So….who fancies going to Swansea beach and who’s staying at home?

The last knockings of pre-season. There’s just a couple of days to go until things kick of in anger once more for Brentford fans. On pitch, that is, where Saturday sees the visit of Rotherham United to Griffin Park. Off-field it seems to be a case of Swansea this, Swansea that. All served up with a side salad of Leeds United and a smattering of Middlesbrough as the transfer speculation, gossip, guesswork and predominantly click bait continues at pace. As we sit tight and wait for the transfer window to ‘slam shut’ ™ the likes of Ryan Woods and Sergi Canos are the ones very much in the shop window and heading out of Griffin Park. If you believe what you read. Which I don’t.

Griffin Park looked gorgeous during the week

Urghh. Transfer crud. Every season it is the same. Somebody will go. It always happens. That’s how we work. But there’s no point getting upset over whom it might be, to where or when. Besides, even if we do survive unscathed after August 9^th, the European clubs remain able to to buy players from any league – including our domestic ones –  until the end of the month.

Yet with John Egan and Florian Jozefzoon having already departed for fees reckoned to be over £6million, might we have already completed our outward business? Might it be done, dusted and hidden in plain sight? Unless, of course, it is a player who wants to leave rather than the club needing/choosing to sell?

One thing Brentford fans should have learned over the years is that we’re bloody good at picking up players and selling them on for much, much more than we have paid for them. As importantly, unearthing talent to replace those that have gone before. That’s not to say I’m advocating a wholesale clearing of the decks. Quite the opposite. My own preference would be to shut the gates now and have Buzzette imprison the first team squad in the changing room for a week. But enough about my fantasies.

Of course last year was the ultimate leap in faith for Bees fans but it was one which was more than amply rewarded. Once the dust settled. The manner and timing of magnificent Maxime, talismanic Jota and, erm captain Harlee to Birmingham City tested the best of us. I’d absolutely include myself in that group and would be more than happy to eat those words now. It was Brentford who were left with all the money, almost hit the play offs after a lousy start to the campaign and had a ten times better season. Birmingham only just swerved relegation and now have a transfer embargo in place.

I hope nothing happens. Absolutely. But if it does then it’ll just be a case of ‘C’est La vie’, as former hit parade favourites B*Witched once sang. Although perhaps with just a shrug of the shoulders rather than a clunky segue from stone cold pop classic to Irish jig interlude* . If nothing else, I can’t do the kind of stress and angst as we saw when Harry came knocking last time around.

On a totally unrelated note, Swansea beach does look quite magnificent. You can see more at visitswanseabay.com .

Swansea – has a beach. A nice looking one, too

Two other bits of business for today’s article. First up, fantasy football. And no, I don’t mean Buzzette. If anybody is playing in this year’s official Fantasy Premier League game then I’ve set up a Last Word League. It would be great if anybody wanted to take part and join in – see which Brentford fan has the best knowledge of a division we’ll, no doubt, be aiming for.

It all kicks off on Friday August 10^th so there’s time to get your team in still. You can sign in at fantasy.premierleague.com, and then the league details you need are…

League name: The Last Word – Brentford

League code: 707088-156816

If we get a few people in before their big kick off, I’ll see if I can dig a prize out of the cupboard. And if not, we’ll just pretend this conversation never happened.

And finally, FourFourTwo magazine launched their season preview edition yesterday. You can pick this up now from all good newsagents. And probably some bad ones too. It is worth picking up as much for their in-depth Championship preview where they are tipping Brentford to finish 3^rd. That’s third (not a typo).

Whether it happens or not remains to be seen – although personally I’ve called us fourth in the ‘fans’ segment of the Bees preview. However, it’s just nice to be recognised for four successive top ten finishes and be seen as a side now ready to look at taking that next step. Certainly, the opposite to that infamous quote from Mr. Holloway. Or that other one from Harlee Dean.

No pressure, Dean

Predictions mean naff all if we can’t turn performances into wins but it means we start on an optimistic note that, for once, extends beyond well beyond the normal bubble of self-confidence that is TW8. Keep the likes of Romaine, Meps, Bentley and Sergi together and who knows? I’d be partial to a little bit more of Woodsy too, of course.

For the record, Swansea are tipped to finish 13^th. Just saying.

