Could THE shirt happen? Plus (another) Kingsley fantasy and loan updates.

That’s the decks cleared just a little bit. Monday saw several Brentford first and B-team players heading out on loan. Reece Cole to Partick Thistle, Marcus Forss goes down the road to AFC Wimbledon whilst Ellery Balcombe (Viborg FF) and Emiliano Marcondes (Midtjylland) are both spending some time in Denmark. Elsewhere, the identify of the mysterious ‘Trialist 89’ has been revealed by the club with the latest acquisiton to the B-team and do we have a very special new away shirt in the offing? 

First up, the out door. The news about Reece was broken by none other than Partick Thistle’s enigmatic mascot, Kingsley. At least, that’s how yours truly found out. Is there nothing he can’t do?

@NickBruzon @yorkshireangbeehttps://t.co/k0OpW1tyKq

— Kingsley (@ThistleMascot) September 2, 2019

Presumably there was some sort of official story out there too but there’s no finer tweet than breaking transfer news being revealed by the pointy haired superstar. Forget Jim White and his own deadline day nonsense (and I wish we could after the shabby way they treated Bolton and Bury last week). 

If Sky are to persist with the yellow theme as transfer windows continue to ‘slam shut’, then who better than Kingsley to be at the forefront of that delivery? Well, Natalie Sawyer perhaps? Been there. Done that. Their and our loss. Sadly.

That said, one can only dream about what that partnership would look like come January should Sky elect to reverse their decision whilst also bin Jim for the true king of Yellow…  

Now THIS would be the Deadline Day dream team

The news about Marcus was somewhat expected. Mainly because he had updated his own Twitter account to follow AFC Wimbledon prior to the official announcement. The good news here being that he has preceeded the move by signing a long term contract at Griffin Park / Lionel Road . The four year extension which will see him remain a big part of our plans, with Director of football Phil Giles telling official that “We hope that he will do a fantastic job for Wimbledon and then be ready to return to compete for a place in our first team, still with many more years to look forward to at Brentford.” 

The story, which you can read in full on ‘official’ is as noteworthy for the spanking new biro being used to sign the contract extension at the Jersey Road portacabin. The memory of Pontus and his half-chewed BIC one which will neither be forgotten nor replicated. Sadly.

That said, both Marcus and Reece are players with the potential for big futures at Brentford. Partick Thistle and Wimbledon are very much the beneficiaries and it will be interesting to see how both players fill their boots in the short term. Just as long as Reece doesn’t have his head turned by Kinglsey. Don’t forget about Buzzette. There’s no scarier sight than a mascot scorned. Just ask Mrs. Growler at Huddersfield (long story)…

Nice pen

Elsewhere Ellery Balcombe, currently starved of first team opportunity with Luke Daniels keeping the bench warm, gets his chance in Denmark. Also joining him, although a step higher, is Emiliano Marcondes. The former, a player with so much potential and a current England U-21 whilst it would be fair to say that the later hasn’t, yet, delivered on the promise with which he arrived. A period at Brentford blighted by injury hasn’t given him the chance to show what we’ve been hoping for so here’s to some time away giving him the chance to demonstrate that promise.

Will any/ all four of these players return ? Who knows? Whilst one certainly hopes so, the sale of hot prospect Chiedozie Ogbene to Rotherham United proves there is no mercy. No room for passengers. The squads are being trimmed into a lean, mean football machine. Possibly. At the end of the day, Clive, I’m just the numpty on the terrace with more knowledge about kits than first team affairs.

And talking of which, with sledgehammer like unsubtly we make the short leap to the Brentford away shirt. Already a thing of beauty, it was further enhanced when Matthew Benham revealed the   Kurupt FM special variant. With the reaction to this reveal being universal popularity, rather than his people just doing nothing about this it seems that there is now the very real possibility of the kit becoming a reality. The GPG have announced on Twitter that, apparently, current sponsors Ecoworld have given their blessing for this new version to be released. Checks diary – not April 1st. 

