soccer – Words and spaces, sounds and places

Brentford FC in the Premier League 2021/22 – episode 7

January’s New Dawn Fades

Brentford 2 Aston Villa 1 Sunday 2 January

Back in balmy August we got a draw at Villa in our third ever Premier League game. After that, things were a bit patchy for them, and in October/November, ex-Bees manager Dean Smith’s Villa lost five in a row. He got sacked and is now at Norwich. He was replaced by Steven Gerrard, who has won four out of seven. And so the Happy New Year manager-go-round goes round and round.

Full of enthusiasm we strode to the ground for a 2pm kick-off. Sunshine on a rainy day as the drizzle fizzled out. As the teams lined up each side of the cardboard portal thing before kick-off, we could see that Villa’s away kit for this game was a midnight blue version of Chelsea’s home kit. At least it’s not the all too frequent all yellow away kit that Brentford and several other clubs have adopted this season.

Ex-Bee Ezri Konsa was playing at the back for Villa. Ex-Bee’s striker Ollie Watkins wasn’t even on the bench. Covid maybe?

Inside the ground the sun disappeared. The wind rose and pushed the clouds, buffeting them against the regular procession of planes descending towards Heathrow. It mirrored our efforts on the pitch. After a breezy start we were labouring, slower than Villa to every ball. So we were more disappointed than surprised when Danny Ings put them ahead on 16 minutes after a sublime drag-back and pass by Buendia. But we fought back and equalised just before half time – a lovely curler from Wissa.

The second half was all Villa in possession, but they couldn’t find a way through. Their frustration evident in Trezeguet’s shocking dive that later went viral on social media. Bees’ patience and effort got a reward on 83 minutes when Roerslev shot, the goalie parried and Roerslev shot again. Yes!

After the game we met up with a couple of Bees friends in the Rose and Crown in South Ealing. We let it all sink in while sinking a pint. We were excited yet nervous about how it was all going now we were at the half-way mark…

Port Vale 1 Brentford 4 (FA Cup 3rd Round) Saturday 8 January

A train to Stoke. Again. We came here for the Carabao in October. We walked to Hanley for a Spoony’s lunch, then yomped up to Burslem and just about made it in time for kick-off at 3pm. Vale Park is a nice old ground. Sit anywhere you want in the away end, so we were able to watch the second half with our friends once we’d found them. No programmes? They don’t do a printed programme any more but you can download one. Not a bad thing, I guess.

The Tree Stories sculpture tells a tale to a pushchair as we head to the ground

Robbie Williams is local hero/major shareholder. Bailed them out in 2006. And yes, they do run out to Let Me Entertain You! Lemmy was also from Burslem and a Port Vale fan and Ace of Spades is also played before each game.

Ex-Bee Leon Legge is at the club, but didn’t feature today. The manager is Darrell Clarke, a no-nonsense former Vale player and all-round good bloke, by all accounts.

Attendance was restricted to 9,000-odd to avoid the need for Covid checks. The actual gate was 8,069, 1,126 of whom were Brentford. There was no scoreboard or clock visible to away fans, and the PA system cut out so often not a single one of the announcements was comprehensible. At least the wifi was good, so we could track events on our phones more easily than in big stadiums.

In the first half we were good, visibly a different class. So much so that all the action was down the other end of the pitch, but we managed only one goal, smashed in by Forss on 26 minutes. We entertained themselves by singing our way through the Bees songs back catalogue, including the Sammy Saunders song (You are the love of my life…) that includes an offer dubious on so many levels). Sammy seems to be the love of Steve Pound’s life these days since he started playing at Hanwell Town. After nearly every game Steve presents Sam with the MoM champers… and good luck to him.

In the second half Vale were much better, more tenacious and had some good chances. So much so that it seemed the ball was never destined to come down our end. Until Bryan was unleashed from the bench on 62 minutes. Four minutes later he scored. Then Vale scored. Game on! Then Bryan scored again. Then Toney was awarded what I thought was a rather soft penalty. He very generously gave the ball to Bryan to complete his hat trick. What a gent. And it was good to see Kristoffer Ayer back after his injury.

Mbeumo’s shot is crossing the line, parlez-vous?

After the game our friends gave us a lift back to Hanwell. It was nice to doze in the back seat, warm and dry.

