The latest twist in the Wigan Athletic – Adam Forshaw saga.

There hasn’t, generally, been huge history between Brentford and Wigan Athletic. Until recently, we’ve bumbled around the lower leagues together, neither side particularly troubling (or bothered about) the other.

The Latics were, of course, responsible for kickstarting Brentford’s run of defeats at the national stadium with their 1985 Freight Rover Trophy win. Their handball inspired victory has set in motion more pain than I could care to imagine as defeat after defeat followed in whichever final we have participated in.

That aside, and largely due to Wigan’s Dave Whelan funded rise to the Premiership, our clubs have had little to do with each other. That was until late last year when his team, now back in the Championship, came in under cover of the Lionel Road climax for Bees boss Uwe Rösler.

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.

Advertisement

The 3 key questions after Bees beat Crystal Palace and Wigan Athletic come sniffing.

Brentford rounded off pre-season with a 3-2 win over Crystal Palace. The highlight clearly our winning goal as Moses parted the Palace defence like the Red (or should that be Yellow) Sea? The lowlight being a no-show from Adam Forshaw after Wigan Athletic had made another “unsettling” bid for the League One player of the year.

Three key questions come out of Saturday for me.

Adam Forshaw. Whilst its probably not right we start here, given the overall team performance, it is the ‘hot topic’. So just how worried should we be by Wigan’s approach?

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.

Forget Clifton. Brentford – Crystal Palace is a friendly that offers Moore

With Brentford due to entertain Premiership side Crystal Palace on Saturday in our last warm up for life in the Championship, it does beg that perennial question about friendlies – What is the point?

This is where the distinct difference between games at International and club level becomes more apparent (and I don’t mean in terms of player quality, with England’s World Cup showing making them very much the poor relations on that front).

I’ve long ranted about these – certainly when it comes to England. Despite looking and sounding like the real thing, they suffer from a total lack of punch. The footballing equivalent of alcohol-free beer or any James Bond film that doesn’t star Roger Moore.

Plus, internationally, you have the added pain of Bernie Clifton and his alleged supporter’s band…

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.

Could this be the new Best Worst Film Ever?

Sometimes there is more to life than Brentford and football. Every now and again you need to step back, put the Wigan Athletic / Adam Forshaw stories to one side and enjoy the other things that life has to offer. The Championship – and resuming rivalries with the likes of Wolves and Fulham – may be a mere nine days away but on Thursday, for one night only, football will be the last thing on my mind.

The time: 9pm.

The place: Syfy Channel (sky 114).

The reason: Sharknado 2: The Second One

This is (of course) the sequel to Sharknado – a movie universally acclaimed to be the ‘best worst film ever’. Starring Ian Ziering (out of Beverly Hills 90210, apparently) it told the story of what happened when freak storms swamped Los Angeles with thousands of hungry sharks.

This time the action is transplanted to New York where, somehow, the improbable events of the original are recreated and – if the review in today’s Telegraph is to be believed – become even bigger.

This film really exists – and you can see it tonight

I love football and I’m desperate to see Brentford in action. However, this evening I’ll be ditching the Bees and Wolves to enjoy the calm before the Championship storm with the mayhem and bad acting of a shark infested one.

Normal service will be resumed tomorrow.

 

And if you want to read about football, you can still catch up on how we reached the Championship. ‘Celebrating like they’d won the FA Cup…..’ (The story of Brentford’s 2013/14 promotion campaign, amongst other football related chatter) – is now available as a digital book. Featuring the best of the not so bad columns from last season, and some new content, you can download it here for your kindle / digital device.

You could always swap the sharks to read how the Bees got promoted

Forget the score – Warb’s words about Wigan impress

A very much young and ‘new look’ Brentford team slipped to a 0-4 home defeat against CA Osasuna on Tuesday night. Or should that be against two CA Osasuna teams, as the Spanish outfit’s 11 half time substitutions, with the scores level at 0-0, proved to be the turning point in the game. However, it was the post match interviews about Wigan Athletic that proved to be the main entertainment.

Talking to supporters after the game, nobody seemed too perturbed about the score. This was clearly an experimental line up with a lot of promise on show – Montell Moore, in particular, impressing. When even referee Gavin Ward ends a game without fans feeling they’d been ‘hard done by’ then you know it’s been a low key one.

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 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 on.

Number four is…not going to Wigan (we hope). The Forshaw/Holdsworth difference

Back in early July Matthew Benham took to Twitter to declare that new faces would be coming in to Brentford whilst no key players would leave. True enough the squad has been strengthened whilst, if reports circulating on Monday are to be believed, management have turned down an offer from Wigan Athletic for Adam Forshaw.

The club website, as ever, made no mention on unsubstantiated rumour but one can only trust that Matthew has been true to his word – assuming a bid has even been made, of course. And if the story is true, then what a statement to make. This is a team looking to consolidate – not cut loose it’s best players when the first rivals come knocking.

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 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 on.

Nice Saturday; Super Sunday. Saunders territory?

It was a stunning weekend in the sunshine at Griffin Park, with Brentford running out 3-2 winners over OGC Nice before continuing the pre-season tradition of throwing open the doors of Griffin Park for the family day.

Supporters were certainly spoiled by a fine win, capped by home debut goals for both Andre Gray (with not much more than a minute on the clock) and Alex Pritchard whose brace included a fine free kick. The Tottenham loanee certainly had the fans talking afterwards although his effort does beg the question – what happens if a set piece is awarded with both him and Sam Saunders on the pitch at the same time?

