Chelsea – Words and spaces, sounds and places

Brentford FC in the Premier League 2021/22 – episode 4

October – a month of two halves

West Ham 1 Brentford 2 – Sunday 2 October

The Tube train to the London Stadium for this 2pm Sunday kick-off was largely empty. A few fans of both clubs, a handful of London Marathon early finishers and their supporters. 150 Bees fans travelled by boat. It would’ve been 190 but the tide was out on the Thames.

Brunch with our Hammers-fan in-laws, then a stroll through the impressive approaches to the stadium. Inside the ground the gently curving stand sprawled away from the pitch at a shallow angle and up into the steel rafters in the top tier where we were. You need binoculars.

Another Brentford extended family affair, this time with Said Benrahma in the starting line-up for West Ham. We hoped his performance today would be as disappointing as the ‘We’re Forever Blowing Bubbles’ bubbles machine pre-match display. There was a minute’s applause for Roger Hunt… another childhood hero has passed away.

In the first half we had more possession, but it was still a massive surprise when Bryan Mbeumo scored on 20 minutes. The West Ham fans had been quiet, now they were even quieter. At half time we perused the West Ham match day programme, which like Wolves, is a good one with more facts than ads, and a fold-out junior quiz section with a poster of Aaron Cresswell on the back.

Somewhere down there Wissa’s just scored the winner

In the second half West Ham were much better, and the bubbles machine cranked back into action when Bowen scored on 80 minutes. The West Ham fans burst into a tumult of noise that cascaded on as they searched for the winner. There’s always one… a home fan took it upon himself to try baiting the entire away section. We gently scolded him with ‘School in the morning…’ He didn’t even seem to notice when Yoanne Wissa scored our winner in the 94th minute.

After the game we went for a stroll around, with a spring in the step after the unexpected win. It’s an interesting area, a mix of post-2012 rejuvenation and old school cool bohemian. We headed towards Bethnal Green, stopping off at a quiet old pub on the Old Ford Road. Then along Roman Road, which a couple of thousand years ago actually was a Roman road, connecting Londinium to Venta Icenorum, the capital of the Iceni tribe, up Norwich way.

Brentford 0 Chelsea 1 – Saturday 16 October

Another west London derby was also taking place today, in the Championship, between Fulham and QPR. What some were calling El Crapico…

We received an email from Brentford before the game warning that the friendly old ‘Chelsea R**t Boys!’ bants chant wasn’t terribly woke and that anyone singing it could get thrown out of the ground. In the words of Morrissey before he went awol, ‘F-f-f-fair enough!’

It was Thomas Frank’s birthday a few days ago, and today he’s been Bees manager for three years. Amazing. There was an atmosphere of warmth in the stadium but a chill in the air at this 5.30pm kick-off. At some point in the just-ended international break summer turned belatedly to autumn.

A stirring ‘Hey Jude’, and Ivan Toney at last has his own song, to the tune of ‘Yes Sir, I Can Boogie’

In the first half Brentford were mostly dashing about chasing shadows, though we did get a couple of chances. Chelsea dominated with quick movement and accurate passing but strangely no shots on target. Could we hang on till half time? Nearly, but no. A good goal by Chilwell just before half time didn’t augur well for the second half.

But the second half went well for the Bees. It was exciting stuff. And in the last 20 minutes we threw everything at the Chelsea goal, including a couple of kitchen sinks.

This was the best I’d ever seen Brentford play. There was dignity in this defeat.

Brentford 1 Leicester City 2 – Saturday 23 October

It wasn’t buzzing in the Brentford Community Stadium as 2pm kick-off approached. The mood was apprehensive, as though an impending premiership reality check loomed after the happy haze of previous games. The only smiles were brought by the pre-match individual shots of the Brentford players on the big screen. They looked a touch fey, camp even.

Leicester were good, especially on the break. Fast and strong. Teilemans was the stand-out player throughout, especially his screamer on 14 minutes. The threat of Vardy never really materialised, indeed he was replaced at half time. More worryingly for us, so was Pinnock.

At 60 minutes, Zanka flicked in a headed equaliser from a corner via a Jensen cross. Then to our credit we pressed and pressed for the winner. It didn’t come, at least not for Brentford. Maddening Maddison scored following a brilliant pass from Tielemans to Daka.

It was a frustrating game for Brentford. As one fellow fan put it, sometimes you lose a game trying to win it – at least we tried. And nine games in, it’s won three, drawn three, lost three. Not bad for a bus stop in Hounslow.

Stoke City 1 Brentford 2 – Wednesday 27 October (EFL Cup)

Bad news before we set off – Raya injured his knee in the Leicester game and is likely to be out for five months. Eek!

We took the train to Stoke and before the game mooched around the Potteries Museum & Art Gallery in Hanley, then said hello to a statue of Stanley Matthews in the pedestrian precinct.

