Party poop.Barnsley beat Brentford in game 4,000

Move along. Nothing to see here. A day that promised so much ended with Brentford having the candles blown off their own celebration cake by a Barnsley team who took their chances in a gritty game. As the Bees celebrated their 4,000th league game with the commemorative flags handed out to supporters, it was the away side who ended the day celebrating a first league win in 7(seven) games.

“It’s just like watching Brazil” sang the visitors.

“It’s just like watching League One”, sang the home support

“I just can’t get no relief” sang the half time guest of honour, Annelies. That, of course, during her Queen number rather than being any form of match analysis.

Annelies serenades Buzzette. Or is that vice-versa?

Indeed, half time was about as good as it got.

Peter Gilham was on hand to introduce Ben Summers, whose winning competition entry had been selected to be the cover for the programme. However, if Ben was expecting the keys to Griffin Park he was to be sadly disappointed.

“We’d like to say you’ve won a thousand pounds but you haven’t. Just a signed copy of the programme” announced Peter in his usual, avuncular style.

That said, Ben did have the honour of posing for a photograph with the protagonists in that other fan favourite – the half time mascot race. This, an event not seen since Scummy Bunny and Sonic the hedgehog were amongst those to grace the Griffin Park playing surface back in our League One (or was it two?) days.

This time around it was a three way shoot out between Buzz, Buzzette and the Barnsley mascot. I’m not sure if this was Toby the Tyke or, as one New Road observer noted,  Macroencephablitisbrain the bear.

Peter Gilham introduces Ben and the mascots

As for the game itself? I can’t talk about it. The BBC, Beesotted or ‘Official’ are your best hopes if any sort of match report is required. Likewise, the video highlights are already up on Sky, if anybody can draw highlights from yesterday’s game.

That said, two points of note to take away. Firstly, cheering the substitution of Romaine Sayers for Philipp Hofmann. Seriously? One can only hope this was due to the German’s popularity although I suspect not given the criticism the former Walsall man has come in for from certain quarters. Without wanting to get overly preachy, that’s really poor form and hardly going to help a player who would still seem to be settling into Championship life.

Secondly, Dean Smith’s post match interview which contained the pearler. “If we’d taken our chances it might have been a different story.” Hmm. That is, generally, how football works.

Instead, the interviews are probably best confined to those conducted by Sean Ridley with the return of Terrace Talk.

Can we have you every week?

That aside, it simply remains to offer congratulations to  Barnsley for a job well done. As for Brentford, there’s the small matter of a trip to Loftus Road on Friday.

I’m going, again. See you there.

Nick Bruzon

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From Brentford and brackets to Gibraltar and San Marino.

Brentford fans were left scratching around for interest this weekend, with minimal satisfaction coming from the Euro qualifiers. As expected, England successfully navigated their qualifying group (the easiest since records began) whilst for Gibraltar, although they are starting to find their feet after an international baptism of fire, the Republic of Ireland still presented a tough test as they ran out 4-0 winners on Friday night. There was no Brentford involvement, beyond a brief reminiscence about Stuart Dallas for Northern Ireland although, of course, Lasse Vibe was on the bench for Denmark in a 0-0 at home to Albania.

Instead, the weekend has left more questions about those two perennial debates – ‘minnows’ and brackets. Specifically, should the ‘smaller’ teams be allowed to play with the big boys and, when conceding more than six goals just how should we signify this 7, 7 (seven), 7 (SEVEN), seven or SEVEN?

As a footballing romantic and nostalgic, I’m all for a spot of small team involvement. Equally, I won’t deny a large element of emotional involvement as, having waited years for Gibraltar to finally be given full UEFA membership, the chance to see them test themselves against the great and the good is one I’m loving.

Are they whipping boys at the moment? Unfortunately, the stats would certainly suggest that to be the case although anybody who has seen their games against the likes of Germany, Poland and the Republic will see what strides they have already made. Tougher to break down and a lot less naïve, the boys from the Rock are finding their feet, fast.

