Brentford do it differently. Three shovels in and our new home is a step closer

As statements go, this was a huge and very visible one. Whilst our new home away from Griffin Park has been on the radar for years, Brentford fans moved one step closer towards that dream becoming a reality on Monday as the official ‘ground breaking’ ceremony took place on the site at Lionel Road. Of course new stadia have very much become the norm over the last few seasons – indeed, one only has to look at Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur or West Ham (I hadn’t realised they’d left Upton Park; if only somebody in the press had mentioned it) to see it happening all over London. Yet it has always seemed to be somebody else’s journey. Not the sort of thing that would happen to Brentford. Well, here we are. More clearly than ever – we‘re on our way.

Ground. Officially. Broken.

Savour Griffin Park whilst you can. With the stadium slated for an October 2019 completion and a first game in December of that year (following a series of test events) there isn’t long to appreciate the old girl. A mid-season change of home will follow – a first for any football club if my scratchy memory serves me well – of which the BBC has more detail following their own piece with our Chairman Cliff Crown. Yet all that’s for the future. Yesterday was all about talking the next step on that path.

Those fortunate enough to be in attendance yesterday heard Peter Gilham and then Cliff give very eloquent speeches prior to the ceremony. Talking passionately about where we’ve come from and where we are heading. Of the role played by yesterday’s hosts Fullers. Their orchard becoming Griffin Park back in the early 1900s and the proximity of our venue, One Over The Ait, to the rowing club where Brentford FC was formed. Likewise noting that this would be the first of events to mark our progress and future activities to involve more of the fans, of whom there were still a very generous group present.

Peter Gilham captivates the guests

But that’s Brentford. You wouldn’t get this at other clubs. Supporters present to witness history at something which, bar the press, is normally a ‘behind closed doors’ event. A family whose connection with the club goes back over 80 years having the honour of planting that first shovel into the ground.

Hall of famer Ernie Muttitt, who made his Bees debut in 1932 and lived on Braemar Road, was represented by his son, grandson and great-granddaughter. Brentford fans to this day. What a wonderful group of people and means of connecting our past with both the present and the future.  

THE moment – ground is broken at Lionel Road.

We all know how perilously close we’ve come to going under. How the work of the respective supporter’s groups helped keep our heads above water until Matthew Benham arrived. With him, came a lifeline and eventual acquisition of the Bees United supporter owned shares in the club. A shame, as such, he wasn’t there to witness events yesterday although being the centre of that focus perhaps not his style.

We all know where we’ve gone from there and where we would be without his colossal investment. Promotion. Championship solidity. A model which we may not have taken to immediately but one which is more than proving it’s worth now.  Players the likes of whom we could only have dreamed about in the past, with Brentford even looking as though we’ll have representation at this summer’s World Cup.

The possibilities of going under, moving to Feltham or even the much remembered monorail scheme have all dissipated. Let’s not take our eyes of those or take anything for granted. Yet, at the same time, we seem in better shape than ever before – on and off the pitch. The journey to a sustainable future is well under way and a new home beckons. Yesterday saw another step along that road. A small act of digging but a monumental stake in the ground about our ongoing intent.

There’s not huge amounts to be said about this without turning over old ground that has well been covered before. The BBC have a report whilst Bees United have shot a three minute video you can see below – probably an infinitely better means of summarising events than these ramblings.

Instead, I’ll simply offer a huge thanks to everybody involved for all their efforts to get us this far. It’s been a long and rocky road, have no doubt. October 2019 is a very aggressive target but one I am sure will be met.

Here’s to seeing that next phase of hard work begin and running out at our new home next year.

Bees United’s own film

Nick Bruzon    

What a wonderful gesture for fans. There’s still time to get involved.

With the Brentford Fan Forum tonight and the return to Championship action approaching with the trip to Aston Villa on Saturday there’s going to be more than enough to talk about over the next few days. So we’ll keep this relatively brief and acknowledge our near neighbours QPR. Specifically the fact that this Saturday sees them celebrate the 100th anniversary of their first fixture at Loftus Road when Ipswich Town visit. For the stat lovers amongst us, 8th September 1917 saw QPR take on West Ham for the stadium’s opening game and now they are looking to celebrate a centenary.

It wouldn’t be a ‘new stadium’ story without West Ham muscling in on the act. Apparently, and you may have missed it, they moved recently. Albeit these days the buzz is less about their own Olympic Park and more their owners. But that’s another story.