A pre-match pint in Spoonies, then a walk to the ground along a ghostly canal, lit by lights planted on the path. There wasn’t another soul, which was weird. Eventually we were joined by throngs of fans for the final stretch from the canal up to the impressive frontage of the Bet 365 Stadium and another Stanley Matthews statue. This invoked all too vivid memories of a visit here in the Championship in 2018 and the trauma caused by a malfunctioning cubicle door lock…

So where were the Stoke fans? Only 8,140 of them, plus 1,440 Bees fans, in a stadium that holds 30,000. Brentford settled quickly, outplayed Stoke and went 2–0 up with goals by Canos and Toney down the other end of the pitch. Excellent, we’d have a close-up view of all our second half goals. But Stoke got better, their fans got behind them and we got complacent. Silly defensive errors, giving the ball away, and missed chances. Stoke got a goal back courtesy of ex-Bee Romaine Sawyers.

Brentford fans started spending less time singing and more time nail biting. We did not want this to go to penalties. In the end we held on. The players’ tunnel was near the away end, just below us. We applauded our players, then Thomas Frank, then Romaine.

We followed the horde back towards the centre of Stoke. Their fans peeled off to their homes gradually, in ones and twos, and we were once again alone by the time we returned to a now almost-empty Spoonies. Next morning, we popped into the Potbank Heritage Centre. Well worth a visit. It’s on part of the site of the old Spode pottery complex that closed down in 2009. It seems Stoke has yet to fully recover.

On Saturday we’ll find out who we’ve got in the next round. We hope it’s Sunderland at home, and most certainly not Sunderland away.

Burnley 3 Brentford 1 – Saturday 30 October

A long drive to Burnley in the Friday rain, to the Premier Inn that used to be a factory of sorts. A Saturday morning walk along the Leeds–Liverpool canal that goes above the houses, overlooked by the moor that frames the town. A proper brekkie at Olivers. The people here are friendly.

Turf Moor is a lovely ground in the east part of town. James Tarkowski’s the resident ex-Bee who’s grown into a central defender par excellence, though André Gray was here for a while too. Before kick-off there was silence while the Last Post was played at Burnley’s last home game before Remembrance Sunday.

As for the game? We got spanked by one of the bottom teams, who were 3–0 up by half time and certainly deserved their first win of the season. Maxwel Cornet looks a good signing for them.

The match day programme is called ‘Turf’. Fewer pages than most, but it’s pretty good, and includes an interesting away fan’s viewpoint. Throughout the game we were intrigued by circular mirror reflections moving across the pitch. Also noticed that the home and away players had separate tunnels at diagonally opposite corners of the ground. Not seen that before and not a bad idea in these times.

Too much action at the wrong end of the pitch

A sweet goal by Ghoddos on 79 minutes took a little of the edge off the embarrassment.

Only in Burnley… after the game we walked past a pub that’s been renamed the Royal Dyche. Later chatted with fellow Bees fans in the hotel bar, righting the wrongs. Next morning, the long drive back in the Sunday rain.

Next time…

Winning against Stoke means we will have eight games in December, one of which is Chelsea at home in the next round of the EFL Cup. But there are just three games in November, against Norwich, Newcastle and Everton. It’s fantastic following Brentford on this season’s journey, but it ain’t half costly, mum. Not the match tickets so much, but trains and hotels. No wonder so many die-hards get a fans’ coach or drive, and don’t stay the night before/after away games. And the admin’s quite an industry, planning and booking it all. Exciting too, though.

Brentford FC in the Premier League 2021/22 – episode 6

December’s games – thick and fast

Tottenham Hotspur 2 Brentford 0 – Thursday 2 December

‘Spurs fan?’ asked security outside the Blue Coats pub near the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. ‘No.’ But he let us in anyway. Inside it was loud and friendly, and the service well organised and super-efficient. The positivity and optimism of these fans confounded my abiding memory of the Spurs fan I worked with in the 1990s. He wore a replica shirt to work on every shift, and even when they won was oh so glum, ‘We’ll probably lose next week.’

White Hart Lane has long been a distant memory of a couple of visits many years ago. This was my first time at the new stadium, and… it’s amazing. Big, bright, spacious. At most grounds, programme sellers are cash-only, even now. Here, they’re contactless-only.

Light show like something out of Close Encounters.

Waiting on the concourse involved playing our little game of managerial merry-go-round guess who’s the opposition manager this week. And of course, this evening it’s much-travelled heart-throb Antonio Conte. We also enjoyed a mega sausage roll and a pint or two. At our seats the pre-match light show was worthy of Glastonbury.

The stadium has a capacity of 62,850, including an away fan allocation of around 3,000. The attendance was 54,202. I wonder how many were Brentford. A glance at the match day programme; nice and glossy with a couple of almost-amusing caption errors under Sergi Canos’s photo.