Nick Bruzon

*Note to self. Pick this for #BeeTheDJ v Rotherham

 

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As Bees prepare for a Royal visit, Dean remains confident. But can we win?

Tuesday 27 September 2016. It finished Brentford 4 Reading 1. It was a score that came just weeks after a draw at Aston Villa and a previous home game that had seen us thump Preston 5-0 at Griffin Park. Yet it was the game against the Royals which produced what these pages described as one of the great performances as Josh Clarke ran riot, noting “How it was only four I still don’t know. Hats off to Dean Smith and his team for a display of simply scintillating football.”

Needless to say that 12 months on we’d love those sorts of results. The W column is fast becoming a somewhat awkward monkey on the back with only Bolton Wanderers, who we play next Saturday, able to match the Bees in so far failing to pick up three points.

And if you’d like to read more whilst helping the Brentford FC Community Sports Trust …. the rest of this article can now be found in the Kindle e-book Ten Times Better. Brentford FC Season review: 2017/18. Inspired by ‘that’ interview it contains the least bad of these columns in one, handy volume as it looks at our own campaign as well as wider divisional life and the promotion / relegation races.

As a bonus there’s a whole host of new material. New that is, for my pages. Specifically, all the programme articles submitted (both home and away where, if nothing else, you can get the original versions of both Birmingham City and Millwall).

In addition, There Is No Plan B. Brentford FC Season reviews: 2013/14 – 2017/18 takes us all the way back to the start of this latest leg in the journey. That penalty. League One. Harlee Dean was a hero. Jota was something we thought happened to the temperature for one week in July. Alan Judge had joined on loan whilst the Marinus Experiment was something nobody had contemplated. Bringing things bang up to date by the inclusion of this year’s volume alongside the four previously published campaign round ups, it has five seasons in one weighty tome. As weighty as a download can be, that is.

Relive the memories. See how often the same material gets regurgitated. Remind yourself about the likes of Betinho, Martin Fillo, Javi Venta and Marcos Tebar. Certainly, if there’s no Marcos Tea Bar at Lionel Road it will be an opportunity missed.

All proceeds from any sales will go to the Community Sports Trust. For less than the cost of a half / pint respectively, they may help while away some time on the commute. By the pool on holiday. In the bathroom. Who knows? It will certainly do some good for the Trust, whose work has been well documented at Griffin Park but you can read all about it on their site.

And if that wasn’t enough, I’ve been given something very special. A 2017/18 third team shirt with Lewis Macleod’s squad number on the reverse in the EFL typeface. Anyone with half an interest in Bees kits will know that these were never made available in the club shop.  Anyone who has read any of this before will know what a kit nerd yours truly is so when I say this is rare, take that in good faith!

To be in with a chance of owning it, download a copy of either before the end of June 2018 and you’ll go into a draw to win this. Just DM/tweet me (@NickBruzon) a copy of your purchase confirmation mail and I’ll add your name to the list before selecting a random Bees fan to win this on July 1st.

View from the terrace – Brentford were on fire at both ends last time we had a Royal visit

 

Nick Bruzon

Who will win the Championship? Who will go down? What about the Bees? Who has the best new kit?

Almost there, Brentford fans. It’s Thursday morning. The Championship kicks off tomorrow evening before The Bees travel to Sheffield United on Saturday afternoon. But with three top ten finishes under our belts, is it now the time to look at stepping up? Or should we remain content just to swim in the same waters as Aston Villa, Middlesbrough, Sheffield Wednesday, Wolves and all those other famous names? To stay safe. To look at holding station until such time as Lionel Road is ready for us to move in to?

Yesterday’s column on Jota and not ‘Jota’ ended with several questions of this nature. The predominant one being, what are your hopes for the forthcoming season? Well for what it’s worth, here’s my take on how the Championship is going to pan out.