This time around, QPR are the team in the limelight. And to help mark this occasion they’ve been asking fans to use the hashtag #LoftusRoad100 to post pictures on Twitter. The best of these will then feature on the programme for the Ipswich game.

What a lovely gesture. And how great to see the reaction of supporters. Not just from QPR but other clubs, too. Not least Brentford where several of our fans have got involved in the action to help our neighbours mark the date. Photos of the stadium exterior, players scoring goal after goal, Romaine Saywers and even the technicolour marvel that is the scoreboard are all featured.

So do take a quick look. #LoftusRoad100. And for anybody wishing to get involved, the closing date for entries is 10am today.

100 years of Loftus Road. Can you help them celebrate?

As for Aston Villa, I can’t wait to get back to action on Saturday. What with several of our heroes moving on, the Stadium news and Gibraltar shipping 9 in Belgium it’s been a turbulent week or so for yours truly. But all that’s behind us and its time to look forwards.

And what better way to do so than with the major positive being Sergi Canos. The Spanish wing wizard featuring in the B-team fixture at Griffin Park, against QPR of all teams, earlier in the week.

Whilst I missed the final score, I do know that he made it through 66 minutes of the game and seems as excited as ever about playing at Griffin Park. Certainly if his own Twitter feed is to be believed.

Feeling good after my injury. Ready for Aston Villa. Let's do this all together!! See you all there. Come on @BrentfordFC 🐝🐝🐝 pic.twitter.com/E9Sjlkosiq

— Sergi Canós Tenés (@sergicanos) September 6, 2017

We all know how good Sergi is and what he can do. At a time when some of us might need a shot in the arm, to have him back will be a wonderful thing. Aston Villa haven’t had the best of starts and will no doubt be there for the taking, albeit I’m going for my standard Villa bet of 1-1 in this one (for research purposes, that’s currently available at 23/4).

The Villans sit just above Brentford in 18th place and, it would be fair to say, so far haven’t set the world alight this season. See also: last season. Moreso, for a team inexplicably tipped as title favourites when the campaign began.

That said, our own record isn’t as good as some of our play suggests. However, and quality though they were, with both Harlee and Max departing for Birmingham at least the plethora of defensive combination should be whittled down somewhat. There was a double pair of Danish clean sheets for Andreas Bjelland and Henrik Dalsgaard during the break, which will only have the defensive duo in high spirits. Chuck Sergi into the mix and who knows what could happen?

Whilst I’ve called it 1-1, Villa failing to score is an equal possibility. Certainly if our old friend SimonHateley on twitter is to be believed. He’s recently posted a wonderful graphic showing just how Villa Park really is THE place where goalscoring form goes to die.

Villa Park. Where form goes to die. Apparently

That’s all to come though. First up we have the Fan’s forum. Don’t forget that one starts at 7.00ppm tonight in The Hive and so do get along if you can. I can’t imagine many other clubs doing this on such a regular basis and what a great chance to put anything you may wish to ask to our top brass.

Enjoy.

Nick Bruzon

Big new ambitions? Or downsizing? What do you make of stadium news?

Thursday morning. We’ve all had time to digest the news out of Griffin Park. Namely that in a week’s time Brentford FC will be presenting plans to Hounslow council for an amendment to our design for Lionel Road  – the key points of which include : a location move (3 metres south),Premier League quality ‘outside broadcast facilities within the stadium itself, the relocation of BFC Community Sports Trust outside the ground and the capacity reduction from 20,000 to 17,250. The target date for all of this is now late 2019 / early 2020.

The statements on the club site and in the programme from Cliff Crown & Mark Devlin have gone on to further elaborate on the reasoning about this in what, I have to be honest (and I’d say this to their face) reads an awful lot like a game of buzzword bingo in places. Especially with regards to the housing element of the project which is so key to making it a success.

And if you’d like to read more whilst helping the Brentford FC Community Sports Trust …. the rest of this article can now be found in the Kindle e-book Ten Times Better. Brentford FC Season review: 2017/18. Inspired by ‘that’ interview it contains the least bad of these columns in one, handy volume as it looks at our own campaign as well as wider divisional life and the promotion / relegation races.

As a bonus there’s a whole host of new material. New that is, for my pages. Specifically, all the programme articles submitted (both home and away where, if nothing else, you can get the original versions of both Birmingham City and Millwall).