My sheltered upbringing means I’ve never heard of the Spanish position, nor have I ever met someone whose nationality was Forward.

Tottenham cruised much of the game; they looked like they could’ve stepped up a gear had they needed to. Son Heung-Min was the stand-out player. So quick and skilful. He got an assist for Sergi Canos’s own goal on 12 minutes and scored one himself on 65 minutes. He also took all the corners, bouncing the ball like a tennis player before placing it on the corner quadrant.

It was a philosophical trudge that we made to Wood Green tube in the cold night air.

Leeds United 2 Brentford 2 – Saturday 4 December

We arrived in Leeds the night before the game, to be greeted by cold, wind and rain. Revisiting the Leeds side streets that we slipped down in our student days. Back streets and back alley pubs, some cash-only with no music, TV or wifi. Myriad Asian restaurants, many of them very good (we’ve been here before in the Championship).

We chatted about the game in prospect as we walked along the River Aire and through the railway station hinterland, then followed the hordes down to Holbeck and across the motorway footbridge to Elland Road.

Ex-Bees Stuart Dallas and Adam Forshaw are here. The popular Toumani Diagouraga, aka ‘Toums’, or even ‘Dave’ to some, left Brentford for Leeds in 2016, and is now at Morecombe. And of course our very own Pontus Janson came to Brentford from Leeds. The club have recovered well from the dark days of 2007/10 when they were down and nearly out in League 1.

The pre-match entertainment didn’t dampen our spirits.

Triangle man is sitting in front of us, blowing up red balloons and launching them above the frozen breath of the crowd. At home games he rings a triangle whenever Brentford get a corner. Been doing it for years and was one of the first Bees fans we ever met. On six minutes there was applause for Arthur Labinjo-Hughes, the child abused and killed by his father and his father’s partner who have just been sentenced. So sad and really puts things in perspective.

The match day programme is the smallest I’ve seen, but not in a bad way – it’s more pocket friendly in size. Each of the articles in the early section (the important ones that don’t usually tell you much) are signed off ‘Marching on together’, which seems to be a common theme in the signage.

On the pitch though, Leeds were marching decidedly out of step. They scored first, then we got two. As we reminded them to the tune of “Love Will Tear Us Apart”, ‘Leeds, Leeds are falling apart, again.’

‘Scoreboard, scoreboard, tell us the score!’

We were playing much better than in the previous few games. But Leeds nicked an equaliser in 90+5. From a corner at which Alvaro looked dazed and unsteady following a collision. Didn’t that happen at Spurs, too? The ground has a capacity of nearly 38,000. The attendance was 35,639. Some Leeds fans were chanting that we hadn’t sold all of our allocation.

Leeds were happy to save it at the end. We were disappointed but OK with the result. As we left the ground and into the dark streets, some Leeds fans were growling abuse at anyone in Bees colours, including youngsters. We later read that objects had been thrown at Sergi Canos and Bryan Mbeumo. This is certainly not Newcastle.

Brentford 2 Watford 1 – Friday 10 December

We usually do well on a Friday. On the way to the ground we span the wheel of managerial merry-go-round guess who’s the opposition manager – it’s Claudio Ranieri! Stand out players are Cleverley and Sissoko. Tinkerman meets Little and Large?

As usual, the cardboard portal to Premier League survival was assembled before the start of the game. Five minutes later it was dismantled.

Watford were in yellow shirts with thin black hoops. All the players took the knee and the fans applauded. We started well. Lots of possession. Winning the ball back well in midfield. Janelt safe and steady playing at left centreback. ‘He comes from Germany…’

Then Watford scored. A recurring nightmare as yellow flare smoke came wafting along the stand from the away section and our play became disjointed. Just like the Norwich game. Triangle man responded by blowing up red balloons again and punching them into the cold night air.

Watford goalie trying to put Bryan off by the penalty spot.

We got two late on to win the game. A Pontus header on 84. A Bryan penalty on 90+5. Watford were stunned, Hornets stung by Bees.

Brentford v Manchester United – Tuesday 14 December

There could be no better time to play United, a club in transition following the sacking of Solskjaer, and the immediate departure of caretaker Michael Carrick after his final game. Rangnick’s got his work cut out with an unsettled squad.

We’ve even done the Covid vaccination pass stuff. But no, the game was postponed due to cases of Covid in the United camp. B***er. Surprised to learn that top-level players at some clubs haven’t been vaccinated. Whatever the rights and wrongs, you’d have thought the big clubs would have insisted on it, when they control so much else of their players’ lives.

Southampton v Brentford – Saturday 18 December

Postponed, this time because of cases of Covid in the Brentford camp. Thomas Frank is among those calling for all games to be called off until the situation is resolved. That won’t happen.

