Leeds United badge launch breaks internet as everyone lines up to put the boot in.

Oh Leeds united. Where to start with this one. Indeed, should we? Of course we should. If the top brass at Brentford thought there had been some angst amongst supporters when our own new crest was revealed back in November 2016 then that was a mere storm in a teacup with what happened yesterday. Leeds United? Leeds Untied, more like. The internet went into meltdown after the Elland Road club proudly showed off their new crest to the world. Yet with furious supporters lining up to vent their rage, photoshop going into overload and even Aston Villa (amongst others) putting the boot in, it would seem the club are already looking to distance themselves from the fruits of a six month process that had involved an apparent 10,000 supporters.

📸 | Our new crest #MOT #LUFC

6 months of research
10,000 people consulted
Ready for the next 100 years

Watch video ➡️ https://t.co/rIIdL2Yz9F pic.twitter.com/pMrd3zTjCl

— Leeds United (@LUFC) January 24, 2018

The day began with Leeds telling the world: “We are now delighted and proud to reveal a new crest that represents the passion and the unique identity that runs deep through the Club”. Managing Director Angus Kinnear adding his own personal support with the additional clarification that the new crest was ”Authentic to Leeds United and honours the quality and loyalty of our fans. It is a symbol of ‘strength in unity’ and a proud expression of the club’s identity and history.”

 Less than 12 hours later Kinnear found himself in the position of telling the BBC “We need to reopen the consultation process… Because the direction is so distinctive and breaks with a lot of conventions, that consultation process hasn’t gone deep enough.” Adding that “It’s slightly unfortunate”.

Not deep enough? How on earth can six months and 10,000 supporters not be deep enough? Judging by the results, it was a research campsign that has been about as shallow as a puddle in the Sahara.

The new Leeds badge. Mr Muscle?

It seems the fans felt anything less than honoured. An online petition was launched to get rid of it, noting : “It makes a mockery of Leeds United and the clubs history. It is alienating the fans. It is has to go.” Within hours it had raced passed the 10,000 mark and at the time of wiring is just short of 70,000.

Supporters and critics went to town on Twitter with the club and the crest trending almost immediately. Not in a good way. And understandably so. Who thought this was good? Who were the 10,000? Who signed off on this? Why had the club borrowed the cover artwork from video game Pro Evolution Soccer 2? Perhaps, most importantly, what the hell got rejected that this was deemed the best? The future? That THIS was Leeds United?

Nice to see #PES2 still providing inspiration to this day… 😉 pic.twitter.com/edCDZSNLRb

— Pro Evolution Soccer (@officialpes) January 24, 2018

Talk about farcical. You wouldn’t have got this at the most tinpot of non-league clubs, let alone these historical giants of the footballing world. A club with huge tradition and one fortunate enough to have such a massive and passionate fanbase. A club that had now turned itself into the laughing stock of the football world.

There was no Yorkshire Rose, no football or even a local landmark. No attempt at a retro spin based on a previous incarnation. From a club that changes crests as often as they change managers then surely that would have been an easy task. Instead, they’ve come out with something that would be be better suited to a communist propaganda poster or some Orwellian nightmare. That said, one can only respect that speed with which they have slammed into reverse.

We changed our crest at Brentford just over a year ago. There was the apparent confusion of it looking like a wasp – it doesn’t. The way to see this is to look at a Bee and then realise that’s the creature on the badge. There was some regret from those of us who were admirers of the cluttered clipart from the previous design – not me though. I loved the simplicity and modern twist on a 70s classic. I ignored the sneers about it only having four legs on display be reminding myself that this was not uncommon whilst, if you look at the previous badge and start counting legs there were only four visible on that design.

Yet supporters now seem to have warmed to it. The worst we had to put up with at the time were some snotty headlines from the gutter press:

 Brentford supporters left furious”. (Daily Mail)  

“Are we the wasps now?”  (Daily Mirror)

“Brentford’s new badge angers fans who claim traditional bee looks more like a wasp.”  (The S*n)

These, the same publications that used the rest of that day’s front pages to all talk about the apparently ‘awkward’ moment when Cliff Richard appeared on TV’s The One Show despite being in the process of suing the BBC. Hardly yardsticks of relevance.

Yet I’ve never seen anything like happened yesterday. Fairplay to the supporters for reacting so fast. One can only wonder what the crack marketing team who put this together thought as the comments rolled in. When Aston Villa have the moral high ground then three’s something seriously wrong.

