A lone wolf speaks as a star says farewell (for now)

I promised yesterday that I wouldn’t mention the Brentford – Wolves game again until the weekend. The intention today had been to look at Leyton Orient, who take on Stevenage tonight with a chance to close the gap at the top of League One to two points (albeit with two more games played).

In addition, there was the news that “long legged midfielder” Toumani Diagouraga  (the club’s words) has joined Portsmouth on loan for a month. I’ve a lot of time for ‘Toums’ and so, at least, the positive message from Mark Warburton is that this seems very much a tactical decision.

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.

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Marcus Gayle – “It’s like going home to see your Auntie and Uncle”

I love the early rounds of the FA Cup.

As Brentford prepare for this Saturday’s game with Staines Town  – the battle of Middlesex as some have dubbed it – everyone is getting excited. Primarily because winning at the weekend takes us that bit closer to a potential tie with the Premiership ‘big boys’ in the third round.

Youngsters all over the country (and me) are raiding the kitchen cupboard for the roll of tin-foil to make that FA Cup staple – the Heath-Robinson style home made replica trophy.

The home made FA Cup – Bacofoil share process are sure to surge in January

TV producers are already preparing their lists of the non-league player’s ‘day time jobs’ – A bonus point for every time you hear, ‘In the day he’s a ….plumber, milkman, postman, electrician.

And local journalists are looking for those tenuous connections between former professionals now plying their trade in the lower leagues as players or, equally, those with a link to the club they are now playing against.

It won’t take Sherlock Holmes to figure out the man of the moment on Saturday. You’d have to be living on the moon not to realise that the Staines Town manager is none other than former Bee Marcus Gayle. Over the course of his two spells in the Bee’s first team, spanning the eighteen years from 1988 to 2006, Marcus represented the club in three separate play off semi finals and has a 91/92 Champion’s medal in his collection.

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.

Lets hope Uwe has the last word on Saturday

I’ve got a lot of time for Brentford manager Uwe Rösler. Despite, if I’m being honest, not always understanding his formation (I get the impression that sometimes he thinks that centre forwards – or birds – are the only things which should use wings) you can’t deny what he has done with the team.

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.

Insomniacs, click here. Old footballers and old records.

Saturday morning. That spine tingling place between the match preview going up (I’ve already talked sufficiently about Colchester, yesterday) and kick off.

You could watch Soccer AM for your football fix (and seriously, I probably would – it’ll be better than what comes next) or you could read on. However, with Brentford playing three times in the next eight days, I’m going to keep my powder dry on that subject.

Whilst we will be back to the full gamut of Bees related columns over the coming week (and another competition) for now it’s one largely for pub quiz fans or insomniacs as we dust off the old favourite beloved by programme teams up and down the land looking for a page to fill –  ‘On this day in history.’

October 19^th…

1917 – The Love Field in Dallas, Texas, opened. Get your minds out of the gutter, its an airport.

1950 – China joined the Korean War when thousands of her troops crossed the Yalu River to fight United Nations forces. (Here’s hoping that’s not how Uwe may feel at 3pm today).

1963 – In popular music the Beatles were to record “I Want to Hold Your Hand”. It ended up being their first song to occupy the penthouse suite in the American hit parade hotel (i.e. it reached number one) and went on to become the group’s best-selling single worldwide.

1973 – The UK charts were a somewhat pedestrian place, with the most popular record in the country being an unusual one. Certainly, the reaction of Noel Edmonds to the news that the Simon Park orchestra and their recording of ’Eye Level’ – the theme from the Thames TV series ‘Van der Valk’ – were at number one tells you all you need to know.

That same year in politics, President Nixon gave a helping hand to lazy journalists everywhere when he refused to hand over Watergate related tapes to special prosecutor Archibold Cox. Without this, we wouldn’t have the ‘–gate’ suffix, usually added to a noun or name to suggest scandal and cover up. You’d be surprised how often this crops up in all walks of life, even sport, where Grannygate and Toiletgate are amongst my favourites examples of this over-used line.

1987 – So called ‘Black Monday’ as the Dow Jones fell 22 % (that’s 508 points, stat fans).

2005 – Hurricane Wilma becomes the most intense Atlantic hurricane on record. More hot air than even in this column.

2010 – the acting world mourned the loss of Tom Bosley. Best known as Howard Cunningham from TV’s ‘Happy Days’, he also took the lead in the ‘Father Dowling Mysteries’ (no I’ve never seen it either) and was a regular guest in ‘Murder, She Wrote’. Rest in peace, Mister C.

Tom Bosley – as he appeared in the credits on ‘Happy Days’

But we aren’t here just to talk about our favourite actors or records. This is football although, sadly, things are a bit thin on the ground when it comes to connecting October 19^th with the beautiful game. Brentford have had the usual mixed bag of results whilst the real highlight seems to be the birth, in 1973, of Marc Beckers who twice represented Borussia Monchengladbach in the Bundesliga during his playing career. Going on to make a handful of other appearances further down the German football leagues, he matched the feat of former Bee Murray Jones in failing to score a goal for the club with which he is most associated.

So, if you have made it this far today (and I seriously doubt it) then perhaps, hopefully, you’ve found something that may help in whichever pub quiz you compete in tomorrow night.

More likely, come 5.15 this afternoon when we are back in the pubs of TW8 celebrating three points for Brentford it will all be forgotten. Except, perhaps, by the Beckers family blowing out the candles on Marc’s 40^th birthday cake.

Now roll on Sunday when we can talk about proper football again…..

(Marc Beckers – he may not have found the back of the net but at least he made it into the Panini sticker book)