Southampton 4 Brentford 1 (rearranged from 18 December) Tuesday 11 January

We soon found out what Saints had in store for us

This game had been postponed because some of Brentford’s players/staff had Covid. For this rearranged fixture we managed to get a lift there and back. Could get used to this for any evening mid-week away games outside London. At the ground, I couldn’t find a programme seller, once again. And what with the slow Covid checks we missed the cardboard portal of doom palaver. But we were just in time for the taking of the knee.

The Saints manager is Ralph Hasenhüttl, who seems to have done a pretty good job so far, despite having no ex-Bees on the playing staff.

From the off, all 27,383 spectators made a lot of noise, not just us away fans. From the off, Saints dominated. We tried and failed nearly all game. The desire for us to play better at times led me to wish it was Brentford playing in the red and white stripes with black shorts that’s so similar to our home kit.

2-1 at half time. Could we get a draw second half? No, we continued to be a victim of Ward-Prowse’s prowess, save for a couple of decent chances near the end when it was too late.

Saints fans were full of song all game long. We found ourselves sandwiched between ‘We’re the Itchen, we’re the Itchen, we’re the Itchen over here’ and ‘We’re the North End, we’re the North End, we’re the North End over here’. And every round of ‘Come on Brentford!’ we belted out was instantly drowned out by ‘F**k off Brentford!’ from both sides.

All around the ground a phone torch starry starry light show glittered against the dark behind the floodlights. They were winning 4-1 and they deserved it.

As the game drew to its painful end we were treated to ‘It’s a long way back to London when you’re shit’. It was a long way back to London, and we were, a bit…

I bought a programme online. Lots of stuff about new owners Sport Republic, backed by a Serbian billionaire. Also a heart-breaking article about ex-Saint Sam McQueen’s fight against repeated injury and the toll it took on his mental health. And a very good Junior Saints section with perhaps the hardest Spot the Difference I’ve ever come across.

Liverpool 3 Brentford 0 Sunday 16 January

This is what you dream of when you picture a season in the Premier League – a trip to Anfield. And a 2pm kick-off is quite good when it still gets dark early.

We arrived at Liverpool Lime Street the day before so we could have a look round – the Radio City Tower, the Philharmonic pub (a Victorian marvel), Albert Dock, Chinatown and the Italian Club Seafood restaurant.

The Metropolitan Cathedral had a fascinating display about the Irish who arrived in the city in their thousands, fleeing the Potato Famine in the 19th century. They built the docks in Liverpool that at one point in the late 19th century handled 40% of ALL world trade. They built the towers of London, too.

It was also an interesting walk to the ground. Found a programme seller straightaway – card only like at Spurs. Great ground, great buzz outside, a bit of an anti-climax inside. We expected a bit more in a relatively compact stadium with almost 53,000 people sitting in it.

Tucked away in corner at the back of the away section we felt a bit claustrophobic. Like being in an observation pillbox. We heard and joined in with the minute’s applause for Liverpool legend Billy Liddell (who I confess I’d never heard of), but the acoustics meant we couldn’t hear much else.

Brentford played in white, a nice change from the usual away yellow. We played well too, at least in the first half. It was so good to see Rico back after injury. Our dreams of making it to half time nearly came true but Liverpool scored just beforehand. But then we started the second half well, too. We were playing much better than we had against Southampton. But once Liverpool netted their second goal it was all over really. And that would have been a fair score line. But another defensive slip-up in the 77th minute and Minamino made it 3–0.

We sang well throughout, some of the chants good-natured taunts that Anfield was a ground full of tourists (not Tories as I and others misheard) and ‘race you back to London’. Liverpool fans were chuffed at the news coming though that Everton had sacked Rafa – there’s Schadenfeude for you!

The programme was pretty good, not exceptional – authoritatively confident, like the club. On social media we were praised for not singing about Hillsborough. It’s sickening that anyone would.

Brentford 1 Man United 3 (rearranged from 14 December) Wednesday 19 January

This one was originally postponed because of cases of Covid in the United camp. And here we are at five to eight on a dark chilly night as the United players emerge from the tunnel of hope and slow-jog towards the cardboard portal of disarray in a pleasing away kit of blue top with yellow shorts.

The players fled the cardboard portal when it spewed forth the referee

Brentford were the better team in the first half. United gave the ball away surprisingly often, they weren’t playing as a team. We had loads of chances that even at that early stage we thought we’d later regret missing. And missing describes Cristiano Ronaldo’s first half performance. Love him or hate him, he did used to be a top player. Not so sure he still is. Did he always used to cheat this much? Some of his falling-over show was shown on social media later. Laughable. At least the ref didn’t fall for it much.

