How keyboard warriors missed the point

Forty-eight hours after Fulham were beaten by Brentford in the Championship , their keyboard warriors were still fighting a desperate rearguard action to try and salvage some pride from Friday’s derby defeat.

If it makes the Cottagers feel better then good luck to them. That said, if you fancy a smile then do go and check out some of the remaining comments from Saturday morning’s post game review. Personally, I’ve better things to do than continue trying to reason with opinion so blinkered and out of touch with the current landscape that it would be more suited to a North Korean propaganda leaflet.

If anything it has made me realise, even more, just how much Friday’s win meant. To both sides.

Having thrown away their chance of two local games after last season’s capitulation denied them the Chelsea and QPR showdowns, Brentford were their only hope of winning such a fixture. And Fulham weren’t even close to coming second.

I’m not going to pretend I wouldn’t have been upset had we lost but, at the same time, winning was a sweet, sweet feeling. Especially doing so in such fashion. That said, there’s a lot of hilarious comment on twitter and certain fan sites referring to this as our ‘cup final’.

That’s as patronising as it is bitter. Who wouldn’t want to win a local derby? Who wouldn’t celebrate a win over their neighbours? Who wouldn’t get excited about climbing to just one point off the top of the table?

This is nothing to do with perceived club size or our respective teams’ past successes but, simply, current season form and a fine victory in a local derby.

And it WAS fine, with Brentford having totally dominated the game to the extent that, per the BBC, we had almost two thirds of the possession. In layman’s terms, that just means our opponents didn’t get near the ball for an hour.

Brentford had hold of the ball for an hour. The BBC stats don’t lie

After Russell Slade’s sour grapes last season (also in a local derby) I didn’t think we’d be revisiting this territory so soon. The source may be different but the effect is much the same. And that speaks volumes about what Friday meant.

Anyway, that’s me just about done on this subject. Banter is close to getting out of hand and so, for now, I’ll leave Fulham (who are only one win clear of the bottom three) to whatever ambitions they have.

As for The Bees, I make no apologies for ‘bigging up’ Brentford on this Brentford related site. Billy Reeves nailed it later, noting about those ‘away’ fans who’d got upset: “That’s like criticising an autobiography for being self-centred...”

Well said that man.

BBC viewers got an extra viewing of the game on Saturday’s FLS

Football League Show provides another season highlight

With Brentford having a Championship day off on Saturday after demolishing Fulham on Friday night, our supporters were left to see if anyone would overtake the newly fourth placed Bees. Wolves, next up at Griffin Park, were the feature team on the BBC Football League show whilst Warbs, with time on his hands, was Manish’s studio guest. And as for Clemwatch, it gave us a chance to resume our scientific study as Charlton Athletic hosted the albatross of the roving reporting world.

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 along.

Even the London flood barrier fails to hold back Clem’s deluge of poor results

Thanks Fulham! Trotta’s (independent) trade pays dividends for Brentford.

Are you going to Carlisle with Brentford tomorrow? One person whom we can say should be is Marcello Trotta after the club broke the habit of a lifetime and commented on speculation, telling us that:

” Contrary to earlier suggestions, Marcello is not required to join up until Saturday evening.

Therefore he can play in Brentford’s Sky Bet League One match against Carlisle United on Saturday.”

This can only be good news for The Bees. Since returning from Fulham for a second loan spell, Trotta really has found form. Previous criticism leveled about the Italian’s perceived ‘laziness’ has been well and truly dispelled.

The player affectionately known to the Griffin Park faithful as ‘Rodney’ can now be seen putting himself about with more energy than the Duracell Bunny on a Red Bull binge.

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.

Come on ITV, I dare you….. FA Cup could go flat otherwise

Brighton v Hull City or Arsenal v Liverpool? Cardiff City v Wigan Athletic or Manchester City v Chelsea?

The fifth round of the FA Cup draw has now been made and, with Brentford already having abandoned proceedings, the main focal point for me is which treats we will be served up by the TV companies when the games recommence.

