In? Out? Shake it all about.

Strap yourselves in for a bumpy ride , Brentford fans. Deadline day is here. Could James Tarkowski be off to Burnley? Is the sale of Alan Judge (Sunderland – presumably that one a joke) back on once more ? Are former Bees Adam Forshaw and Alex Pritchard heading for pastures new? Will Griffin Park see any newcomers?

It’s football’s craziest day as journalists everywhere dust down the phrases “snap up”, “Double transfer swoop”, “slams shut” and recycle archive footage of Harry Redknapp leaning out of a car window. With the ever excitable Jim White guiding us home alongside, amongst others, Bees’ fanatic Natalie Sawyer it promises to be as frenetic and torturous a day as ever.

For Brentford fans, at least, we can take solace in the words of co-director of football Rasmus Ankersen. After the last one closed in September 2015, the club quoted his own intentions for forthcoming transfer windows following the fans’ forum.

.@RasmusAnkersen "the goal is to get stronger after each transfer window."

— Brentford FC (@BrentfordFC) September 24, 2015

So far this time around we’ve seen the signing of Nathan Fox from Cray Wanderers and Emmanuel Onariase from West Ham United. Joining the long list of those who left in the summer have been Jota and then Toumani Diagouraga who, of course, joined Stuart Dallas at Leeds United last week.

As such, it’s going to be very interesting how we end today. Will anybody leave? Will anybody join? Will the squad be stronger? Or is the improving performance of several players, alongside those who remain, considered as the strengthening?

It’s the worst day in the football calendar, that’s for sure. With Dean Smith supposedly after two players, time is fast running out. Then again, Matthew Benham’s ongoing absence from Twitter means that any advance clues are now a thing of the past.

Rasmus, Phil and Dean could be hot footing it up the motorway or waiting at Terminal 2 to secure a deal as we speak. Nobody amongst us mere mortals, for all that we speculate and read, actually has a clue.

All I know is that with Jim White going into overdrive, as excitable as Wolf out of the Gladiators ranting down the camera,  none of us Bees will be able to relax until it’s over.

See you in 24 hours time……

Jim White – not just Natalie alongside him these days

Nick Bruzon

 

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Is this next season’s shirt? Plus an unexpected favour

Saturday. Brentford have another afternoon off. The price of FA Cup capitulation. With the scheduled game against Leeds United having been brought forward, we’re not even half-way towards out next outing – the televised clash with Brighton and Hove Albion on Friday evening.   Plus, Manchester United do us a favour whilst one correspondent asks if we’ve been given a possible ‘sneak peek’ of next seasons’ kit? First though, this weekend.

It always feels like we are missing out when most of our rivals are playing. One slight positive is, I guess, that the next time we all meet up the shape of our squad will be known. Will that include Alan Judge? James Tarkowski? Anybody new? With the window due to ‘slam shut’ on Monday, the time for deals is running out. That doesn’t make them any less likely, of course.

Traditionally, the final day has been anything from a sea of tumbleweed to a flurry of frenetic activity. And that’s just the onlookers although recent times have seen them absent after reporter Alan Irwin was assaulted with an ‘adult product’ . Let’s hope our ‘out door’ remains equally quiet over the next few days.

That said, yesterday saw the transfer klaxon going off at Griffin Park with the club announcing that 19 year old centre back Emmanuel Onariase has signed on a youth contract from West Ham. With Harlee Dean, Yoann Barbet, James Tarkowski and Jack O’Connell having already featured in that position this season, what does this mean for our first teamers? Could one or more be on the way out – either now or at season end ?

The situation around James Tarkowski, if not entirely clear following the respective statements, has certainly been made very public. Likewise, Harlee’s contract expires at the end of the season. One would hope that at least one of these players is in the long-term plans of our co-directors of football. We’ll see though.

Emmanuel signs and opts for scarf over shirt

The other slight plus from this weekend was Derby County being beaten by Manchester United in the FA Cup last night. As anybody who has been reading this week will be aware, I’m not particularly interested in the cup performances of Mr. van Gaal’s team.

However, the result does now mean that our game with Derby at Griffin Park will go ahead on February 20^th. Had the Rams beaten United then we wouldn’t have had a Saturday ‘home fixture’ until March 5^th against Charlton Athletic. Imagine what a long wait that would have been – over a month without a home weekend fixture.

We’d have had to do ‘that trip’ to Ikea, visit the in-laws, paint the spare room or fix the leaky tap. I can only imagine the panic over at The Griffin as takings nosedived. Thanks Man U. Please note: my interest in you is now over. Again .

And finally, fellow kit enthusiast Luis Adriano contacted me on Twitter last night with a great spot – could this be next season’s home shirt? Made by adidas, it is the away shirt for San Jose Earthquakes’ 2016 campaign.

Could we wear this next season?

As Luis noted, “not sure it would go down too well with the traditionalists” but , from a personal perspective, I have to say that I love it. Red and white stripes but certainly a little bit of a twist on the norm. Would Matthew Benham and Mark Devlin take this much of a leap into untraditional territory? Would supporters like a shirt that was this heavy on the white?

I’ve always had a soft spot for the Osca ’83-’84 home effort. The one with the all white upper half. So rare, I don’t even have one in my own collection that, otherwise, features most things from 1978 onwards (the ‘mythical’ Adidas ’80-’81 aside).

Indeed, it came second in my all time ‘top ten’ of the Bees home shirts. As was noted at the time, that one was “The Marmite of Brentford shirts. To some, an abhoration. To others (well, me) it’s brilliant”.

Would we have the guts to go this radical? Would fans warm to it? I may be shooting in the dark but it would be interesting to know.

Either way, it’s a lot better than speculating about who might be sneaking out of that window by Monday.

Osca 83-84. Loved the shirt – not so keen on the shorts.

Nick Bruzon