Starting with Brentford, the summer has been an exciting one. On the transfer front it has been one way traffic inward with, to date, nobody leaving bar The Hoff. Even KK and Jack Bonham have only gone out on loan. There has been no Jota to West Ham. No Ryan Woods to Sunderland. No Harlee Dean to Sheffield Wednesday. No Rico Henry to Hull City. No Romanine Sawyers to Southend United (and apologies – but that one really did appear) . So far…

Instead we have bought what would seem to be incredibly astutely. The EFL young player of the year in Ollie Watkins and South African international Kamo Mokotjo are the two names immediately grabbing our attention. The former because of the potential and our beating off a host of other clubs to his signature. These include a Nottingham Forest side who let Britt Assombalonga go to Middlesbrough and are now relying on veteran striker Daryl Murphy. Prolific in his day although never forget ‘that’ miss.

And Murphy must score. Erm….

Kamo is getting Bees fans excited simply due to the fact of how skillful and how comfortable he already looks. Translating pre-season into real life form will be another thing, but the early signs are wonderfully positive. We seem to have genuine competition in pretty much every position. Just the amount of different stories that have appeared about our players over the summer show how strong our squad has become.

Of course, let’s not rest on our laurels here. The season may begin this weekend but that godforsaken transfer window still remains open until August 31. As we’ve seen in the past, players can come and go well after the campaign has begun. Andre Gray being a most recent example where, despite his two goals in two games at the beginning of the Marinus era, the inevitable sale to Burnley went through straight after.

Yet, at the same time, the current signs are positive. Fingers crossed it can stay that way. If Matthew Benham can juggle the finances to keep this squad together then we have the potential to be amongst the best in the league.

“Little Brentford punching above their weight”. Not my words but those of just about every pundit outside of TW8 in recent times.

“B*llocks” . They’re my words.

The last three years we’ve done what we have on merit. Reaching the play-offs for the Premier League in our first Championship season may have caught a few people unawares but it was fully deserved on our play. Coming out the other side of the Marinus experiment to end ninth, equally justified – despite that post Christmas wobble.

But for a ropey patch in the autumn last time around we could well have pushed on then. The football in the second half of the season, freed from the understandable obligation to play everything through Scott Hogan and reinvigorated by the returning Spanish duo of Jota and Sergi, was simply breathtaking.

We destroyed Aston Villa at Griffin Park. Absolutely destroyed them. You could say the same for the home games with Derby County. With Leeds United. With QPR, for whom Jake Bidwell probably has ongoing nightmares. Police still involved in that one (not literally), after reports of Jota picking his pocket more than once.

‘Official’ love him, too

I don’t buy any of this small club nonsense. I fully know our history and have been coming to Griffin Park since 1979. Absolutely, it is a privilege to play at the level given some of the low points we’ve been through. But that doesn’t mean we should be showing any defference, any OTT respect, any form of “we’re just happy to be here’ humility. Just as nobody has a divine right to ‘be any good’ (see: Arsenal), equally just because you have humble origins you shouldn’t go into it expecting bad things to happen. Have some confidence in our ability. Our perceived size is an advantage. It is an advantage we should play up to.

We’ve taken so many teams and pundits by surprise already. I’m convinced it will happen again. My call for the Bees was initially 6th at the start of the summer. In recent weeks I’ve revised that to fifth. I’m sticking to that and nailing my colours to the mast here. Brentford to finish fifth.

Optimistic? Stupid? Naive? Whichever – I’m here to have fun this season and am only looking upwards.

Casting the net further afield, it is not a view shared by other sources. Middlesbrough and Aston Villa remain favourites to win the league. The former, I can fully understand. They’ve only ever been a force at this level (move along, nothing to see here….) whilst boosted by both the goals of Assombalonga and the parachute payments from the Premier League will be exceptionally strong . I’m agreeing with the experts on this one.

Villa though? No. No. No. I can’t see them finishing in the top six. The were horrific last season. Only good for betting on 1-1 scorelines, <2.5 goals and away L. The hype around John Terry surely more distraction than yardstick of genuine aspiration. I find it inconceivable that Steve Bruce will have turned things around this much over the summer. Stranger things have happened, of course, but I wouldn’t bet on it.

Instead, Sheffield Wednesday are the team that will finally come good and take the second spot. Celebrating their 150th year with some cracking new kits, to boot (in my opinion, and not including our own, the best shirts in the Championship ) they’ll go up after knocking on the door for so long. Joining Brentford in the play-offs will be Norwich City, Fulham and Leeds United. Pick your order for these three. Much as I’m loathe to admit it, the Cottagers played some wonderful football last season. Their stadium may well be a hotbed of neutrality but, on the field, they showed they can more than do their stuff these days.