I’d love it to be the Brighton and Wigan ties but I can’t see the directors at ITV having the balls. In each case, you have a Premiership side playing a decent Championship outfit and so a very real chance of a ‘Goliath’ being scalped.  Likewise, these are the two Premiership teams with, possibly, the most controversial owners in Christendom.

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.

More loan action for Brentford…and our rivals?

With the  transfer window now officially open, the rumour mill is in full effect.

In the case of Brentford, for once the talk is about players coming in rather than those who could be snapped up by teams in the Premiership or Championship. So far.

Top of the list is Arsenal striker Chuba Akpom. Whilst the club is yet to say anything definitive this is being widely reported in various media sources. Even Matthew Benham, as he has also done with Blackburn winger Alan Judge, has now started to follow the Arsenal youngster on twitter.

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.

When Harry met Sammy

It’s fair to say that things are never quiet in TW8. No sooner had the last puff of green smoke vanished into the ether than the next round of Brentford based questions were being asked. The vast majority of these were at Thursday night’s ‘fans forum’ where a panel including manager Uwe Rösler and chief executive Mark Devlin were on hand to face all comers.

This really was a fantastic opportunity and, yet again, one of the things that makes our club unique. There was huge emphasis placed on Lionel Road, of course, and if you haven’t sent in your support as yet – please do. The club has made this so simple to do that even I’ve been able to follow the links and send in my backing.  http://www.brentfordfc.co.uk/news/article/support-lionel-road-static-941456.aspx) .

Also on the agenda was Simon Moore, where his rumoured move to Cardiff City has been all over the Internet since the middle of the week. Bluebird’s boss Malky Mackay has been shooting his mouth off to the BBC today, claiming it to be a done deal barring the paperwork which will be completed Monday. Brentford have maintained a dignified silence, with nothing more being said beyond a cryptic quote at the forum about Simon probably being at the beach on the day his medical was said to have taken place.

Is it all just desperate mind-games from Cardiff ahead of Tuesday night’s friendly? Or will we be disappointed on Monday morning? If so, all I’ll say is a massive ’Thank you and good luck’ to Simon. He has already achieved so much in his short time at Griffin Park and is, without doubt, an England international of the future. The current ‘Last Word player of the year’ for 2012/13 is one of the nicest people you could hope to meet off the field and I wish him well, should he ever choose to leave. Although, Simon, if you could wait until the next issue of ‘4-4-2’ magazine is published on August 3rd (more to follow next week) that would really help me….

A beach, Thursday

 

The other main event of the week was Sunday’s ‘Family Fun day’ at Griffin Park.  Almost the entire first team squad barring Simon were there to meet the fans. Even fellow ‘keeper Richard Lee (whom I gather is still recovering from this summer’s surgery to his hairline) was a later arrival where my sources tell me the popular custodian was promptly ‘mobbed’. Supporters were given the run of Griffin Park whilst Buzz and Buzzette (now brother and sister rather than the ‘friends’ they started off as) were also in attendance. The newest arrival to our family, eight-week old Harry Samuel Bruce Bruzon, certainly enjoyed himself meeting Sam and Clayton amongst others.

Buzz and Buzzette with Harry

Again, like the fan’s forum, this just shows what a great set up we have at Brentford. A football club, yes, but one completely entrenched in the local community. It really is a symbiotic relationship between club and supporters that I don’t think you’d find anywhere else.  We are so lucky to have this balance between club and fans and, having stepped back through the gates today, I find myself with even more renewed energy and excitement for the forthcoming season.

As a final thought, one question that hasn’t been answered is how on earth does our Chief Executive find time to moonlight? It must be a 25-hour a day job trying to prepare for the big kick off but his twitter feed this week suggested he still had time to be contacted about ‘other interests’. Is he set to become the next Jane Fonda or is there another explanation?

I’ll leave you to make up your minds….

The new Doctor Atkins?

 

(please note – there IS another explanation)

When Harry met Sammy and more, at the Brentford Family Fun day