Near brackets, no Dalsgaard, shirt news and a Bee appears in France…

My word. Who’d be an actual journalist for a living at times like these? What do you talk about when there’s nothing to talk about? Apart from trawling Twitter or making rumours up. Thank goodness for the blogger’s ability to pick up, and put down, the keyboard as and when the feeling takes hold. To be able to play around with photoshop, on an ad-hoc basis,  just for the fun of doing so. Another International break symptomised this perfectly with last week’s humping of Derby County already feeling an eternity away. Instead,  primary focus in our house now being on Gibraltar. They restarted football proceedings for us last night and ended up one shy of a home bracketing against Denmark. It was a game which saw the World Cup’s Henrik Dalsgaard of Brentford start on the bench. England have their own run out on Saturday against, well I don’t even know being honest. Without checking. Looks at internet – Bulgaria.  It is the easiest qualifying system since records began in a tournament that it is practically impossible for any team with pretensions of ‘being any good’ not to make the final rounds. Even Scotland are still in with a chance at present. Mathematically.  Back on the club scene we’ve talk of the Kurupt FM Brentford away shirt aswell as an overseas appearance for our fan engagement office, Ryan Murrant, Plus the latest on The Last Word Fantasy Football tournament.

Gibraltar packed their boots for another Euro qualifier…

First up, Euro 2020. Regular readers may be aware of the family connection that sees yours truly focus on Gibraltar whenever an International opportunity presents itself. As ever, the Sky Sports smudge button was pressed as the boys from the Rock had their latest run out on Thursday. That is, the Gibraltar first team rather than Sean Connery and Nicolas Cage although, to be honest the home side could have done with the aforementioned A-listers to break in to the Danish defence. 

Whilst any Bees fans tuning in for a look at Dalsgaard would have been disappointed by his absence, such was the impression made by visitors Denmark that even had he started, opportunities to see our man in action would have been slim to zero. An early goal against. A dubious penalty just after half time and it was game over. Well 6-0 saw it technically game over at full time but it was never really game on. There was to be no close run battle with illustrious visitors as had been seen when the Republic of Ireland came to play. Instead, dreams of another notch on the victor’s bed post will need to remain a dream. For now. 

If only…

As for England, well of course we’ll be watching. The Griffin have the game on the big screen for those wanting to try and recreate that incredible World Cup atmosphere. Albeit, a group of five teams where the top two go through by default doesn’t have quite the same level of jeapordy as 2018’s penalty shoot out. But one can’t deny these occasions are always fun and, if nothing else, its always a great opportunity to get out at a time when we are starved of a Championship fixture. I really can’t see anything beyond an England win in this one. The days of the international surprise, at least in qualifying, are few and far between these days. As Gibraltar know too well. Perhaps Scotland will prove us wrong this evening. Stranger things have happened…..

The Griffin and England football – always awesome

With no on-pitch action at present, the major talking point at Griffin Park has been the much rumoured Kurupt FM take on the away shirt.

I took a wander past the club earlier this week and spoke to a very well connected source who suggested that a shirt is most definitely coming . And all being well, next month. 

This is cracking news and the line to pick these beauties up is sure to be a long one. Especially as I understand that we’ve already run out of adult M and L away shirts (albeit more are on order so stand by your metaphorical guns, Ecoworld fans).

Next up, Ryan Murrant. We all know about our Fan Engagement manager’s social media presence and his wonderful role at the club . About the gold award for Family Excellence given to Brentford last season. But what about the man himself?

Well, if you’d like to know more (to coin a phrase we’ve not used in a while) then how about this piece on French website ’fanstriker’ . It’s in depth and then some but paints a fascinating picture on behind the scenes life at Griffin Park. Enjoy…

And finally, Fantasy Football. We’re now four weeks in to The Last Word FF league. Four rounds are down and only one player, Simon Burns, is left with a 100% record after the weekly head to head games. Remember, there’s a shirt for the winner so keep those transfers coming and those teams fresh.  

And if Ryan is reading, that’s fiftieth (50th) place so far for his own ‘Enter Team Name’. Remember, it’s a marathon not a sprint…..

Nick Bruzon

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Here’s hoping for a starry, starry night on Tuesday.

Middlesbrough has been and gone. Another trip to the Riverside and another win. Easy when you know how. Winning up there is starting to become a bit of a habit for Brentford but let’s not dwell on it any more. The points are in the bag and the team that scored the most goals won. Next up is the visit of Cambridge United to Griffin Park in the League Cup on Tuesday evening. And whilst we’re hoping it won’t be another ‘last ever’, who knows what might happen should the team be anything but on their game.

