brentford – Words and spaces, sounds and places

Brentford FC in the Premier League 2021/22 – episode 9

Marching on with Eriksen…

Only three games for the Bees in March because of the international break at the end of the month and our swift exit from The FA Cup at the start of the previous one.

Norwich City 1 Brentford 3 Saturday 5 March

A lovely walk through old Norwich to a lovely old ground for a traditional Saturday 3pm kick-off.

The pointless portal here today was pink, which I don’t think I’ve come across that often. And it was way off position – half way towards the centre spot! No ex-Bees at Norwich, though they do have the wonderfully-named ‘Pukki’. And Brentford’s Sergi Canos is an ex-Canary.

Pink portal approaches centre circle in its excitement…

Each seat had a large blue or yellow card for fans to hold up in solidarity with Ukraine. It was well respected by both sets of fans, all 26,887 of us, and sure puts things in perspective. I’m hoping the familiar Brentford chant of ‘Red army!’ during the display was not intended in the military sense.

In the reverse fixture in November, Norwich beat us in a game we fully expected to win. With Christian Eriksen starting and Ivan Toney back, we were more expectant than complacent about this one. We played in all white, which made a nice change from the standard all-yellow away. We also sang and sang throughout both halves, though I didn’t much care for the dubious chant of ‘We’ve only got five… you’ve got six fingers…’ Ugh.

The green pole is carrying a revolving screen.

Around half-time there were a few announcements concerning Mr Carrow, which seemed to amuse the Norwich fans. Who is this Mr Carrow?

Jonathan Rowe on the cover of the matchday programme.

The matchday programme is called OTBC (On The Ball, City – though they weren’t much today). It had an interesting article ‘Seasons in the sun’ that describes the 1934/35 season at the end of which Brentford finished top of Div 2 and went up to Div 1 for the first time. At the start of that season Norwich had just won Div 3 and joined Brentford in Div 2; their first time at that level. The following season would be Canaries’ last at the Nest before moving to Carrow Road. Fascinating stuff. The junior bit (Captain Canary’s Classroom) is pretty good, with a nice and easy spot the difference.

It was an exciting game. Four goals, including two penalties. Two goals disallowed. Loads of yellow cards. We played well and we won! Christian Eriksen was inspirational, which made the whole team raise their game. And Ivan Toney got a hat-trick, Brentford’s first ever in the Premier League.

A whopping eight minutes were added on at the end, during which we chanted ‘Dean Smith is a Brentford fan’ and ‘Deano, Deano, give us a wave.’ Dean Smith the Norwich manager was of course Thomas Frank’s predecessor at Brentford before going to Aston Villa, the club he’s supported since boyhood.

Chatting to Norwich fans in the pub later on, we learned that ‘Mr Carrow’ is a security code: a flare had been lit in the away fan section concourse.

Anna Sewell, author of Black Beauty, was born here.

The next day we visited Great Yarmouth, or Gee Tee Yarmouth as the satnav lady kept calling it. Interesting place.

Brentford 2 Burnley 0 Saturday 12 March

After two years of Covid and not a sniff of a snuffle or a sneeze and now I have the mother of all colds. A lateral test shows negative but I don’t feel up to going to the game and I don’t think it would be a good look in our section of the stand either. So my wife went by herself and I missed my first league game of the season.

At 3pm I switched on the radio and listened to the game, the experience supplemented by occasional texts from my wife and other fellow Bees fans.

Just as at Norwich the fans found a large blue or yellow card on their seat to hold up in solidarity with Ukraine. And just as at Norwich the display was well respected. Being towards the top of the North Stand our section had blue cards. Yellow cards were at a premium, as I’m told much fun was later had brandishing them at former Brentford centre-back James Tarkowski. Poor old Tarks. An excellent player but he did leave under a bit of a cloud.

As the game wore on without a goal scored I became a little apprehensive, given the Turf Moor tonking we witnessed in October, and despite the presence of Eriksen today. But then Ivan Toney scored with five minutes to go. Then Burnley had a player sent off and Ivan Toney got another in the fourth minute of time added on.