BREAKING NEWS: The club are investigating releasing the super-famous "Kurupt FM" shirt (modeled below). The shirt sponsors have said that they are ok with it. 🤪😅🤣😇💿📀

[Thanks to @DanSuh_KF for the news]#BrentfordFC pic.twitter.com/4nDq1nrQzN

— GriffinParkGrapevine (@bfcgpg) September 2, 2019

One can only hope this is true. One can only hope we have the means to make this happen. Prepare to see these fly off the shelves if so. A masterpiece in the offing. Kitman Bob, if you are reading, you know what to do…….

The other shirt that is currently the hottest property in Griffin Park folklore is that belonging to the mysterious ‘Trialist 89’. He was announced to the world last week when scoring the second goal against the QPR U-23 team.

It was a strike which produced one of the greatest tweets used by Brentford official and a wonderful riposte to those standard goal scorer gif/meme things inflicted on us all by Bristol City. 

Now Trialist 89 has been revealed to the world as left sided defender Aubrel Koutismouka who has signed a two year contract with the B-team. As ever, ‘official’ have the full story. Good look Aubrel and welcome to Griffin Park, young man.

Even if you will be forever ’89 in my eyes.

Nick Bruzon

The good, the bad and the ugly. A week in football as Adam nails deadline day and Jim does his thing

Brentford and Sheffield Wednesday shared the spoils in a 1-1 draw that featured the greatest miss ever seen at Griffin Park. Huddersfield remain top of the pile with 13 points from 15 whilst Newcastle United have begun their slow, inexorable climb to the top of the Championship table having disposed of Brighton at St.James Park.

Erm. Sorry. That was last weekend. International break means there has been no Championship action and so there’s no Monday morning round up of the last 7(seven) day’s action. In a nutshell or otherwise. Still, at least we had the excitement of Sunday evening’s England game. Please note: your definition of excitement may vary etc. etc. etc

Yet in a week that saw Beesotted do it live in the pub and Jim White getting over excited in a TV studio, the arrival of both Deadline Day and the Checkatrade Trophy mean there are still a few things to look back on from the world of social media that you might have missed.

Rather than Brentford, let’s just start with the last thoughts on the new look JPT.

Exeter manager Paul Tisdale names himself as a sub tonight for the EFL Trophy.. Shows what teams now think of this competition

— Adam Virgo (@Adamvirgs19) August 30, 2016

Just when you thought it could not get more farcical pic.twitter.com/CI95Na78h9

— James Young (@YoungyEchoCTFC) August 30, 2016

Norwich u23 play a 28 french striker
.no fine. Luton give 5 english players league debuts-5k fine. Developing english talent #fa

— nickpirie (@hatternick) August 30, 2016

Both teams secure a point following a draw after 90 minutes. There will now be a penalty shoot out for an extra point #twitterblades

— Sheffield United (@SUFC_tweets) August 30, 2016

If that was the new look trophy in four tweets, this next one summed it up rather neatly.

Good luck to those marketing the #EFLTrophy

— Anthony (@antloccc) August 30, 2016

Still, with the Checkatrade Trophy out of the way (quite possibly for all time based on the reaction from supporters) we were free to move on to Deadline Day. The annual attempt by the media to fill 12 hours of dead air with a lot of cutaways to empty stadia and in-studio shouting. One can only imagine what it would do to Jim White if he were to see something genuinely exciting rather than a taxi (possibly containing a footballer) arriving at an otherwise deserted Newcastle United.

These got things off to a good start, though.

Goodbye Ryan Mason, I'll never forget the day I called you the worst player in the Prem to a man who turned out to be you dad.

— Dan Louw (@DanLouw) August 30, 2016

"We are good footballers, Jack" pic.twitter.com/nz14qPinGO

— Michael (@michaeltreasure) August 31, 2016

Even frozen food magnates Iceland (other frozen food stores are available, too) got in on the act with a cheap bit of sledging when it transpired that Jack Wilshere’s future lay not at Arsenal or Roma but, rather, a toss up between Crystal Palace and Bournemouth.

Hi @JackWilshere. Our Bournemouth store is open until 7pm this evening and yes, we do sell Prosecco. We don't stock cigarettes. Thanks.

— Iceland Foods (@IcelandFoods) August 31, 2016

It wasn’t long before Jim appeared on our screens. Although not, perhaps, in the style that many people were expecting. As for that ‘cheeky wink’ to camera….