The weekend at Middlesbrough was fantastic but it’s been and gone

As Brentford saw last season when pitted against the likes of Oxford United and Barnet, league position is no guarantee of cup success. Yes, we did beat both teams but neither game was anywhere near as emphatic as the divisional gulf may have suggested prior to kick off. Just as we’ve been the team administering the shocks in the past, now Cambridge United will be looking to throw down a potato skin from the depths of League Two. Will Thomas Frank put his foot in it though?

Well, I can’t help but feel there’ll be changes. Albeit, strong ones. Those acquisitions made later in the window are sure be given a go. Aren’t they? Presumably we’ll see Joel Valencia, Bryan Mbuemo, Dominic Thompson and Dru Yearwood on the team sheet. What about a certain Mr. Benrahma, too? Josh Clarke? Luke Daniels? It will be interesting to see how much Thomas tinkers but get it wrong and we face paying the ultimate price i.e. losing. Which could then bring us to the aforementioned ‘last ever’. Namely, cup game under lights at Griffin Park. And whilst I’m already in danger of ploughing the West Ham furrow of last ever this/that and the other at Upton Park / The Boleyn Ground, it does make you think.

If nothing else, about how wonderful an atmosphere can be generated by an ‘after-dark’ cup tie. Here’s hoping it isn’t our ‘last ever’, if only for the reason that  I can’t be ticking that one off the list in August. And it also means that Cambridge will have scored a first goal of the season after opening their League two campaign with successive 0-0 draws. So if you haven’t got your ticket as yet then it’s not too late. Besides, what’s the alternative? Staying at home to watch the ultimate Sky TV love-in of Salford City v Leeds United? Pass me the bucket. Please.

The other bonus about Cambridge visiting is that we get an unexpected glimpse at one of THE kits of 2019/20. Namely, their Hummel away shirt which is a spin on the Vandanel effort from the early 90s. So glaring it’s beautiful. One fan’s explosion in a paint factory is another’s Starry Night or Birth of Venus. And I’m definitely in the latter category. Much like Van Gogh’s masterpiece, let’s hope we don’t get lost in those blue and white depths.

Elsewhere, I did promise we’d try and keep on top of The Last Word Fantasy Football League this season. So here we go. After the first round of head-to-head fixtures the top ten are as below. Thanks all for entering and let’s not forget there’s a shirt on offer for the winning team at season end. Please let’s not forget….

Until then, here’s to Cambridge United on Tuesday. See you there…

Nick Bruzon 

Is this the stuff of Griffin Park fantasy? Win a prize, too.

Tense. Nervous. Headache? Sweating over who’ll be in the team for Saturday ? Keeping fingers and other extraneous appendages crossed ahead of ‘that’ window closing on Thursday evening? Yes, there’s always the risk that Benrahama, Watkins or Henry may leave Brentford. Plus ça change on that front. Besides, Brighton have already torpedoed us below the water line when it comes to this campaign’s round of heroes exiting. Farewell, Neal Maupay. Just hoping you cut the phone lines and locked the doors, windows and gates on the way out of Griffin Park to stop anyone else leaving. Out of interest, and on a totally unrelated note, does Aston have a beach? 

Who could forget Simon Moore’s trip to Cardiff beach?

But we digress. Griffin Park related transfer activity and the weekend team news isn’t just a case of those on pitch departures to the Premier League. There’s only the small matter of Fantasy Football, with this season’s tournament kicking off on Friday evening when Liverpool host Norwich City. And, as we did last season, The Last Word will be running a Fantasy Football competition. Unlike last season, I’ll actually keep an eye on things this time around rather than promptly forget about it until I was reminded 6 weeks before the season ended. And then promptly forgot about it again.

Primarily because this time around there will be a prize of a shirt on offer to the winner. This is not a drill. This is not a false alarm. There WILL be a prize for the winning Brentford fan. In addition, the league will be played out in the ‘Head-to-head’ scoring mode. Initially because I hit the wrong button – you try doing this on a fast moving train – but having dug in to it a little bit more, the format sounds intriguing :

In a league with head-to-head scoring, every team plays a match against another team in the league each Round. The match result is based on the Round score of each team minus any transfer points spent preparing for the Round. The Head-to-Head schedule is generated at the start of the league’s first Round. Once the schedule has been generated the league is locked and teams will not be able to join or leave.

Those aren’t my words but those of the Fantasy Football people. I ‘think’ I get it but let’s just play along and see how it all works out. If you’d like to join you have until Friday afternoon to get your teams submitted.