Sheffield Wednesday to play as good as they’ll look?

Bottom three. Millwall, Ipswich Town and QPR for me. The former just too out of their depth whilst the Tractor Boys and not so super hoops have only gone backwards. With no real inward investment and a team that has only stagnated, those days of top flight football are a long, long way away.

Then again, I’m just the numpty on the terrace. What do I know? Not much. I’ll happily hold up my hands when this all gets proven wrong, One man’s opinion is another’s comedy.

Club sponsor LeoVegas has us ranked joint 11th to win the league at 25/1. Do they know something we don’t?

Likewise FourFourTwo magazine have just published their season preview. Available now from all good newsagents, they call Brentford to finish 10th. Don’t let that or the fact that yours truly wrote the piece on The Bees (Klanggggggg; the sound of a name being dropped) put you off, though. It’s actually a great read.

Season preview edition now available

The other follow up we need to do from yesterday is in regards to Jota. Or, specifically ‘Jota’. Of Wolves. You may recall that the EFL have told Wolves that he needs to have his real surname, Silva, on his shirt rather than what they deem to be his nickname.

All well and good, although my own subsequent thought was what this might mean for us? Should we even be able to hang on to him, of course. An awkward look in the other direction being the immediate reaction.

However,Twitter user Ben (@BenPlumb97) has put the question out there in cyberspace. Thankfully, the legend that is Kitman Bob has stepped up to answer.

And relax 🙂

Nick Bruzon

What’s worse than a hashtag? Two hashtags. And a fake Whatsapp

Roll on August. Please. As tumbleweed continues to blow through the Championship, something actually happened yesterday. Brentford haven’t signed/sold anybody although Aston Villa have – and it would be fair to say they are wetting themselves over picking up a past his prime John Terry from Chelsea. Elsewhere, we’ve dodged the TV cameras with the latest fixtures up until the end of September. And there’s shock news there for Leeds United fans.

Clanggggg. The sound of a name being dropped. This week I wrote the annual season preview for FourFourTwo magazine, looking at the good and bad of Brentford, along with a number of other Championship based questions. One of which being – Who will be the biggest pantomime villain in the Championship this season?

I did think about Aston Villa super fan Simon Hateley – still smarting from all his bravado last season coming back to royally bite him. What was Villa’s record against the Bees? Ah yes, P 2 W0 D1 L1 GD -3 and £15m handed over – thanks for that.

But then it really would be too niche and, besides, Hateley fits more in the category of unintentional comedian rather than poor man’s Christopher Biggins. That said, he’s still going strong on Twitter at the moment, declaring his own Scott Hogan a ‘bag of shite’ this week. And you can follow him etc at @simonchateley.

Sadly, magazine deadlines ahead of an August publication got in the way of choosing a player who would surely have won the poll hands down. Aston Villa new boy, John Terry.

In the most cringeworthy of press releases – a simulated WhatsApp conversation between Dr. Tony Xia (the man going neck and neck with Vincent Tan as the Championship’s poor man’s Bond villain) – the news was released yesterday. In it, (current) manager Steve Bruce was given the news that Villa had got their man from Chelsea.

Oh, you couldn’t make it up. Toes are curling just looking at this news now. I’m not sure what’s worse. The cheesy press release or the fact they’ve signed this most disruptive and washed up of players. No premier League club have touched him. No MLS side – surely the standard cash cow for any past their prime ‘name’ – have made an offer he can’t refuse . No side challenging for Championship promotion have gone near him. I can’t wait to see us run rings around the rusty old legs. September 9th can’t come soon enough.

There were multiple hashtags for this one. #WelcomeJT and #PartOfThe Pride. Still nowhere near #Bignewambitions or #Trophyfriends but at least we’ve dropped all that nonsense now. Good luck to Villa, seriously.

Whilst Hateley was unusually silent on the subject, comments on Twitter from other fans included: “Most high profile signing at Villa for years.” ,”Im over the moon with this, great signing, leading by example, UTV” and “Can not wait until I see the legend he is at villa park, what a sight that will be!” I fear this is a massive gamble that will only end in disappointment – whether for Terry’s new admirers or his team mates.