I can’t wait to see how this unwinds though.

Nick Bruzon

The best of the rest were led by Aston Villa …

We can't wait for this one, @LUFC…😏

On sale dates here 👉 https://t.co/aDLq54KgUY #AVFC #LUFC pic.twitter.com/AEdDLojjje

— Aston Villa FC (@AVFCOfficial) January 24, 2018

I don't know who made this one, but kudos you anonymous meme genius. #lufc pic.twitter.com/cf0EyIHBLT

— The Scratching Shed (@TSSLUFC) January 24, 2018

pic.twitter.com/zR5cveG16k

— CJ (@CharlieJJones) January 24, 2018

📸 | Our new crest #FakeNews

10 minutes of research
2 people consulted
Ready for the next 24 hours pic.twitter.com/tm2IoXLlDl

— Zamalek SC (@ZSCOfficial) January 24, 2018

Ah, now I get it.#lufc #lufcbadge pic.twitter.com/Vas6MnFQ3O

— Chris Rand (@ChrisRandWrites) January 24, 2018

It’s all a bit Carry On, Brentford. But who’s joking?

It’s April 1^st. It’s a good thing ‘press day’ took place yesterday as Brentford gear up for the trip to Nottingham Forest and a return to league action. Could there be any truth to Beesotted’s latest ‘exclusive’ on the Griffin Park hall of fame? Surely Mark Chapman wouldn’t stoop to these levels? And will ‘official’ look to join in with the hilarity (blue and white 2016 ‘away’ kit to be revealed soon?)

If its humour you want then the closest I can offer is somewhat of an odd vibe yesterday as Dean Smith gave his press conference aswell as enjoying a gentle probing from BBC Billy Reeves. “Philipp Hofmann has been on the grass”, it was reported at one point. This, to help him recuperate from chronic back pain. Clearly, the medicinal benefits not to be underestimated. Of training, that is.

As for those other injuries, the midfield has taken a double hit with Dean confirming to Billy that Josh McEachran could well be out for the rest of the season after suffering what is feared to be “a refracture of the second metatarsal” (looks like he’s broken that foot, again). It is a huge blow for the player and the team – moreso given Dean has also confirmed John Swift will be missing for at least the Nottingham Forest game.

Following the injury suffered on England U-21 duty, John has had to have five stitches in his gash and it is, apparently, “very angry”. I have no idea what Swift’s angry gash looks like and nor would I want to. However, with Dean confirming that all is now forgiven following the strange affair of the ‘hipster meme’, you can be sure that the Chelsea loanee would have figured in his plans otherwise.

Could Dean be forced to pick himself?

For me, Clive, this then means that whatever our head coach says about other players being given a chance, he doesn’t really have any choice left in who he plays on Saturday. I’ll be very surprised if the team varies much from: Button, Bidwell, Nico, Harlee, Barbet, Macca, KK, Woods, Judge, Canos, Vibe.

That said, the bench may have a slightly more unusual feel to it. Could we see any of the development squad making the step up following their fine 4-2 victory over Barnsley in midweek to join the likes of Jack O’Connell, Sam Saunders, Marco Djuricin, Scott Hogan, Andy Gogia and Jack Bonham on the subs list ?

Or am I miles off the pace here and Dean be planning a bit of a shake up following his 10 defeats out of 13 in 2016? Who knows how much choice he genuinely has but you can be sure Saturday’s teamsheet will be awaited with intrigue.

The other key point of his interview with Billy was an unexpected level of honesty. “I can understand frustrations….I’d be probably booing if it was my team”, was a somewhat frank admission made at one point.

Fairplay to Dean for saying what many supporters have been thinking but I just hope this doesn’t come back to haunt him. We’re not total idiots and can see what is, or isn’t, happening out there. I’ve a hell of a lot more respect for Dean treating us like this than adopting the Arsene Wenger ‘head in the sand’ approach. If I had a pound for everytime the Frenchman didn’t see an incident I’d be a rich man by now.

Of course, he’ll need to be a tad careful. Those sort of comments can bite you on the behind and were a trademark of Marinus era Brentford (remember that? Personally, I’m trying not to). I guess the flipside is that by Dean’s own admission he doesn’t feel out of his depth whilst, in regards to Matthew Benham and the management set up he sees himself as “very supported”.

“A few of our defensive players are having a bit of a lull”, he admitted at one point. Somewhat like saying that the Titanic was having a few issues with water retention yet, at the same time only half the problem. Over reliance on Judge (I’d be intrigued to see how we play without him) and a lack of penetration in front of the goal being equally key.