In addition, There Is No Plan B. Brentford FC Season reviews: 2013/14 – 2017/18 takes us all the way back to the start of this latest leg in the journey. That penalty. League One. Harlee Dean was a hero. Jota was something we thought happened to the temperature for one week in July. Alan Judge had joined on loan whilst the Marinus Experiment was something nobody had contemplated. Bringing things bang up to date by the inclusion of this year’s volume alongside the four previously published campaign round ups, it has five seasons in one weighty tome. As weighty as a download can be, that is.

Relive the memories. See how often the same material gets regurgitated. Remind yourself about the likes of Betinho, Martin Fillo, Javi Venta and Marcos Tebar. Certainly, if there’s no Marcos Tea Bar at Lionel Road it will be an opportunity missed.

All proceeds from any sales will go to the Community Sports Trust. For less than the cost of a half / pint respectively, they may help while away some time on the commute. By the pool on holiday. In the bathroom. Who knows? It will certainly do some good for the Trust, whose work has been well documented at Griffin Park but you can read all about it on their site.

And if that wasn’t enough, I’ve been given something very special. A 2017/18 third team shirt with Lewis Macleod’s squad number on the reverse in the EFL typeface. Anyone with half an interest in Bees kits will know that these were never made available in the club shop.  Anyone who has read any of this before will know what a kit nerd yours truly is so when I say this is rare, take that in good faith!

To be in with a chance of owning it, download a copy of either before the end of June 2018 and you’ll go into a draw to win this. Just DM/tweet me (@NickBruzon) a copy of your purchase confirmation mail and I’ll add your name to the list before selecting a random Bees fan to win this on July 1st.

 

Lionel Road. A new look – sans monorail – is coming

 

Griffin Park. Wonderful but not a long term future

 

Nick Bruzon

Jota : There has been no bid. Bees win as Oxford go down by the odd goal in 7 (seven)

Despite a brief second half scare when a 2-0 lead turned into a 3-2 deficit, Brentford had sufficient in them to leave Oxford United with a 4-3 win under the belts. Yet, as ever these last few weeks, the talking point was that man Jota. With the trip to Sheffield United just over two weeks away, could he still be our player when the season begins?

For all the info on the game itself, then ‘official’ has the match report. Early goals from Flo Jo and Lasse Vibe were book ended by the late equaliser and subsequent winner from Reece Cole and Sergi Canós respectively. But for many the key stat was in the starting XI where Jota was not only named but lasted until the 66th minute, at which point Dean Smith took advantage of the rarely available opportunity to make a 7(seven) man substitution.

View from the stand – Jota gets a 66 minute run out

Talking ‘human resources’ to Dean Smith after the game, that virtuoso of gentle probing Billy Reeves went straight to work to ascertain the status of Spanish wing wizard (Jota. Not Sergi).

“Unless somebody makes a substantial bid he’s staying at Brentford and he’s happy to do so – I think you could see he was happy to be out there.”

Not my words but those of our head coach. Seems clear (for now) but for complete certainty, Billy probed further. “Just to be absolutely clear then, there has been no bid?”. the answer was as definitive as one could hope at present, short of revealing that the player had actually signed a contract extension. “There has been no bid. No.”

You can hear the full interview below. Aswell as talk of Neal Maupay, of whom Dean enthused, and the versatile Ollie Watkins our head coach also discussed the wider midfield situation. Great work Billy, as ever.

 

But with inward transfer activity seemingly completed (you did listen to the interview) what of outward? Your guess is as good as mine at this juncture. All I can say is that the footballing romantic in me is crossing his fingers that Matthew Benham can work some more magic. That we can both afford to hang on to the player and, likewise, he’s prepared to give it a shot with us – should this oft mentioned ‘substantial’ bid ever materialise.

As for Oxford United, I wasn’t there. Kudos to the 376 of you who did make it. Having never been to the Kassam before, it was an opportunity missed. Moreso as , in my own mind’s eye, the club are synonymous with their compact Manor Ground. Now, in the name of progress, they have three fine looking new stands and a car park.

Yet talking to one fan after the game he enthused about it, describing the new stadium as “Open spaces, interrupted by some surrounding outbuildings. Somehow and I’m not sure how it’s possible, the stadium architects have perfectly captured the spirit of the manor ground”.

Here’s hoping that when Lionel Road is eventually built, we can somehow capture some of the charm of our own Griffin Park. Here’s hoping….

