ‘official’.

Having previously had the managerial hot seat at Brøndby, Thomas left in March after Danish newspapers discovered that the club’s chairman Jan Bech Andersen had adopted a  false name and gone onto an internet fans forum to criticise him. Specifically, Frank’s management of the club.  Regardless of the fact that I can’t imagine a scenario where the host of our own fan forum pulls off a rubber mask, Scooby Doo style, to reveal he’s actually Cliff  Crown or even Mr Benham (if for no other reason then there isn’t a cache of Confederate gold hidden under Griffin Park) this can only be a win-win for the Bees.

I’d have got away with it if it wasn’t for you meddling journalists

Let the Danes shoot themselves in the foot. Their loss is our gain if the press conference is to be believed, with the key strength Thomas bringing being his ’skill set’ .

Certainly, it seemed to be ‘phrase of the day’ (replacing ‘blip’ from last week).  And even better, not a hashtag in sight to #welcomeThomas. Nice work, all round. Here’s to seeing if Thomas can have an immediate impact at the weekend

The other arrival was that of our new ‘app’ for iPhone and the other one (Sorry, can’t mention it by name – hate the format. Awful, awful devices). Having had a look around on this already, I have to say it’s great. A very impressive product and all that better that it’ll cost you absolutely nothing . If only the main club website was this intuitive, clean and easy to use (although, equally, we aren’t alone in suffering the contractual obligation of the current template). You can get it now and, in a day for plugging ‘official’, you can find the links to the app there.

Here’s hoping to see how it holds up in a live game environment on Saturday agasint Burton Albion. Then again, one could say the same about the team.

I’m sure we’ll all be just fine. Here’s to three points.

Nick Bruzon