Dean has his work cut out for him, that’s for sure. We’re not out of the woods yet by any stage and Championship survival is by no means assured. The good news is that destiny is still very much in our own hands and whilst that gap is getting tighter, even the bookies still see us as 33/1 to be playing in League One next season. Equally, Dean knows the areas that need work.

The question is, how does he fix them for Saturday? At Nottingham Forest, we find out.

Defensive lulls a scintilating topic

 

If another player is going to be missing, can we find our voice?

Is Josh McEachran out for the rest of the season? With the loan window not so much being slammed as quietly easing shut yesterday, it was being reported on both West London Sport and Sky Sports (although both Lyall Thomas) that the former Chelsea man has suffered a training ground injury similar to the one that kept him out for such a long time at the Marinus end of the season. And with nobody else joining Leandro Rodríguez from Everton, despite suggestions after the Blackburn game that Head Coach Dean Smith was looking to make two more short-term acquisitions what does this mean for the Bees?

Firstly, and as has been said many times, our local press love talk of a double transfer swoop. An event that is actually rarer than a Nick Proschwitz goal, when it comes to inbound activity this is one area where I take nothing as fact until Matthew Benham has fired up his cryptic clue generator, Besotted have run an ‘exclusive’ or Brentford official have published the ‘signing shirt’ photo. I’ll also accept: ‘player holding scarf aloft’ or ‘new man sitting in portacabin holding pen over contract’.

Josh signs for Brentford – classic ‘contract’ pose

Still, aside from goalkeepers (where Dean can still delve into the market to cover a ‘7 day emergency’), we now know the make up of the players available to see us, hopefully, over the line and start preparations for a third successive season in the Championship. Or do we?

The McEachran question is very much out there with nothing, as at the time of writing (Friday morning), from Brentford official. It would be a huge shame for the Bees and the player if this is the case. Josh did, if we’re being honest, struggle at the early part of his Griffin Park career but had been showing steady improvement over his 15 games. Now, it could be back to square one.

The injuries have piled up this season

Moreso, it would be yet another injury in a season which has been overshadowed (amongst other things) by the vast amount of players sidelined for medical reasons. We were told at the fans forum earlier in the season it was nothing but coincidence yet this horrendous run of bad luck has hardly helped our cause.

Still, we are where we are and there is enough quality in this squad to more than see us home. Should they play to their potential and ability – as a team. None of this ‘one man show’ stuff that we saw against a Blackburn side who were there for the taking.

Presumably Alan McCormack will slot straight into Josh’s position whilst we can also expect that other Chelsea wunderkind, John Swift, to return after the strange affair of the ‘hipster’ meme. Here’s hoping this period of enforced absence will have him reinvigorated and firing on all guns, back to the player who helped tear Wolves apart back in February. That result, a rare moment of solace in a 2016 that has seen Brentford lose 11 out of our 14 fixtures. Only the win at Preston and draw with Leeds in late January breaking the run of L’s blotting Dean’s copy book this calendar year.

We can moan and bitch about results all we want. Most of us have at various points, myself included. And rightly so at times.Yet without a bit of solidarity now, we could conceivably be facing a desperate start to 2016/17. In League 1.

The Bees still have to play 4 of the teams below us and with the gap a mere 6 points between us and the relegation spots, let’s not take anything for granted. Let’s not leave it too late to find our voice and our unity. Let’s not leave it too late to stop sniping at each other.

Absolutely, the players and the management team have to play their part. They are the only ones who can secure the points. But as supporters, we also have a our own role. Assuming we want to stay up, of course.

I saw a quite terrifying graphic on Twitter last night, c/o Jonathan Burchill. It highlighted this season and our previous Championship relegation campaign, back in 1992/93.

No words needed…..

#BrentfordFC league positions 1992-3 (Tier 2 relegation) and now. Really hope it stops mirroring soon. pic.twitter.com/pPb8iBVbyn

— Jonathan Burchill (@Jonathan77777) March 24, 2016

The choice is simple. Stay up and we could be taking on the likes of Aston Villa and Newcastle United (I’m counting Chelsea as safe now, despite their mid-season hilarity). Throw it away, and it’ll be trips to Bristol Rovers, Oxford and Accrington Stanley.

Accrington Stanley, you may ask. Who are they?

Exactly.