Brentford 0 Chelsea 2 (EFL Cup Quarter Final) – Tuesday 21 December

A 7.45pm kick-off, and we arrived earlier than usual for the Covid pass checks now being introduced at all grounds. Some fans were even wearing masks, which may explain why the singing was a bit muted.

Brentford were inflicted with an unfair yellow on 11 minutes which left many bemoaning the favour referees appear to give the elite clubs. I’m not sure how true that is, but it certainly set the tone for subsequent decisions.

Chelsea dominated possession in the first half with their lovely, precise passing. But we had the best chances. Half-time entertainment came in the form of the Brentford subs (probably unwittingly) skipping and high-kicking in time to Wham’s “Last Christmas”.

In the second half Chelsea turned up the heat and brought on Jorginho and Pulisic. Ghoddos came on for Henry on 73 minutes, a decision that mystified some fellow-fans. On 74 minutes the ball was cleared, looping out of play and down into the stairway exit near our section of the North Stand. We cheered as though we’d scored. Not long after, Chelsea brought on the biggest gun, N’Golo Kanté, who immediately controlled the midfield. Ominous. His pass to Reece James led to goalmouth confusion and Pontus own-goaled. Five minutes later we conceded a soft penalty.

Chelsea players applaud their fans. Thomas Frank applauds ours.

We played well but Chelsea deserved to win. Roll on the old cliché about concentrating on the league and isn’t the FA Cup a bigger deal anyway?

Brighton 2 Brentford 0 – Sunday 26 December

The first of the return fixtures. An 8.00 pm kick-off on a Boxing Day Sunday with no trains running and several other games postponed because of Covid. Brentford fans met the travel challenge admirably, in our case by driving down the day before in unending rain and through many partially flooded roads.

A walk to the sea at Rottingdean during a lull in the drizzle and later a ride on a bus full of Brighton fans to the ground. Its capacity is 30,666 and the gate was 30,141, though many of them must’ve arrived late because the place looked half empty in the first half.

Couldn’t find a programme seller so I ordered one online the next day. It’s pretty good, with an interesting section on Brentford. There’s also a pull-out section-cum-poster on Brighton player Tariq Lamptey. We know manager Graham Potter from his time at Swansea in the Championship. Seems a decent fellow.

Sometimes it felt like we were tilting at windmills like this one on the South Downs.

A more thorough Covid pass check but still no attempt at verification. More masks being worn. A pie and a pint on the concourse. We like the ground and its cushioned seats but there was no sitting down today. After a bright start by Brentford, Trossard scored for Brighton on the counter. Then ex-Bee Neal Maupay got their second with a wonder strike.

It didn’t take Brighton’s fans long to take our ‘Hey Sergi Canos, ooh, ah! I wanna know, how d’ya score that goal!’ song and adapt it to Neal Maupay. A double stab to the heart. The top deck of the bus back to the hotel rang with choruses of ‘Albion! Albion!’

Seagulls entering the portal of imminent victory before the game.

Brighton are the first and probably won’t be the last team to do the double over us this season. They’ve had a bad run of results recently and it wouldn’t surprise me if we were the last team they beat, way back in September.

In the days after this game there was unease on social media about whether our performance suffered because of injuries, tiredness or style of play. We side with those who say this affects most clubs outside the big four, so get behind the team and enjoy this special time come what may.

Brentford 0 Manchester City 1 – Wednesday 29 December

All a bit weird, two days before the game the Premier League announced a record 103 new cases of Covid-19 among Premier League clubs’ staff and players during the previous week. But most games are going ahead nevertheless. The club was doing a more thorough inspection of Covid passes than previously, so much so that mine was rejected and it took some persuading that it was indeed not out of date.

Man City practising before the game. But they don’t really need to.

An 8.15pm kick-off because it was being shown on Amazon. The camera operator scuttled away from the centre spot and only just made it to the touchline before kick-off. What’s that all about?

City played in light blue. It was a nice change for an away team to play in a strip other than yellow, especially when Brentford’s away kit is also yellow. Whatever happened to that lovely away kit from last season (or maybe the one before) – dark grey with orange/red socks?

The game? Oh, yeah. Well we were brilliant. One of the best performances I’ve seen from Brentford, though I am starting to think there’s a grain of truth in the referees never book stars allegation. Champions and table toppers City got away with a good few bits of naughtiness.

City’s goal came from a De Bruyne pass that was so perfect you hardly noticed Foden guide it into the net.

Next time…

Well, that was some sleigh ride together for two, too. And we go again on Sunday with the second of the return fixtures, at home to Villa. Mercifully, there are just three league games and one FA Cup game in January, unless the Premier League decides to shoe-horn in some rearranged fixtures.

Stop press, the Premier League has just decided to shoe-horn in the postponed game at Southampton a few days after Port Vale.

Happy New Year!