Throwback to when Jim White presented wedding fairs in Scotland before his big #DeadlineDay movepic.twitter.com/pEjf38Gzi4

— Telegraph Football (@TeleFootball) August 31, 2016

Brentford did some great business. Nobody left and the Alan Judge to Newcastle / Scott Hogan to Hull / Leicester City stories proving to be nothing more than rumours.Whilst Walsall fans were, not surprisingly, left unhappy by our acquisition of Rico Henry it seems they weren’t alone.

Brentford sold us their left back and replaced him with a young quick player with loads of potential. We're a fucking shambles of a club.

— J. (@HoiIett) August 31, 2016

There was equal trouble over at Fulham where, it seems, their signing is done in either a primary school classroom or a dolls house.

Everything is so *cramped* underneath the stand at Fulham (as @richardosman will tell you). Look at poor old Chris. pic.twitter.com/GmQNWKdJT7

— Billy Reeves (@TheBillyReeves) August 31, 2016

But it was none other than Adam Devlin – Brentford supporter and Bluetones guitarist – who cut to the very essence of Deadline Day in one sentence .

All I'm seeing is confused footballers holding up scarves with a look on their faces that says "help me, I don't know how this happened".

— Adam Devlin (@ad_I_am) August 31, 2016

That was the week in Championship football. Of sorts. It’s going to be a painful six days until Saturday and the trip to Brighton comes along for us Bees. Moreso given we’ve got the memory of that England game still hanging around like a bad smell.

So, rather than any more discourse on the trip to Slovakia, let’s look back to days gone by. When a reporter fell off a ladder. Live on air. Although a great save from none other than Jim White…..

CLASSIC: When Nick Collins fell off a ladder reporting on England vs Slovakia.pic.twitter.com/oGJyhE6A5x

— BBC Sporf (@BBCSporf) September 4, 2016

Nick Bruzon 

Football’s farcical 24 hours as one innovates and one goes a bit ‘Ratners’

This could be the most crazy 24 hours in modern football. We’ve already had the farce of last night’s Checkatrade trophy opening round where the lure of West Ham and Leicester City U-23 teams (please note, your definition of under 23 may vary) was not enough to persuade supporters to drop the proposed #BteamBoycott in this most maligned of tournaments. And then today sees ‘Transfer Deadline day’ as Brentford supporters join the rest of the footballing community in wondering if any new names will be coming through the ‘in door’ or if anyone is heading out?

Jim White, Natalie Sawyer and the rest of the gang lead the madness on Sky Sports before the window eventually ‘slams shut’ (TM) . You all know the drill by now. Yellow ties, yellow dresses and lots of cutting to empty stadia where nothing is happening. Plus, presumably, archive footage of Harry Redknapp leaning out of a car (subject to his sore knee).

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…..

Jim and Natalie do their thing on deadline days gone by

 

Brentford’s most recent signing activity

 

Nick Bruzon

Is Kettle plugged in? Championship refs have a makeover for 2016/17

With Brentford now knowing who they’ll face in the Championship next season, we’re also aware of who will be in charge of those games. With visits from former Premier League outfits Newcastle United and Aston Villa on the calendar along with the all important West London derbies against Fulham and the Loftus Road mob, the man in the middle is sure to be more important than ever before. Season 2016/17 brings changes to that role.

Today’s Last Word is brought to you by none other than regular correspondent Bernard Quackenbush. Sharing the apprehension felt by many when we get to see who is going to be wielding the cards and whistle, he gives us a rundown on just what we can expect. There’s good news. And bad.

Not surprisingly, the words Kettle and Stroud appear.

Bernard Quackenbush writes…

“Next season, there will be two big changes which will effect all Championship teams. The most significant of which will be that emergency loans will be no more. So once Jim White, football’s answer to Brian Blessed, shouts that the transfer window is shutting, there can be no more trading until January!

The other, lesser change, is the one that interests me more, and I have been asked by Nick to talk about today.