Give me Harlee Dean, any day.

JT is a Villan. Indeed

Elsewhere, the latest round of TV fixtures has been announced. Brentford have managed to swerve the cameras whilst perennial Sky favourites Leeds United only appear once. Not a typo. The club that have had more appearances than Steve Claridge has had clubs have only been picked for their trip to Sunderland. Infact, there seems to be a real mixture of teams being shown for the games prior to 9 September.

That said, we’re not out of the woods yet with 14 July being the final date for the last September games to be announced. Fulham and QPR are amongst those to also avoid rearrangement, so far. Surely West London won’t avoid selection come the next round.

This is all part and parcel of being in the Championship, of course. Griffin Park has been a popular place for the cameras over the last few seasons and it’s no doubt a matter of time before our number is up. At least we can do some train booking in relative confidence though and with Sky having opted for Sheffield Wednesday v Nottingham Forest on September 9th, at least our trip to see Scott Hogan, John Terry (assuming not dropped, suspended/injured by that stage) et al remains as is

The full list of TV fixtures to date on ‘official’ .

Brentford will return to Villa Park at 3pm on 9 Sep

AUTHOR’S PLUG – (it’s all for charity).

And if you’d like to read more about last season including those wins over Villa and Leeds, amongst others then please don’t forget (how could you?) that the regular season review e-book is now available for download. This one is titled ‘Welcome home, King Jota’ and this time around it is for a great cause. All funds raised are being given to the Brentford FC Community Sports Trust. Likewise, any subsequent sales from the previous versions.

Containing the least bad of the blogs from May 2016 to May 2017 and a bit of new material too, you can pick it up, here. It’s just £1.99.

So why not do something great to help our club. What else will £1.99 get you? What better way to spend some time on the commute to work, the beach, by the pool or even hiding out in the toilet at the office?

For less than the cost of half a pint on match day, it’s the season review that has been designed to fit in your pocket (if you are using an i-phone).

Nick Bruzon

Is Callum best for the Bees ?

Are Brentford going to announce the loan signing of Leicester City left back Callum Elder today from under the nose of Peterborough ? With Dean Smith having made no secret of his desire to replace Jake Bidwell following our former captain’s departure for QPR, the story is one which has been very widely reported.

Whilst, ordinarily, the rumour mill is one which has been dismissed on these pages (with the exception of crystal ball wielding Beesotted), this season has seen it offered new found respect. That, following the widely predicted triple transfer swoop which saw the Bees boss snap up Romaine Sawyers, John Egan and Daniel Bentley in recent weeks along. Let’s not forget, also, the much touted departure of Jake.

If this latest story also proves correct it will see a long standing vacancy being filled. Left back has always been a position where cover has been, what we’ll politely call, thin. So much so that last season saw previously unknown Tom Field placed from the (then) Development Squad to make a wonderful debut in the 3-0 humping of Fulham.

Whilst Tom looks like he could be a stunning long term prospect, to heap it all on his young shoulders would be an enormous amount of expectation. Nobody can do it all on their own over an entire season – certainly in the outfield positions – let alone a relative newcomer. As such a new signing in this position has been one of the most widely anticipated moves of the summer.

Callum has yet to make his first team debut at Leicester but is already an Australian U-20 aswell as having featured in 18 games loan at Peterborough last campaign. Indeed, The Posh were hoping to retain Callum this time around but, with the player having signed a new contract at the Premier League Champions, director of football Barry Fry would seem to have had his heart broken.

It’s an exciting move for Brentford if the story plays out. Reading the sources, it certainly sounds accurate. This one has quotes and everything. The only thing missing is the description of Callum as a ‘starlet’. Surely de rigeur for any young international prospect? See : Liverpool starlet Sergi Canos.

The former Bee (and Liverpool starlet) will be plying his trade for Norwich

Lets hope that other Leicester rumour currently being suggested – any potential move of Scott Hogan being treated by all and sundry as rubbish  – is equally accurate.

And finally, if you’d like to read more…. No, not the e-book. Infact, the team at Beesotted have just published the first of their season previews. Featuring the thoughts of several bloggers and podcast contributors , it is a light hearted look at the best and worst of 2015/16 along with our aspirations for 2016/17.

You can read that one here.

Nick Bruzon