Nick Bruzon

They think it’s all over…thankfully, it is now

The Championship season isn’t even cold and already the rumours are circulating about Brentford. Is the academy set to go? Is Dean Smith casting his eyes towards Walsall? Just for starters. Meanwhile over in East London, I’m pretty sure something happened last night – beyond West Ham beating Manchester United.

But first, it’s that time of the year where I’d ask if you can indulge me for a couple of paragraphs.

Namely, because ‘The Last Word’ review of the year has just been released for download. Entitled “Ready.Steady. Go Again” it features the least bad of these columns from the appointment of Marinus in June 2015 up until 9th place in the Championship was confirmed at the weekend.

‘And if you’d like to read more’….. there is also an anthology of the last three seasons  : “Brentford Football Club – The Bees are going up“. This runs from ‘that penalty’ and the subsequent fall out all the way through to the 5-1 humping of Huddersfield Town on Saturday. This, via all sorts of other nonsense – including the answer to the oft asked question: Does Cameron Diaz support Brentford?

So if you are looking for a way to kill a few hours on the beach this summer or ease the pain of the daily commute whilst reflecting on three season’s worth of Bees based (mostly) good times , then you can do it for less than the cost of a match day programme from the kindle store. Thank you.

Its all about the kit, man. And the Bees.

Next up rumours. I don’t talk about them as a rule but they’ve started. Dean Smith was only ever going to be associated with Walsall and so the stories already linking him to Romaine Sawyers aren’t a surprise. Gillingham centre back John Egan moreso.

Tim street in Get West London has the story – if you’d like to read more.

Personally, I wait for Besotted to start talking until I get really interested. However, if the rumour mill is already running then we could have a very long summer.

As for the Academy story, this is a marked change of direction IF it transpires to be true. We’ll reserve comment on this until the club make any form of formal announcement but given how hard they fought to have it graded as ‘Category 2’ would be a huge surprise. Especially given we’ve had a very recent demonstration of it’s results – Tom Field making a wonderful debut when the Bees put Fulham to the sword less than two weeks ago.

Academy graduate Tom Field featured in the first team against Fulham

Ok – West Ham . You may not be aware but apparently they played their last game at Upton Park last night. I know, If only it had been mentioned at some point in the intervening weeks prior to kick off. In a hype circus that would make the release of the recent Star Wars film seem like an understated affair, the media have decided anybody outside of East London is sporting a ‘half and half scarf’ to embrace all things Hammers.

Good luck to West Ham. Seriously. Farewell to their Boleyn Ground. Understandably an emotional time for home supporters. I’m sure we’ll feel the same when our time comes. That’s it. After this though, I don’t get it.

Look, I know that West Ham single handledly won the World Cup back in 1966 whilst Trevor Brooking once scored a goal with his head, but clubs move home all the time. It is part and parcel of modern football life yet never before have we been force fed so much rose tinted nonsense about a ground which, if we’re being quite honest, was never a particularly pleasant place to visit. Certainly for the opposition fans. Just ask the Manchester United coach driver.

I’m just glad it’s all over now. We can move on. On the plus side, perhaps lessons learned for when the Bees eventually leave Griffin Park for Lionel Road. Whilst I have no doubt the occasion will be commemorated, and rightly so, sometimes perhaps less is more.

James Swift on Twitter nailed it yesterday. He gets the Last Word…

It’s a fact (Wimbledon aside….)

Nick Bruzon

From Brentford to Al-Wakrah; Wolves to the Wankdorf

New stadia seem all the rage these days.

Hardly a season goes past without a team leaving its traditional home to move to a new ground. Indeed, as Brentford prepare for Saturday’s League One clash against Wolves, there is probably as much interest in matters ‘off field’ as those on the pitch. Hounslow Council Planning Committee is, of course, due to discuss our proposed new stadium on December 5^th.

I may be biased but I think the Lionel Road plans are great. Primarily because they feature a design that actually seems to have, and say this in hushed tones…. some character. Contrast the exciting schematics to the usual five seconds thought that most modern architects put in, the net result of which is an identikit bowl (see: Derby, Leicester and Middlesborough for starters).

Moreso, it won’t – as things currently stand – have a sponsored name. These are very much in vogue and range from airlines to food-processors as is the case, respectively, with Arsenal’s Emirates or Wolves and their Moulinex ground.

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.