Jim Levack looks at the return of two firm Bees-fan favourites and the Boxing Day clash with Ipswich Town at Griffin Park
Okay, I’ll come clean here… I don’t usually make it to Boxing Day games.
It’s often the one chance I get to spend some time with the whole family and my lovely in-laws, all Derby or Stoke fans now delighted at Brentford’s success.
This year they’re coming over a day later because my two lads and I simply couldn’t miss the return of Tabby and Hunty to TW8.
My eldest still has a framed picture of Jay Tabb, boots in his hand, applauding the then Brook Road end at the end of what turned out to be his final season.
He knew he’d be off and deep down so did we, but regardless of that his scampering runs, energy and invention earned him legend status in our house.
Not only that though, he’s a thoroughly nice bloke who was always a pleasure to interview for the Chronicle. And he never talked in clichés.
You might not believe it but they are few and far between in football, Coppell, Lewington, O’Connor some of the best at veering wonderfully from the script.
When Tabb had flown the nest, I contacted him when he was at Coventry – the nearest club to me – to see if he could grab us a couple of tickets for the Carling Cup game against West Ham.
Now normally I can’t be bothered to watch any football if it doesn’t involve Brentford – unless it’s on the box – but this was an exception.
There were three teams that day. The Sky Blues, the Hammers and Tabby. The icing on the cake was when he came out for a chat after being named Man of the Match, and let me into a secret.
“I’d love to come back to Brentford one day. The fans were incredible there and it was a very sad day when I left, but I had to think of my career,” he said. And he meant it.
Then there was Stephen Hunt, whose ability to trick and tease his way down the left flank before often earning a penalty, was the stuff of legend.
I’ll always remember interviewing him on the phone once when he’d gone back to Ireland for a break, putting the phone down and gazing in disbelief at my shorthand.
The outline of what seemed to be the word ‘lach’ kept appearing and after some detective work I realised it was a broad southern Irish version of ‘like’.
He was another good guy whose reputation soared one night at Loftus Road when he got into a running battle with former Bee Martin Rowlands who left in less than acrimonious circumstances.
Both will hopefully be amazed at the transformation around the club since they left and both will, after the initial pleasantries are out of the way, be determined to keep Brentford off top spot.
It’s good to see Ipswich doing so well too. In Mick McCarthy they have the type of manager who players want to play for. A hard but fair bloke with a good sense of humour who, like Mark Warburton, isn’t afraid of letting his players express themselves.
We’ve seen many managers of big clubs at Griffin Park bemoan their own side’s lack of luck while damning Brentford with faint praise, but McCarthy – after seeing his Sunderland side knocked out of the Cup by DJ Campbell – was on the radio within an hour singing our praises. A class act.
I hope he is doing the same in around 48 hours.
Jim Levack