For some time now there has been an elite list of referees who have officiated in the Premier League, known as the SG list. Last season it was announced that there would be a new SG2 list of referees who would ‘predominantly’ ref Championship matches only. The big difference is that these referees will become professional and enjoy the same privileges and access to facilities similar to their Premier counterparts. This has been needed for some time and really became very obvious last season. Numerous iffy and inconsistent displays by referees and an injury list of officials similar to our own, made any kind of planning in the referee ranks, virtually impossible.

So that’s the background. So why am I so fascinated by this area of football? Ever since I was a child I understood that these villains in black were just as important as the players. Some were bad, and some were awful, occasionally one may be OK! So I wanted to know more about them. They came from the oddest places too, usually Cotswolds hamlets or Yorkshire mining villages or places with seemingly ridiculous names like Great Bookham. For example, in my mind Lester Shapter never came from Devon, he was from Torquay! Sadly, a policy change meant that these villains in black (after all that is the colour villains always wore), meant that the hamlets and villages were no longer listed and instead the County FA’s where they are registered were listed instead. Yet in this day of the interweb, a bit of digging and a basic grasp of cyber stalking skills, one can still find out that Charles Breakspear comes from Walton-on-Thames (although I imagine someone will now tell me he is from Virginia Water or similar).

So what of this SG2 list. Who made it, who did not? In all there were 31 applicants to the list, with only 18(eighteen) spaces available. There would also have been some strong candidates who decided not to apply because they did not want to give up the day job of being a traffic warden, or similarly heinous job. (Apologies to any traffic wardens’ but I work in Childrens Social Care, so I can trump everyone in most despised occupations!).

The bad news first….Keith Stroud.

Quite possibly the most consistently awful and incompetent card happy referee that has taken charge of a Bees match, is on the list. I was hoping that he would get promoted with Stuart Attwell and Paul Tierney to the Premier League, but he is stuck with us. I may be over wishful and optimistic in my thinking that I can imagine him being considered a senior member of the group along with the usually competent Simon Hooper, and may end up taking charge of more than his fair share of Newcastle United and  Aston Villa games rather than the likes of us Huddersfield or Bristol City.

Keith Stroud (on Sky)- your eyes aren’t wrong. There is NO card in hand

There are a number of positives to the list with a number of names not appearing on it. NO Keith Hill. NO Trevor Kettle. NO Gavin Ward and also no sign of messrs Webb, Malone, Boyeson, Brown, Collins, Handley or Williamson. Also no sign of the much maligned ‘Deadly’ Darren Deadman, who showed one of the most human and commendable acts by a referee, when not booking Billy Sharp for revealing a message on his vest under his shirt after the tragic death of his baby. Additionally, no sign of Nigel Miller, an old skool police officer type ref who always seemed to show common sense.

A perk of the new list is that it contains a number of the better younger refs who are finding it impossible to break into the Premier League, because of their seemingly ‘jobs for life no matter how useless they are’ policy. Refs like Coote, Harrington, Kavanagh, Simpson and the excellent James Adcock from Nottingham for example. Madley is on the list too, thankfully its Andy and not Bobby. Oli Langford from Wednesbury is a vastly underrated ref who I would be happy to see at GP. Yet Tim Robinson from Bognor is one who lowers my expectations before a match has even started. A similar feeling I began to get last season every time I saw Andy Davies’ name in the match programme. The list is completed by Mr Bankes, Duncan, Eltringham, Bond, Linington, Martin and Andy Woolmer.

Additionally, ‘assistants’ are getting an overhaul too, with 36 successful applicants making it to the list, although there are 3 or 4 being demoted from the Premier League. Unlike the referees, not all assistants will become professional assistants, which makes them sound like football’s equivalent to the lovely Debbie McGee. Unfortunately, keeping tabs on our linesmen is not easy, as clearly there is 2 of them and I never know which is which.

There are exceptions to this, where one is clearly of a different ethnicity, or have some form of disability (and I don’t mean poor eyesight), or Mike Newell’s particular favourite, officials who need their own separate changing room. But one noticeable admission from the list is Mathew Buonassisi, a linesman who always seemed to forget where he was and constantly confused his referee as to what the bejeezus he was doing. Mathew has decided to call it a day and has accepted the long standing offer from Hollywood to be Danny DeVito’s body double.”

Bernard Quackenbush

The lovely Debbie McGee

Bernard – many thanks indeed.

