Wasp and leg related weirdness clouds Brentford’s big reveal

Brentford football club launched our new badge yesterday and, now that the shock of the seemingly sudden reveal has worn off, what is your opinion? Brilliant? Terrible? Indifferent?

Initial thoughts from myself were in the positive camp – it does happen 🙂  – and remain as such. Likewise much of the feedback to that column , whether directly in the comments or on social media. Equally though, I’m not so naive to realise there were some less than favourable initial observations out there.

That’s life. People are absolutely entitled to opinions whilst reaction to change can be a tough thing to deal with. Moreso sudden, unexpected change.

Yet, for some reason, the tabloids were lining up, lemming like,  to immediately pour scorn. Why go for the positive or just reporting the story when you can do so in such a negative fashion? Do we have a bad relationship with the media or are Brentford just a soft target?

“Brentford supporters left furious”.   

“Are we the wasps now?”  

“Brentford’s new badge angers fans who claim traditional bee looks more like a wasp.” 

These, the respective headlines yesterday from the Daily Mail, Daily Mirror and that bastion of the footballing moral high ground, The Sun. Bearing in mind these were the same sources whose leading stories yesterday included :

Why are you sitting here on the sofa?’: Alex Jones asks Cliff Richard why he is on The One Show despite SUING the BBC –Daily Mail

‘Why are you sitting here on the sofa?’: Alex Jones asks Cliff Richard why he’s on The One Show despite SUING the BBC’ –The Daily Mirror

‘THIS IS AWKWARD’ The One Show’s Alex Jones asks Cliff Richard why he’s on the sofa despite £1.5 million lawsuit against the BBC The Sun

I’m no Cliff Richard fan and please don’t get me started on The One Show (the audience of which is, presumably, interchangeable with that of Mrs. Brown’s Boys). Yet this is the calibre of apparent news our supposed badge based fury and/or anger is lined up against.

Aside for the fact this fan fury seems such a skewed perspective , I don’t even get the whole Bees / Wasp thing. The bee on our new badge is clearly a bee. Maybe more ‘bumble’ than ‘honey’ but still clearly a bee. Who could even think this was a wasp? Desperate editors, internet comedians or Mrs. Brown aside?

Wasps. Real and shirt based. Not Bees

We’ve seen wasps before at picnics and on rugby shirts. I can’t say this enough but ours is clearly a bee.  As for the claim that it only has four legs rather than six… Erm??! Not sure I follow the logic there. Presumably the ‘missing pair’ are under the wings.

Funnily enough, it IS possible to draw / photograph a bee with only 4 of the traditional 6 legs visible to the naked eye.

If nothing else, just look at the current badge and start counting.1, 2, 3, 4. I’ve no recollection of any fury / anger from Brentford supporters at what seems to be much more of a leg based inaccuracy. If, indeed, it even is one. Which it isn’t.

Have there been 20 years of marches and placards outside Mark Devlin’s office? “Give us back our legs” being shouted by an angry mob or #wewantourlegs appearing on Twitter ? (note to media team – don’t ).

The current badge. 1,2,3,4 erm that’s it..

Of course not. Because, much like the self-importance and perceived popularity of the John Lewis Christmas advert, it isn’t actually ‘a thing’ outside of a small section of cyberspace. That clickbait grabbing headline writers then chose to turn it into one is, sadly, endemic of today’s journalism.

And I say that as a football fan looking in rather than any form of journalist (which clearly I’m not) looking out. I’m just the numpty on the terrace with a bit more spare time on my hands early in the morning than is probably advisable. Oh, for some sleep..

But I digress. What I would ask is why was the release so rushed? So sudden. No fanfare. No build up. No cryptic clue from Matthew Benham. No “Big announcement coming soon” type advice. No ’strip tease’ – an annual favourite

Instead, like a bolt out of the blue it was suddenly here. An email in the inbox and a headline on the website announcing “Our new club crest” .

Much like the subject of kit, this is clearly an emotive one. Fans were apparently consulted although this is something I, and many others, were unaware of over this consultation period. “During the past 18 months we engaged with a wide range of fans and stakeholders within the Club about our crest and received a clear mandate to look at change.” Those aren’t my words yet something which could have been made clearer if it was happening. And if it was just with a select group, at least explain this in the announcement .

Whilst this is ultimately their decision as a general rule I think our club goes out of it’s way to involve the fans. Being realistic, it is one I’m presuming is a decision they had to get right for many more reasons beyond simply something to stick on the shirt and say “We are Brentford” 

Involving the supporters a bit more, even just in the build up to the release, might have been a bit of a smarter move in retrospect. Hindsight is a wonderful thing and in a village such as football, where gossip and rumours can spread like wildfire, perhaps this was just a case of wanting to get the news out there.

Either way, the badge is here to stay. I’m hoping it grows on supporters. I love it and, whilst I have no qualms in voicing a less than club friendly opinion when warranted (as regular readers will be aware), in this instance I think they’ve come up with a great design.

Certainly, it is one I’ll be proud to wear on my shirt next season. Now Bob just has to get his part of that deal right ….