At half-time the big screen showed an interview with Christian Norgaard, who has just signed a new contract. Interesting stuff and what a nice guy. And with the continued talk of Christian Eriksen maybe joining the club, it’s… Onward Christian Soldiers?

In the second half United improved. Both sides had loads of chances. United took theirs better. Their passing was more accurate too, we began resorting to too many hopeful hoofs. We chanted ‘Live round the corner, you only…’ but in fairness the away fans sang and sang strong with a definite Mancunian twang, at least to my ears.

I guess the Bees players tried to follow the plan. They certainly tried to play. But it didn’t work, and some of them seemed off the boil. Many of the fans near us were fuming with frustration and disappointment. They’re devoted to the club but feel we should be better than this, even if we don’t win. On 67 minutes there was a minute’s applause for Pete Hayward, a devoted Bees fan and tireless charity fundraiser who had recently passed away.

On 71 minutes Ronaldo was substituted after a busy evening of falling over and moaning at his team-mates and the ref. By this time United were 2-0 up. Apparently he also threw a tantrum in the dugout, unhappy at being taken off.

Marcus Rashford got a third for United and Toney got a consolation for Brentford, in what was a bit of a missed opportunity of a game.

Brentford 1 Wolves 2 Saturday 22 January

Ah, nothing like a good old-fashioned Saturday 3pm kick-off, we all agreed as we settled in our seats. But the phrase ‘must-win game’ soon took our pre-match chats after three defeats in a row.

I blame the slightly off-centre positioning of the preposterous portal…

After the cardboard portal of nonsense there was a minute’s applause for those who have passed away over the past year. During the clapping I looked around the stadium and thought I saw a drone above the corner where the south stand meets the west stand, but it was just a plane descending towards Heathrow.

Brentford started brightly, lots of possession, winning tackles and moving the ball around. All seemed to be going well and there was no hint of the mayhem that was to follow. So, deep breath…

Around the 20-minute mark Rico Henry and Matthias Jensen both went for the same ball. A sickening collision of heads. There was a long delay before they were taken off the pitch, each bleeding from gashes to the head. Some fans went for an early half-time pint. Baptiste and Roerslev came on as concussion subs, meaning we could still make the usual number of further substitutions.

Wolves were better when the first half resumed. Bees had had to reorganise and seemed a bit unsettled. But only a few minutes later the more eagle-eyed among the crowd started pointing to the sky. It was a drone, flying over and around the ground, sometimes dropping as low as the top of the stand. The players were led off the pitch, cos them’s the rules. More fans went for an early half-time pint, some were going for seconds. At one point the drone disappeared, then returned. 19 minutes later play resumed. Wolves again quickly got into their stride and Bees’ play was more disjointed, so it was no surprise when the visitors soon scored.

At half time proper, many more fans went for refreshments, some for the second or third time. After half time the players and linos came onto the pitch, but where was the ref? We were kept waiting for five minutes or so, during which time the squiffy wag in the seat behind suggested a further return to the bar…

At some point a helicopter appeared and hovered around for a while, presumably as a drone deterrent. Meanwhile, back down here, Wolves resumed their dominant play. One of their players was red carded but it was rejected by VAR.

Ivan Toney scored. Jubilation mixed with apprehension. At that point I’d have settled for a draw. But Wolves scored again, what turned out to be the winner. Their goalie went into immediate time wasting mode. Like Raya did at Molineux when we were two nil up and down to ten men. What went around was now coming around.

In our section of the stand all was anger, frustration. I started humming ‘Let the Heartache Begin’ to myself. Some are blaming our goalies. When will Raya be back? Not soon enough but it’s not their fault. General defensive lapses? Tiredness?

Thomas trying to explain the ‘no dickheads’ policy to the ref

After the final whistle there was a melee in the centre circle, during which Thomas Frank got two yellows and was sent off. What a way to celebrate signing a new contract that keeps him at Brentford until 2025.

Oh dear. Four defeats in a row and a make-or-break two-week winter break to fix it. During which to hope Christian Eriksen finally joins and we get that nifty Forest player we’re after.

Next time…

January was meant to be a quiet month but rearranged fixtures and a cup game put paid to that. Games coming thick and fast is fine when all your players are fit and you win some of them. So here’s hoping for a successful integration of new and returning players, a boost to those who’ve signed extended contracts (Pontus, Norgaard and Bryan) and a refreshed mindset in February. And here’s hoping Toney’s silly comments about the club can be turned into a motivating positive. Come on you Bees!

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.

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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.