And if you’d like to read more from Bernard then aside from the comments on many of the regular comments to these pages, you can follow him on Twitter via @BernardQuack.

Nick Bruzon

Plug time (regular readers know the score from here) : As ever, The Last Word ‘season review’ : Ready. Steady. Go Again and the three year anthology : The Bees are going up remain available for download. Should anybody want to go over this nonsense, relive these moments once more and remind ourselves of that Stroud induced pain then you can do so now.

It has been a stunning few years. Here’s to more of the same. We may have had a few lows (something about a penalty, the football village, the FA Cup, the pitch, the Marinus experiment) but there have been plenty more highs as the Bees made an unexpected challenge for the Premier League.

Thanks for reading.

 

 

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

 

And now Rangers join the mix as Brentford staff respond to rumours

Amidst the glut of Sheffield Wednesday and Burnley related transfer rumours currently doing the rounds at Brentford it was one out of leftfield, from Rangers, that had Bees fans talking yesterday. The BBC were among the news outlets to confirm that Mark Warburton had made a bid, which has been rejected, for supporter’s player of the year Toumani Diagouraga.

But first those longstanding stories about Alan Judge and James Tarkowski were finally confirmed by Dean Smith in an interview on the club’s YouTube channel. Whilst I don’t for one second believe anybody of any significance pays any attention to this column, fair play to the media team for putting the rumours which we’ve all read about direct to the Head Coach. And you can see this on the video, where he also expands on the Jota situation, below.

Dean Smith speaks

As mentioned in Tuesday’s column, I really didn’t think that was our style (discussing rumours up front). Yet Dean confirmed, “We’ve had bids for Alan Judge and James Tarkowski but we’ve turned both of them down” although didn’t go so far as to confirm these were Sheffield Wednesday and Burnley. And the reason, “We’re in a position where we don’t want to sell our players at the moment…we want to keep our better players at the football club”.

So all the right noises and just what supporters would hope to hear. Sentiments echoed, likewise, by co-director of football Phil Giles on the latest Beesotted podcast – which you can find here . Stay for the full hour twenty experience or jump straight to Phil’s piece 11 minutes into the playback. Either way, very well worth a listen and hats off to Dave and Billy for nabbing another exclusive. Phil comes across very well whilst the probing questions certainly bear a considered listen.

As for Toumani, well it was no doubt Mark Warburton would be hoping to take some former players to Rangers. Indeed, Warbs has already signed up former golden boy Harry Forrester after his jumping ship for the dream of Championship football with Doncaster quickly turned into a nightmare.

But the bid to lure Toumani sees a significant step up in Mark’s intent, given this a player who is still a regular in a Brentford team pushing for the Premier League play offs. Was the £100,000 bid, which of course was rejected, just the first salvo in a bidding war to lure the ever popular midfielder.

Toumani, Sam, Buzz and Buzzette. Bees for years and massively popular

Whilst there’s no doubt we have a huge selection in the middle of the park, Toumani is surely one of the first names on the teamsheet, around whom the others fit. If nothing else, there’d be huge disappointment if he leaves – for Rangers or elsewhere – prior to scoring a goal.

What happens next is going to be a very interesting test of the club’s ambition versus the obvious lure presented by a lorry load of cash. Whilst I’m just the numpty on the terrace rather than any insider, I’m not that stupid as to realise that every player does have his price. Indeed, this is something Phil discusses on that Beesotted interview.

Are we prepared to fight for our players – as seems to be the intent from the first round of bids? Or is this simply just a case of playing the waiting game? With the transfer window remaining open for the best part of another four weeks, there’s simply no reason to jump at the first bid – if that is our long term goal.

My own personal feel for all of this is that at least one of these three will leave before Jim White declares the window as officially slammed shut. If nothing else, the financial rewards for playing top-flight football, with buckets of TV money sloshing around, do help compensate some of this initial investment. As long as the bidding club do then make the ‘promised land’, of course.

Dean Smith did acknowledge an element of rotation will be in effect on Saturday. This works for him in potentially camouflaging any sales we may be considering. Tuesday night against league leaders Middlesbrough, a game where surely your first choice XI need to start, will be a very different and interesting selection.