The website is here: https://fantasy.premierleague.com

The League name is: The Last Word – Brentford

The Pin code : iep75s

Thanks for your time. And see you there. With, perhaps, a chance to see how some of our former stars perform at a higher level……

Nick Bruzon

Here we go. It’s Millers time. And a challenge for any wannabe Rasmus (or the real one…)

Let’s keep this brief today and cut to the chase. There’s a game this afternoon!! Get in!! Oh, I can’t wait. Brentford host Rotherham United as Championship football returns to Griffin Park once more. I’ve woken up to the news that Ryan Woods is still, currently, a Bee whilst I must offer huge thanks to Fulham (not a typo) after their fans bit spectacularly in response to yesterday’s #TotallyMawson piece. Bless. You have to love them. Well, you don’t but they are great value !  If you have two mins, do check out some of the comments where we were only ‘not a London club’ short of a full house in bitter bingo.

But we digress. 3pm is the time. Griffin Park is the place. Rotherham the visitors. Always sad when they are sans Steve Evans but, nonetheless, it still promises to be a great occasion. Although let’s step back. If anything, 2pm is the time. Specifically, as we’ll then get the first look at Dean Smith’s Brentford team. The 2018/19 version. Who starts? Will there be a place for Ryan Woods? Is Neal Maupay fit? Might Marcus Forss be thrust into the first XI? Which of the news signings will feature? Who from the environment of leaders, not followers, will be given the captain’s armband?

Questions, questions, questions. I can’t answer them. Any of them. I’m just the numpty on the terrace yet it is this anticipation, this excitement, that sees yours truly sitting here at 9am, already wishing the clock was another six hours further forward and kick off was here. Whilst the World Cup was incredible, there’s nothing like that pre-match build up for the first game of the season to really get the blood pumping.

Beyond that, I can’t say much more. We went out for a few drinks last night and then took a stroll back from Kew to Brentford, via Griffin Park. What a sight. Whilst it very much felt like calm before the storm, just the feel of being in the shadow of those floodlight pylons was enough to get me buzzing once more about what is to come today. And I really can’t wait. As may have been mentioned more than once this week. Sorry.

Griffin Park – the night before the morning after

If you are coming to the game, its already shaping up to be a hot one in TW8. Slap on those shorts, sunnies and factor 50. And your brown/orange away shirt – its never too soon to give one of the Championship’s best ‘change’ kits a run out. Even if we won’t be using it in the league until next week and the trip to Stoke City.

The match day programme also includes the return of the ‘Park Life’ column  (not quite sure how that happened but there you go….) where the World Cup and the rest of best – and not so good – Championship kits come under the microscope.

Aside from that piece, the programme also offers quality content and you can read about that on ‘official’ .

Otherwise, aswell as the Fulham fans I’d also like to offer thanks to all those Bees who have entered the ‘Last Word’ Fantasy Football competition. If you fancy yourself as having a Rasmus style eye for talent or picking up a Premier league bargain then you can sign up on the official FPL site, which is here. Incredibly, over 40 of you already signed up on day 1. Wow. I’m in shock. Thank you. The  league details are below and everyone is welcome to see which of our Bees fares the best.

That said, I’m still desperately hoping to get co-director of football Rasmus Ankersen involved. I’d love to see which top flight players his system would pick. And how they’d fare. If anyone sees him today, please have a word. And Rasmus, if you ARE reading (unlikely, but….) how about it ?

Until then, there’s nothing else to say beyond – see you there and enjoy the game.

Or if you prefer to copy/paste : 707088-156816

Nick Bruzon

 

 

 

 

Chuckles and points on offer after a two minute fantasy with Rachel.

Another Saturday, another game. For most teams. With Brentford travelling to Rotherham United today and looking to the top of the table, Manchester United, Southampton and Sky have already disrupted things for supporters with the return of Friday night football to our TV screens. More on that later but first, the Rotherham game.

Like Wolves, The Millers are a team that Brentford have gone neck and neck with over the last few seasons. Coming up with the Bees from League One, albeit via something called a play-off victory (I read the words, but I fail to truly grasp the concept) the Millers also begin their third successive season of Championship life.

To read the rest of this article, season 2016/17 is now available for download on e-book in the retrospective: Welcome Home, King Jota (Brentford FC season review 2016/17)
 
Priced at just £1.99, all sales are being donated to the Brentford FC Community Sports Trust.

Likewise any sales from the previous titles – Celebrating like they’d won the FA Cup (2013/14), Tales from the football village (2014/15) and Ready. Steady. Go Again. (2015/16) – are also now going to the BFCCST.

Containing the least bad of the blogs from May 16 to May 17, you can pick it up, here. Its all for a great cause and,hey, you may even enjoy it…..

Steve Evans – much missed. For now.

 

View from the Braemar : Alan Judge did it all against Rotherham last season

 

The new look Chuckle Brothers line up was very short lived

Nick Bruzon