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 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 on.

The joy of text. This one’s for Jake

I can only wonder what Jake Reeves thought last night as Germany humiliated Brazil 7 (seven) – 1. Whilst most people were focusing on the margin of victory, for me there was massive pay back for Luiz. Specifically, because of the horrific injury he inflicted on Reeves in February of last year as Chelsea finally managed to knock Brentford out of the FA Cup.

Indeed, the comparison had already been noted with the BBC commentary team highlighting the ‘defender’ for elbowing Miroslav Klose with an observation that (apparently) he’d done similar before at Chelsea. Didn’t we remember that in TW8 as social networks were awash with comments about Jake and, equally, pictures of Luiz crying his eyes out after the game.

Whilst Fred seemed to be the ‘blame’ figure for the Brazil boo boys, for me the headless chicken that was David Luiz seemed most culpable in a team performance that was about as shocking as they come.

I’m sure Jake is too much the professional to take any pleasure from what happened but, personally, I’m just not that good a man. So here’s the montage of just some of those shots doing the Twitter rounds last night.

Tears of a clown? ‘Sideshow Bob’ was all over Twitter last night

The other thing to really get me excited was the return of brackets. Anybody who has read this column or ‘Celebrating like they’d won the FA Cup…..’ will know of my love / obsession with what happens on that magical moment when the scoreboard ticks over to register a seventh goal. Brackets appear on the videprinter.

Any team who have managed seven goals or more have the privilege of their score also being written, in addition to the standard numerical format. Just to make the point that – this really isn’t a typo; they have been hammered by that many.

Moreso is the debate that accompanies this. I’m of the belief that the clarifying 7 (seven), should be in lower case font. Discreetly saying that there has actually been a goal-fest and it’s not some numpty in the production booth with fat-fingers.

Sky, on the other hand, go for a full upper case 7 (SEVEN). It’s a gauche 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.

Well last night the BBC, I’m very pleased to say, got in on the brackets act as their website videprinter recorded the fact with a third entry into the discussion: 7 (Seven).

Even the BBC got involved in the brackets

You know what? I’ll take it. I was just thrilled to see the return of this football tradition (much like the 6.25pm World Cup proclamation of, “And for those of you just coming in from work, the score is…..”)
Remember this moment, I don’t think you’ll ever see brackets in a World Cup semi final ever again.

‘Celebrating like they’d won the FA Cup…..’ (The story of Brentford’s season 2013/14, amongst other football related chatter) – is now available as a digital book. Featuring the best of the not so bad columns from last season, and some new content, you can download it here for your kindle / digital device.

 

A unique moment in World Cup history

 

Brazil 1 ITV 0 (and more Brentford shirt news)

News of a stunning piece of Brentford memorabilia up for sale in a moment but we can only start with the World Cup in Brazil.

It’s now the morning after the night before and Brazil have got their first points on the board, running out as 3-1 winners over Croatia. I really enjoyed the game although if you want the full report go to the BBC or some other reputable source. Suffice to say it was all a bit Brentford – Marcelo scoring (albeit an o.g.), a disputable penalty and a last minute goal.

I now declare this wall chart, open

 

The downside was the ITV coverage. The build up from the panel was as lifeless as the Copacabana backdrop to their studio. The locals clearly forsaking the normally crowded beach to be near a TV. Hopefully their feed was better than ours as Adrian Chiles struggled to get going without the spark of Roy Keane. The banter between Lee Dixon, Fabio Cannavaro and Patrick Vieira was as awkward, and painful, as a teenager on a first date.

Two points of note once the game started. Firstly, the score graphic. It was enormous. This was no discreet logo, tucked away in the top left corner and was a real distraction. Come on ITV, sort it out. It was as unsubtle and distracting as a poisonous wart on the end of the aforementioned teenager’s nose.

As for the commentary, we still await the first outing of that World Cup staple, “For those of you just coming in from work, the score is….” . Perhaps 9pm is a bit late for that one but I’m hoping the five o’clock kick off between Mexico and Cameroon sees the classic line trotted out. With any luck the oversized graphic isn’t deemed an adequate replacement.

These small whines aside I can’t wait for things to really get going now, with Friday seeing the first of the tournament’s triple-headers. Grab the remote and get ready to start working on that butt groove in the sofa.

Getting back to matters Griffin Park, there is an incredible item for sale on the eBay auction site at the moment. None other than Bob Taylor’s fully signed and framed shirt from the 1997 play off final against Crewe.

Whilst we won’t talk about what happened in that game, this is still a one off opportunity to get hold of a unique piece of Brentford history. I’ve got more chance of being selected for the ITV football panel than of being allowed to bid for this but, hopefully, one Brentford fan could be very happy by Sunday lunchtime.

You can bid here.

Your chance to own the shirt off a Brentford legend’s back

Brentford to Brazil via Carlisle and Wigan. And a jinx resolved.

After the excitement of Thursday night at the Hounslow Civic Centre, things have taken a bit of a dip. We’ll get to Uwe, Brentford, Dave Whelan and Wigan in a moment but I need to start with England. And, specifically, the World Cup.

As the fate of Lionel Road was being decided, Greg Dyke and Roy Hodgson were en-route to Brazil for the World Cup draw where the news that we’d all been fearing was confirmed. The England ‘supporter’s’  ‘band’ are intending to travel.

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.