Until then, despite all the speculation and opinion, there’s nothing any of us can do to stop or influence matters. Alan Judge will leave the Bees at some point in his career as, I’d suspect, will Toums, Tarks and most of this team. Let’s just hope it isn’t until the summer time, at the least.

Despite our slow start to the campaign, this team is tearing up the blindside. I’d love to see it given at least another six months to see what we can do. Will money talk or will we hold it altogether?

The next few days could prove to be extremely ‘squeaky bum’ time for those wanting to hang on to our current squad.

Nick Bruzon  

Brentford into the Woods as Jim White goes ‘Wolf’ on deadline day

The transfer window has ‘slammed shut’ and with it Brentford fans can breathe a sigh of relief. After a summer that has seen several big name departures and as many other rumours, we now know the make up of the squad. There was no David Button to Aston Villa (one of those heavily touted at various points in pre-season) or James Tarkowski to Fulham. Instead, we have only strengthened further, with the addition of Ryan Woods from Shrewsbury Town.

Joining Brentford for an undisclosed fee (although one believed to be in the £1million ball park) Ryan is described as a versatile player who has played right back, right midfield and even left back. He helped Shrewsbury gain promotion to League One last season and, on the way, was named in the PFA divisional team of the year. Such is his stature, even West Ham put in a couple of bids during the previous window although the Bees have been the ultimate beneficiaries.

Ryan – welcome to Griffin Park. Just take care on the training ground. After that previous business with twigs, more woods are the last thing we need !

Ryan Woods adopts that all too familiar pose

We all know the deadline day routine by now. Jim White getting over excited in the Sky Sports studio, roving reporters doing their thing at stadia and training grounds all over the land, Natalie Sawyer helping see us over the line and Brentford fans sitting on the edge of their seats long into the night in the hope that nobody leaves.

Jim didn’t let us down and even seemed be channeling the spirit of Wolf out of the Gladiators as the window eventually came to a close. However, that was about it for familiarity.

Natalie was again missing for the final bow whilst the absence of WKD fuelled youths, banned after the dildogate affair 12 months previous, gave an almost ethereal quality to the reports flying in from empty stadiums. Thankfully, we were saved five hours of nail chewing with the decision made to stop proceedings at 6pm rather than nearer 11pm as is usual. And even better, nobody left Griffin Park.

Jim White had a new co-host as the window ‘slammed shut’

Given some of the other rumours that had been circulating pre-season, it would have come as no surprise had anybody else joined the likes of Andre Gray, Stuart Dallas or Moses Odubajo in leaving. For me, the fact that we have retained David Button is only excellent news. He has already had a standout start to the season following on from an excellent campaign last time out.

Likewise, with Andreas Bjelland already ruled out, hanging on to the likes of James Tarkowski and Harlee Dean was essential. We’ve done this and with the addition of Ryan, along with Marco Djuricin and Sergi Canos, there are suddenly a host of additional options going forward. Now it’s over to Marinus to see how he can use these to best effect.

The jury remains out for now on whether selling Moses, Stuart and Andre for around £12m will remain shrewd business or a fatal mistake. The fact of the matter is that they have gone and, much as I was desperate to hang on to Andre especially, there’s nothing we can do about it.

Indeed, the ‘in’ door has been a lot busier at Griffin Park over the summer with 12 players joining Brentford compared to the 6 (see also: Tony Craig, Jonathan Douglas and Will Grigg) who have been released or sold.

Have the club ‘over tinkered’ with a settled team? Has the ‘so called’ statistical model played much of a role (good or bad)? Will the new look squad gel to become even better than ever before? Most importantly, will supporters now give Marinus and the new system a bit of breathing space?

At 4 points from 4 games, we are only one ‘worse’ off than last season, when Warbs had us on 5 at this juncture. My main hope is that Marinus has us try to play football. Win or lose, Warbs certainly knew the way to goal.

I’ve got no major worries about the recruitment policy if it gets results. But I’d love to see the Bees start to find the back of the net. And you can only do that by going forward.

Still. The tools are now in place. We await what happens next with extreme interest.

Nick Bruzon

Transfer window set to slam shut for Brentford but is this it?