Burnley’s manager, Sean ‘Royal’ Dyche can’t have been happy, but I was. I ended up sending two texts, both of them read ‘YESSSSS!’, straight after each goal.

Leicester City 2 Brentford 1 Sunday 20 March

We drove up the day before and stayed in the south part of Leicester, near the lovely Aylestone Meadows and the path alongside the canal and the River Soar that goes all the way up to the Kingpower Stadium. This is Lineker-land – there’s a photo of him behind the bar at the Soar Point pub not too far from the ground). We had breakfast there, then went for a wander round the city centre.

Along with Norgaard and Jensen, Christian Eriksen has been picked to play for Denmark. That’s great news – his reason for joining Brentford has already paid off. David Raya has been selected for the Spain squad for the first time, Saman Ghoddos will be with Iran and Marcus Forss has had a Finland call-up.

But Christian won’t be playing today – he’s got Covid. Uh-oh. Tricky cos we still need a win or two to be sure of staying up. And Leicester have got some decent players: Jamie Vardy and Kasper Schmeichel of course, and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, whose surname sounds like a place where university students live, or perhaps a venue for posh wedding receptions. And we hadn’t forgotten how maddened by Madison we were in the home tie last October.

The King Power stadium is a good size and good-looking. It felt like the many pylons around were channelling power to the area around the ground and the 31,830 souls inside. Perhaps the power soothes and moderates the bittersweet of recent Premier League glory and the sorrow of much-loved owner tragedy.

Nampalys Mendy on the cover of the matchday programme.

A flick through a matchday programme that has a very good article on the history of Brentford, spoilt a little by the inclusion of a photo of Kevin O’Connor that is actually Mark Phillips. Newcastle made the same mistake in their programme last November. Is it possible this was provided and mis-labelled by Brentford? The Junior Foxes section is a disappointment, just one page and no spot the difference.

Even before the 2pm kick-off the Brentford fans were happily singing “Leicester’s a s*******e, I wanna go home”. Ha, ha, but Leicester is anything but. Have to confess we were surprised at how lovely it is. Well the city centre anyway. Romans, Richard III, lovely old buildings, history info boards and cycle lanes. All done very well.

What wasn’t done well was the banging of a big bass drum somewhere away to the left. I know, I didn’t think Leicester were that kind of a club either. “We’re Brentford FC, we don’t need a drum”, we sang. But we did need something. There was no bite up front and we kept giving the ball away. Outplayed and outfoxed, we deserved to be 2–0 down at half time.

Thomas Frank normally manages to conjure something up over the tea and orange segments but in the second half we couldn’t even get out of our own penalty area. Ominous. All of us away fans were standing up of course but the guy next to us could take no more. He just had to sit down, even though it meant missing all the action on the pitch. “Don’t worry mate,” we told him, “we’ll let you know if we ever cross the halfway line.”

Eventually we did. Quite a bit. Finished brightly. Wissa scored and a draw was on the cards. After the game we met some old friends round the corner by Filbert Street, at the end of the road where the old ground was and Leicester Tigers rugby now is. Then into town for pints, chat and the game on telly at the Soar Point. We weren’t too sore, I guess.

Next time

Reasons to be cheerful 1, 2, 3…

1 We’re 15th, with 30 points. That’s eight points clear of the drop zone, and the teams below have mostly caught up with their games in hand. Thank goodness for those two recent wins!

2 Rico has signed a new contract… will that be a confidence booster?

3 Christian Eriksen comes on for Denmark. Three touches later scores a ‘worldie’. And gets precious game time. Meanwhile David Raya gets to start for Spain – he’s a worldie!

Brentford FC in the Premier League 2021/22 – episode 10

April… and a spring in the step

Chelsea 1 Brentford 4 Saturday 2 April

This morning we got an email from Brentford warning against homophobic chanting and quite right too. Though it’s a long time since I’ve heard anyone sing ‘Chelsea Rent Boys’ and never at all in my time watching Brentford. Selective deafness maybe.