Nick Bruzon

How to make friends and influence people…or not

As Brentford fans wait for the managerial void to be filled (May 30^th being Mark Warburton’s last day in that role) there was plenty going on elsewhere yesterday as Southend United and Charlton Athletic did their best to alienate league rivals and supporters respectively. Meanwhile, the rumour mill was linking Everton and Brentford, again, although this time with a player moving away from Griffin Park.

First up though, social media. I’ve long had a sense of nervous trepidation when clubs use their official ‘twitter’ accounts for (alleged) comedy purposes or ‘getting down with the kidz’. At best it falls flat on it’s face in a cringeworthy mess; at worst it is nothing more than bullying. Very few get it right.

I’ll spare you another lecture on #trophyfriends – our own efforts in this field are legion (whether through the official club account or employees stating their opinions regarding the team). That said, Mark Warburton and (especially) Matthew Benham seem the exception to this rule with the latter providing a number of genuinely amusing moments over the season and his use of cryptic video clues to reveal transfer news.

Matthew Benham – genius and winner of Twitter.

Then Charlton Athletic came along and seemed to buck the ‘official trend’ . Their comment when all at the Goldsands were celebrating a promotion for Bournemouth stopped the football world dead in its tracks and made us all think….what if? This, from the club that had earlier released the security camera footage of a couple ‘scoring’ on the centre spot after breaking into The Valley (not a euphemism) – later revealed to be a stunt to promote pitch hire.

Charlton Athletic – former kings of twitter

Then yesterday it all came crashing down.

Seemingly, the club have taken exception to one of their supporters having the temerity to suggest they invest more on the pitch than off it. Putting aside his grammatical faux pas (‘there’ rather than ‘their’ ranks alongside ‘expresso’ as typos to infuriate) was there any other reason to respond in such cutting fashion? Moreso, via that most heinous of social media weapons – a meme (surely something which should be outlawed by the Geneva convention)?

Putting down their own fans – via meme….

But if this act of humiliating/bullying (delete as applicable) a supporter in front of thousands was bad enough, Southend United went one better (or should that be worse?) in regards to Leyton Orient.

In a time when we are, rightly, being constantly asked to show respect on and off the pitch, they’ve really let things fester after a spat that seems to have started in February. Revenge may be a dish best served cold but this is nothing more than kicking a fellow team in the nuts when they are down. Let’s see if they live to regret this in 12 months time…

Southend United – gracious winners

As for Brentford and Everton, several news sources were suggesting the Goodison Park team are showing an interest in England U-20 star, Moses Odubajo. Hopefully, this is just one of the numerous rumours floating around cyberspace that we will be deluged with as the papers desperately look for something to talk about over the summer months.

Moses has made a fantastic step up from League One to the Championship; moreso, as somebody who started as a winger and had to be shifted to right back after injury to Alan McCormack – a position he went on to occupy for the rest of the season.

Mind you, it shows how well we have done even for it to be suggested that Everton are looking at a player form the Brentford first team, rather than us raiding their youth system as has happened so many times in the last few seasons.

And finally, in the latest updated from the FIFA scandal, Sepp Blatter released another statement saying that he was totally unaware of any wrongdoing and couldn’t possibly be expected to police FIFA. Or, rather, football as he conveniently removed as much reference to his own, allegedly, corrupt organisation as was possible.

In the end it all ended up sounding a little bit ‘Bart Simpson’…

Any excuse to crowbar The Simpsons into this blog.

The amalgamated Last Word season compendium: Tales from the football village (from Saunders territory to unchartered ground), is now available to download onto Kindle (and other electronic reading device) in full.

Running from July 2014 – May 2015 it contains some additional material and is available for less than the cost of a Griffin Park matchday programme. Including all the info on our own social media highs and lows, along with a full review of the season just gone, it’s the e-book that nobody is talking about – but that you might well enjoy.

   

Richard Lee gives exclusive update on his move as Twitter goes ‘to war’

Was it Juniors Bees work experience time on the club twitter account yesterday?

As the news of Richard Lee’s move from Brentford to Fulham sunk in (and you can read his exclusive thoughts on this subject, which he gave last night, further on in this column), the club did it’s very best to make (trophy)friends and influence people.

The irony of joking only yesterday about a media team related ‘faux pas’ was not lost after multiple news sources picked up on our tête-à-tête in cyberspace with Fulham.