Tuesday is the day. The transfer window slams shut ( © Sky Sports) and, with it, the last chance to see who will leave or join the Brentford squad on a full time basis. Of course, the Bees have already stepped up their loan activity with the news that Sergi Canos has signed until January from Liverpool. But does this mean that all business has now been concluded? Or will Jim White and Natalie Sawyer be working themselves into a Griffin Park related frenzy on national “Harry Redknapp leaning out of a car window” day?

Canos is the latest to wield the Brentford FC signing shirt

Brentford have certainly been profligate in recent weeks with several big name players leaving TW8 for Championship rivals. Andre Gray to Burnley, Moses Odubajo to Hull City and Stuart Dallas to Leeds United have been the names to really stand out. Not to mention the release of Jonathan Douglas to Ipswich Town. Factor in the freak injuries to Jota and Josh McEachran (the latter before a ball had even been kicked in anger) and it’s no wonder our attacking options have, according to many, been stifled .

But could this change? Monday’s new saw a signing that followed hot on the heels of striker Marco Djuricin to give, on paper, an added dimension of flair to the Brentford squad. In the Red Bull Salzburg loanee we have, at the least, a plethora of puns. Moreso alongside A. Judge (that’s Alan, of course). He is an Austrian international who already has two full caps to his name,

As for Canos, it really is a huge case of potential. I’d offer a word of caution in putting too much pressure on this young man’s shoulders. In recent years we’ve learned that for every loan gem from that part of the world (see Adam Forshaw, Chris Long and Jake Bidwell) there’s a potential Joao Carlos Teixera. For every unheard of youth prodigy (see Marcello Trotta) there’s a Betinho lurking in the wings.

Betin-who ?

Whilst we’ve done very well in the past in our recruitment, the previous management haven’t been infallible. Those lamenting the departure of Warbs should bear in mind he took several bites at the cherry to get things right. The second coming of Liam  Moore is another that springs to mind. And then out of it.

It takes time to build a team. There’s no denying we’ve taken an unconventional approach in allowing several well established players to leave (albeit for an incredible amount of money) before looking to rebuild from scratch. Likewise, that we’ve then had our cause hindered by injury – and one can only worry about the amount of twigs that may reach the training ground now that Autumn is almost upon us.

However, my guess is that any long term activity has come to a close and we’ll not be troubling Sky Sports News. This is the squad Marinus has to play with and, with quality players also on the mend, we could soon be in a much stronger place.

Certainly, that usual barometer of impending transfer news – Matthew Benham’s twitter account – hasn’t troubled the scorers since August 19th. And that was the wonderful coming together of fiction and fact that saw Alan Partridge’s ‘Youth Hosteling with Chris Eubank’ become a reality.

So unless we’re planning on signing the former World Middleweight Champion, this is probably it for any ‘inward’ activity on Tuesday. Welcome Marco and Sergi. Griffin Park is certainly a place of change at present but, equally, we’re a club who are on the up.

What happens next as Rangers prepare to announce Warbs ?

Former Brentford manager Mark Warburton is today (Monday) finally set to be revealed as the new man in charge at Rangers. Swapping the English Championship for the Scottish, he takes David Weir with him and puts to bed one of the most rumoured, but prolonged, stories doing the rounds.

Brentford fans have, of course, known since February that Mark and David would be leaving us following the Football Village affair prior to the home game against Watford. But until the stories about Rangers started to circulate last month, most of us assumed he would be staying South of the border.

News sources as diverse as the BBC, Herald Scotland and even City A.M. (worth reading that one for the input of Brentford fan, reporter and podcaster Billy Grant) are now reporting that Mark will be officially unveiled in a 2pm press conference on Monday.

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 ! 

Missing pieces make for an unusual deadline day

In the end transfer deadline day ended up being as quiet as a Chelsea FA Cup crowd, with Brentford picking up a solitary signing in Blackburn Rovers left / centre back Jack O’Connell. Whilst there was no sign of the proverbial ‘double swoop’ so favoured by our local journalists, as important was the fact that our squad has remained intact. Perhaps the players taking heed of the warning that had reportedly been ‘fired’ at them by Warbs (is there any other way he delivers one?) not to ‘do a Forshaw’.

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 on.