Yesterday we heard the news that Vitaly ‘He comes from Germany and now he is a Bee’ Janelt has signed a new contract with Brentford until 2026. Hope it’s not an April Fool wind-up. Last month Chelsea’s assets were frozen so they weren’t allowed to sell tickets, because owner Roman Abramovich is a Russian oligarch with connections to Putin. Luckily the ban has been lifted so here we are, on a tube train bound for West Kensington.

We walked to ground in the sunshine. Had lunch on the way in a familiar café. Reached the ground with 30 minutes to spare before the 3pm kick-off. We’d heard that Chelsea fans would be staging a protest against the possible future owners of the club. Don’t know if it actually happened.

No programme sellers were visible at the away fans entrance to Stamford Bridge. They must’ve been somewhere behind the masses of security personnel. Literally hundreds, dressed all in black with deep orange hi-vis. We were funnelled through the ranks of them like we were being swallowed up.

A crowd of 39,061 awaited the Two-Thomas-Tussle between managers Tuchel and Frank. Both of them good value in interviews. The stadium is impressive and the away section is very good. One of the best. We were high up in the corner of the all-blue-painted steelwork. A good view from spacious seats with standing rails behind.

‘Where were you when you were shit?’ the Brentford enquired of their West London near-neighbours. Well I was there a few times in the 80s, with my Chelsea fan uncle. When they certainly were shit – getting thrashed at home to Rotherham, narrowly escaping relegation to the old third division. The chant has a point. These fans are a different kettle of fish. Some say the old school fans got priced out, which is ironic, given that they used to wave wads of cash at northern away fans, Loadsamoney style. Maybe there’s a bit of what goes round comes around.

In the away end the mood was bright. Balloons – red, white and yellow – were launched regularly. Not to everyone’s taste and a fair few got popped. Meanwhile, down on the pitch, Brentford were playing well. Easily the equal of Chelsea and 0–0 at half time.

At one point it was only 2–1 to Brentford

In the second half Chelsea made the mistake of scoring. Or to be more precise, of losing concentration after scoring. For Rudiger’s excellent goal at the far end of the pitch was followed minutes later by one at our end by Janelt. It was followed by another three: Eriksen, Janelt again and Wissa. Every single Brentford player was brilliant. We couldn’t believe what we were seeing.

‘Fulham get battered, everywhere they go’ alternated with ‘Chelsea get sanctioned…’ and the occasional ‘Bus stop in Hounslow…’ My voice was hoarse for three days.

After the game we walked in the sunshine. It still hadn’t sunk in by the time we got to Hammersmith and stopped for a pint. Our tickets had SHED UPPER printed on them. So on the way we sang the Joe Dolce classic: It’s-a not so bad, it’s-a nice-a place, Ah SHED UPPER you face!

Ordered a programme online. Good to see Pat Nevin’s a contributor. Junior section a bit disappointing – not a lot to it really. Surely everyone would rather a spot the difference than a spot the ball?

Brentford 2 West Ham 0 Sunday 10 April

We had won the reverse fixture back in October. And as the 2pm kick-off approached we wondered whether we could do the double over the Hammers. Would be nice, especially since relegation cushion teams Everton and Leeds both won yesterday. Brings added piquancy to our game today as well as Burnley’s at Norwich.

Among the substitutes Said Benrahma is West Ham’s ex-Bee. Will David Moyes bring him on?

Kurt ‘Cat Kicker’ Zouma was booed and miaowed at every time he touched the ball. Whenever he went down he was treated to ‘That’s how your cat feels’ and ‘Put him down, put him down, put him down’. He was taken off after half an hour. Seemed to be carrying a hamstring injury?

West Ham had most of the possession in the first half but never seemed to threaten. Both sides playing a good passing game. Eriksen pulled the strings for us but the whole team played well. West Ham’s Declan Rice is a useful player.

After Bryan Mbeumo scored at the start of the second half, David Moyes did not look pleased – you could say he had a face like a cat’s arse. Ivan Toney headed-in on 64 minutes.