Nick Bruzon

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Transfer leak confirmed by video clue – Konstantin Kerschbaumer to join Bees

The rumour mill was in full effect at Griffin Park on Friday as it seemed Brentford have signed another midfielder. This, after a picture appeared on Twitter via Sam Boyd (@Boydy1994) showing a mystery man holding ‘the signing scarf’ aloft, pitch side, with Chris Wickham in attendance.

To read the rest of this article, season 2015/16 is now available to download onto Kindle (and other electronic reading device) in full, as :   Ready. Steady. Go Again. : Brentford FC season review 2015 – 2016

Thanks for reading and all your comments over the course of the season. For now, it’s the annual clean up to make more space on the site for the inevitable follow up. However, ‘close season’ will continue in full, further along.

But wait, like all the best infomercials, there’s more. The last three seasons of the Last Word : Celebrating like they’d won the FA Cup; Tales from the football village and Ready. Steady. Go Again are also available in one combined volume as: 

Brentford Football Club – The Bees are going up. Season reviews: 2013/14, 2014/15 & 2015/16 

We did. And we still are ! 

 

Who is the scarf waving enigma? And where did this picture come from?

 

Who will start as a double transfer swoop actually happens?

The link between Hull City and Brentford was one I talked about a lot last season. However, with the visit of Charlton Athletic for the Championship opener only 24 hours away it has just became even stronger.

They were lining up to be photographed with the official Brentford signing shirt yesterday as the news was announced that both Tommy Smith (who had been on trial with the Bees for sometime) and Nick Proschwitz from Hull (not so widely predicted) have joined. These much-welcomed signings mean competition up front, where Andre Gray and Scott Hogan were in pole position, has suddenly become very fierce.

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.

An open letter to Matthew Benham…and Banksy

Could the ‘post-Uwe’ Brentford revolution be starting already?

Since the announcement was made about Herr Rösler joining Wigan, club owner Matthew Benham has been on prolific ‘social media’ form.

Firstly, with the return of a ‘cryptic clue’ that, as before, had me flummoxed. A ‘YouTube’ video link to ‘Coutances – Soundtrack (The Science of Sleep)’, performed by Dick Annegarn has left me no wiser as to what Matthew is trying to imply. Quite how this ties in to Mark Warburton (assuming it is him named as our manager this morning) I have no idea. However, this was merely the tip of the Benham inspired twitter frenzy.

Not surprisingly, given the current stories about Sam Sodje and DJ Campbell being involved in alleged betting offences, Matthew has had more than a few things to say on the subject. As the owner of smartodds.co.uk he, if anyone, should have an opinion on this subject and his comments make very interesting reading. There can’t be many Brentford supporters on twitter who don’t follow him but just incase, you can find these on @matthew_benham.

So far so good but what really piqued my curiosity were his comments in regards to the music at home games. The catalyst for this being the request from @tinpotgamer, asking, “Also, please don’t have two home ends. It’s on a par with goal music and giant flags.”

The response was almost immediate and as direct as you could hope “there will never, ever, ever be goal music”.

This was, pun alert, ‘music to my ears’. I love watching the Bees and there can be very little, Keith Stroud aside, to ruin my enjoyment. That said – win, lose or draw the one thing to consistently upset me is our tired selection of full time ‘exit music’. I’ve ranted about ‘Guaglione’ and ‘Celebrate’ before – tired dirges that are on a par with Robbie Williams and his ‘Let me entertain you’ for the songs most likely to be heard in a football stadium (see also: Queen: We are the champions – although never after a Brentford play off campaign).

So, with Matthew on a rich vein of public interaction, this was the time to put the point directly to the man at the top. “On that note, could we also retire the awful ‘Guaglione/Celebrate’ as our ‘sad/happy’ post game walk out music?”, I asked.

The resulting reply was a joy to behold. A positive. To quote: “yep, music needs a shake up for sure, before the game, when players walk out, ht, ft, only ‘hey jude’ sacrosanct”

Could we have heard the last of (not so) Kool and the gang? Has Guaglione parped its last moribund farewell? One can only hope. Come Oldham on Saturday I’ll be paying extra attention to the Ealing Road P.A. – and not just, for once, because it is largely unintelligible.

The other discussion I had on Monday night was one regarding the roof on the Bill Axbey stand. Talking in the pub to fellow supporter Colin Campbell we came up with a couple of suggestions as to what could be done with the ‘Fly Qatar Airlines’ advert that still, presumably now rent free, occupies Europe’s largest advertising board. If they won’t stump up the cash to extend the lease (and, to be fair, why would they) then rather than repaint the entire roof, why not just add our own ‘DON’T’ (possibly at a jaunty angle) at the front end of their slogan? Given the amount of airline traffic that passes overhead, it might get somebody’s attention.

Alternatively, I lay down a challenge to the street artist, Banksy. Whilst, normally, there is nothing big or clever about graffiti, I’d happily see if he could sneak in under cover of darkness to decorate this space in his own unique style. It’s a win-win scenario. He gets the chance to decorate the largest ‘canvas’ possible; we inherit a piece of art, possibly worth more than Griffin Park itself.

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.