Gibraltar have packed their boots to start international life.

The Faroe Islands already have six points from a group in which they have overtaken former Euro Champions Greece whilst Albania have beaten Portugal in their qualifying group. This is the same Portugal who recently lost a home friendly with Cape Verde Islands.

Minnows do get stronger and regular games against a mix of opposition are the way to do it. Not shunting them aside to pre-qualifying where they can only play each other, as seems to be the common suggestion. If this is your logic then just disband qualifying all together and draw the teams for the tournament finals based on seeding.

It only seems like yesterday that England were spannering their own qualification for the World Cup as Davide Gualtieri took less than nine seconds to open the scoring for San Marino with a goal that shook the world. Both teams have grown massively since then, even if England have remained as consistently sub-par when it gets to the tournament itself (Euro 96 aside, and that one they qualified for by default).

Davide Gualtieri opened the scoring against England back in 1994

Wales have stepped up the blindside in recent seasons and have moved from 117^th ranked team in the world four years ago to the point where a victory against Israel on Sunday could see them deemed the second best team on the planet. Indeed, they are, surely, going to qualify for a first major finals since 1958.

Just to put that into perspective, the teams currently occupying the 117^th slot are hardy those we would consider to be traditional powerhouses of international football.

The teams currently in the same spot as Wales, four years ago

I could go on. People have very short-term memories and attention spans. I hope UEFA don’t give in to the current clamour emanating from certain circles and give all their members a chance to compete on a level playing field.

That said, games such as yesterday’s 6-0 won’t help the likes of San Marino as they came awfully close to a 7(seven) -0 bracketing. That’s a result that Gibraltar have experienced a couple of times in early qualifying whilst, domestically, former Brentford player/manager Nicky Forster was the unlucky recipient as his Staines Town side went down by that infamous scoreline to Brentwood Town in the Ryman Premier on Saturday.

Nicky Forster (left) formally the deliverer rather than recipient of 7(seven)

And, as ever in these circles, it prompted the usual questions as to how this should be recorded. One local journalist ended up very much insistent about it being an unbracketed, headline grabbing, SEVEN. For somebody who then used twitter to rally against the vide printer favourite, saying: “Will live in the here and now”, the irony of his bio describing himself as “Ex Woking FC striker” was not lost.

There are others that love the bracket but insist it should be 7 (SEVEN). I’ll spare the regular reader another lecture on the unsubtly and bad sportsmanship of this. A brash, block-capitalled effect to really push home the point that someone has been on the wrong end of a thrashing. It’s gloating for the sake of it.

Clearly, an emotional subject and I don’t think we’ll ever, all, agree. Football is a modern game and one that continues to grow. That said, what’s the harm in a little bit of nostalgia along the way?

And finally, Channel 5 and Football League Tonight. Much as the minnows have been going from strength to strength on the pitch, the same can be said about the latest newcomers off it.

Saturday night was the latest point in case as, despite it being International weekend we actually had a show. In days gone by, Manish and team were shunted to one side when the Championship teams had a break, despite full fixture list in both Leagues One and Two.

So fairplay to Kelly, George and the rest of the production team for still bringing us a show. The disasters that plagued the series openers are a distant memory already and, last night, the biggest problem seemed to be Adam Virgo. More to the point, his sporting of a collared shirt with the top button done up but no tie.

Yet if a pundit’s dress sense (something all channels have suffered from over the years) is the worst we’ve got to worry about then things must definitely be moving in the right direction.

Rio Ferdinand and the BBC panel have had their own fashion problems

Nick Bruzon

Who will wake up happy on Wednesday?

One, non Brentford, subject close to my heart this season has been the ongoing effort to thwart Hull City owner Doctor Assem Allam in his attempt to rebrand the club as Hull Tigers. There were more developments on that yesterday which we’ll look at shortly but, of course, there’s only one place to start today – Griffin Park, with Crawley Town due to visit.

There can’t be too many people unaware of the significance of a win tonight.

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.