I have wondered previously who drives the club twitter account after the cringeworthy #trophyfriends and #Novemberkings (amongst others). Every effort we make to be taken seriously on the pitch is undermined by this sort of childish update off it. The only positive being that, whilst these were something I’d have expected Buzzette to come out with, at least they were nothing more than harmless embarrassment and certainly no malice involved.

But then there was Holt-gate. January 2015 saw Chief sports writer of the Daily Mirror, Oliver Holt, left somewhat frustrated by the response to his article on Stephen Hunt. It led him to publically question, amongst other things, “Is it a new kind of anti-PR that you’re pioneering at Brentford?” following (since deleted) feedback he would later describe as “a strange volley of tweets”.

But now we’ve gone(again?) and bettered this after taking a pop at Fulham, the club that we chose to loan Richard to. In what could be described as, at best a factual dig and at worst a direct taunt, the club Twitter account ran the headline..

Bees fire first shot

Don’t get me wrong, as a supporter I think it’s hilarious to see them struggling and I take a lot of pleasure from their predicament.The Loftus Road mob, too. But the difference is that I’m a supporter, not a professional football club.

To have a dig at a fellow team, when we are constantly preaching about respect on the pitch, seems a tad hypocritical. If for no other reason that these things have a habit of coming back to haunt you .

Still, whilst their one word response of “Bless” was as patronising as we had been at least that was an end to it. Five minutes of ‘fun’ that would pass by and that would be that.

Except it wasn’t – we only went and published another response. And to make it worse, a meme…..

Memes – bad enough at the best of times

Toes are curling now as I think about this. Any moral high ground had instantly been undone but, worse, turned the eyes of the media towards Brentford with a series of unflattering headlines.

“Brentford mock Championship strugglers Fulham”, said the London Evening Standard.

The Daily Mirror had a simple: “Brentford and Fulham go to war on Twitter”

The Daily Mail and even Get West London both ran stories referring to: “Brentford involved/embroiled in Twitter spat”.

There’s a common trend to the stories still dominating our news feed today

At a time when the club are pushing for the Premiership and need all the friends we can get (given our publicised ground issues should we make it), do we really want this to be the public perception of Brentford FC?

Perhaps I’m just overreacting but we’ve seen this sort of thing time and again. How hard can it be to keep things professional and ‘grown up’ on our social media?

At the least, if we are going to try and show a sense of humour then let’s do it without resorting to making fun of another club. A club who, don’t forget, will be keeping one of our players ‘match fit’ and whom we may need to call upon at the end of season should we make the play offs.

Even if that other club is Fulham.

Which brings us nicely on to the story that started all of this, Richard Lee’s loan move to The Cottage. Not surprisingly, this has generated all manner of reaction amongst supporters – some parts positive, others not so.

Football is an emotive subject at the best of times, let alone when you add in a club hero moving to our local rivals where, in all likelihood, he will see out his career. Whilst I may not agree with all that has been said, the real shame is that Richard’s great performances in five years at Griffin Park seem to have been overlooked amidst the noise.

People are, naturally, curious as to what has driven his decision to make this move and a lot of questions have been asked. I caught up with Richard last night where he was kind enough to provide this update for supporters as to what had prompted this:

Richard Lee speaks

Hello all,

A mixtures of messages over the past 24 hours which I was well aware would happen so rather than answer individual questions / criticism i’ll give you my thoughts as to why I’m making the loan move.

I didn’t make the decision to move lightly.‎ I’ve been a pro for 14 years and I am sad that it’s drawing to a close. I’m excited for the next chapter but I’m aware that once it’s over, it’s over.

Unexpectedly I’ve been offered one last challenge that excites me and I’ve decided to take it.

As much as I’m enjoying the day to day activity of training and winning the odd development game I play in at Brentford it doesn’t really give me a huge buzz. I’m doing all I can as a third choice ‘keeper but I don’t feel hugely part of what has been an incredible season and now I feel I have an opportunity to be more involved and make a difference somewhere. ‎I’m grateful to Fulham for offering me that chance.

If certain people are going to ‘disown’ me and disregard my achievements to date then I’m sorry you feel that way about me. I’ve always given everything to Brentford and will continue to watch our games for years to come – If I get turned away at the door then i’ll just have to live with that.

I’ve been heartened by the positive messages from friends, fellow pros and those who know me.

I’ve got just over a month left that will hopefully offer up some excitement and a nice challenge. I’ll then return ready if needed, as sharp as possible for the play offs if that is to be our destiny.

I do this with no spite towards Brentford FC – ‎I’m doing this for me.

Rich x