Seven minutes earlier Said Benrahma had come on to a standing ovation. ‘He wants to come home, he wants to come home. Said Benrahma, he wants to come home.’ But no matter how much he buzzed, prodded and dazzled, he couldn’t bring it home for West Ham, who before this game had hopes of the top four. A measure perhaps of how far Brentford have come.

We’ve just dealt the opposition a hammer blow

After the game we strolled up to South Ealing with friends, for a pint at the Rose & Crown. Where we celebrated Brentford’s first Premier League double in a spring sunshine beer garden.

Watford 1 Brentford 2 Saturday 16 April

We won the reverse fixture in December. Could the Bees do the double over the Hornets as we did to the Hammers last week?

In a perfect storm of London Underground disruptions and hordes heading to Wembley for the FA Cup semi-final, we decided to go by bus, leaving early to get through Wembley before too many Man City and (mostly) Liverpool fans had filled its sunny streets and pubs. We talked about the game, and about Burnley manager Sean Dyche’s sacking a couple of days ago.

We arrived in Watford ages before 3pm kick-off so had a walk around the town centre. Watford’s a nice place, though I hardly remembered it from my only previous visit, when Vicarage Road hosted an Elton John/Rod Stewart concert in 1974, and Rod was still with The Faces.

Andre Gray is the Hornets’ ex-Bee, currently out on loan to QPR. Before the game, the 16,861 gate saw the Watford mascot Harry the Hornet parade the outside of the pitch, except for the away fans section. I used to work with a previous Harry the Hornet, whose antics were often hilarious, especially the notorious Zaha dive. He hung up his costume in 2018. Watford also have a set-piece drummer who only drums when Watford get a free kick or corner. Didn’t hear too much from him in the first half.

The shadow is aligned with the portal and the players – surely a good sign

Norgaard scored for Brentford after just 15 minutes. Roy Hodgson, legend and Watford manager was not pleased. Even from where we were sat you could see the sleeves of his white shirt doing angry windmills on the touchline. Then Brentford sat back. A hint of complacency?

While Roy presumably waved his white shirted arms even more during half time, we perused the matchday programme. Square not A5. Had to bend it to fit in pocket. A great junior section as would befit the original family-friendly football club. A pull-out sheet with loads of quizzes, name checks and stat sheet on one side, and a poster of Ismaïla Sarr on the other.

Whatever Roy waved at half time, it certainly worked. Watford were much better in the second half. We were poor. We started to hear the set-piece drummer more and more. Watford got an equaliser, given after VAR overturned the ref’s offside decision. We got a late winner deep in time added on.

This photo lacks focus – as did Brentford at times

I and a few others around me actually felt sorry for Watford, who will probably go down now. I was impressed by the loyalty of their fans.

However, on MOTD highlights their goal did look offside. I can understand officials getting it wrong in the rush of play, but VAR? They took long enough…

Felt less sorry for Watford after that. Another Premier League double for the Bees!

Brentford 0 Tottenham Hotspur 0 Saturday 23 April

Unfortunately, we were in France for this one. What lightweights. But you can’t miss your life-long penfriend’s wedding when you’re one of the witnesses. We lent our season tickets to some friends who’d been unable to get any as members. They very kindly took a photo of the portal of potential victory.

We followed written commentary on the BBC website from a garden in Normandy. Some of the French followers of footie present hadn’t heard of Brentford, but they had heard of Christian Eriksen. We guessed it was gonna be an emotional occasion for him, and presumably, it was.

We watched the highlights on catch-up when we got back. And what highlights they were. Brentford had more chances than Spurs, Ivan Toney hitting the woodwork a couple of times. What you might call an entertaining 0–0 draw.

So proud and impressed with how we kept Spurs out and maybe even could have beaten them.

Next

The media is full of speculation that Christian Eriksen and Ivan Toney will each move to a ‘bigger club’ at the end of the season. I hope they both stay at Brentford, and I can think of several reasons why each would benefit by staying. But if one or both of them moves on, it’s not the end of the world. Eriksen has already helped us to stay up, when we might have struggled otherwise. And all of the players have improved under his influence. Brentford has always sold good players and then moved on and up.