Brentford continued preparation for life in the Championship with a 5-1 win over Barnet on Tuesday night. The score speaks for itself although hopefully the missed penalty (and I blame myself for bigging up Mr. Reliable less than a week ago) will get less mention than that other one, which certain areas of the media (i.e. all of them) saw fit to mention a few times (i.e. every week) last season.
The club site has the full match report for those that didn’t catch it live or on Beesplayer. You can find it here. However, for me there were a few other things to catch the eye yesterday.
Being a shirt geek, I was pleased to see that the trend of the club releasing quality kits this season has continued with the latest in the retro range. Mark Devlin released pictures to twitter yesterday of retail manager Maz holding up what appears to be a variant on the 1974-75 top. Black cuffs, long sleeves and the castle badge are all present in what will make the battle for my ‘shirt budget’ this year an even harder fought one than before.
I really am a fan of the castle badge – it was the one on the shirt when I first started watching the Bees – and so was always sad when it was replaced in the mid 90’s by the current effort. The turreted shield made no real sense to me as to how it tied into the club but, regardless, it has always been synonymous with Brentford.
That said, it will still be going some to beat the latest efforts from Spanish outfit, Deportivo Lugo. With Espanyol no longer visiting next week, I’d have paid good money to see Lugo named as our new opponents – sporting either their Octopus shirt or lager…top.
The other thing to catch my eye was the search for a picture of Kenny Sansom in Brentford colours. He’d received a mention in yesterday’s article about new signings but I’d been unable to finds such an image on the interweb.
Thankfully, Ray Biggar has since come to the rescue (and that’s a line I never though I’d use about the chronologically challenged referee). Not only did the Notts County 1993 matchday programme (from ‘that game’) have a centre spread on the former England international but it also had a number of personal facts about the man himself.
If the media team are reading (you never know) then what chance the ‘player’s pets’ feature reappearing this season? Although I’d be impressed if any of the current team can better Kenny’s.
And if you can’t wait for the big the new season, why not catch up on the last one? ‘Celebrating like they’d won the FA Cup…..’ (The story of Brentford’s 2013/14 promotion campaign, amongst other football related chatter) – is now available as a digital book. Featuring the best of the not so bad columns from last season, and some new content, you can download it here for your kindle / digital device.
Bees set for Brighton as Liverpool stars reveal shocking 80’s taste
12 SepChampionship football is almost back with us. Tomorrow sees Brighton visit Griffin Park as Brentford finally get the chance to resume competitive action and, potentially, move even further ahead of Fulham. With the gap already 7(seven) points, a victory over Brighton combined with Reading doing the needful over The Cottagers would see this grow to double figures.
Of equal statistical interest is the chance for Brentford to attain their highest league placing in 60 years, should we move one more place up the table. If my maths are correct, The Bees’ current position of eighth equals the previous benchmark, set in the 1950s (and, briefly, in 1992).
Brighton are no mugs, of course. Having reached the play off semi finals for the last two seasons (the results being a pain that Brentford fans know only too well) they’ve now started to find their legs as another attempt on the Premiership begins.
Despite losing their opening two fixtures they’ve put a little run together that sees them just a single point behind The Bees. It won’t be easy tomorrow but with the International break, at least, giving us the chance to help with a few injuries, I’m confident we can continue where we left off last time out.
If nothing else, there’s the prospect of Betinho. The signing of the Portuguese U21 took most people by surprise and I’m just itching to see what he can do as Warbs’ continental revolution continues.
The signing of Betinho is officially announced to the world
The second part of today’s column requires you to look elsewhere as a series of 1980’s photographs have been collated, most of them featuring Liverpool players, showing footballers relaxing in the opulence of their mock-Tudor mansions
Have you ever wondered what Graeme Souness would look like, trying out as an extra on Miami Vice? Are you curious as to what Phil Neal wore in his snooker room? Want to see Kenny Dalglish – international man of business?
In that case, I can only implore you to take a look at Steven Bloor’s Guardian article about ‘1980s footballers at home’. Featuring everything from Pat Jennings posing awkwardly by the fireplace in a cardigan/action slacks combo to Trevor Brooking taking the world’s first ‘selfie’, you can find the picture gallery here.
Aswell as the Liverpool connection, there’s even a few Bees in there, with Terry Butcher and Kenny Sansom featured.
Enjoy !!
Kenny Sansom – in more tasteful gear than seen in the Guardian article
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