It is exactly a year ago to the weekend when Brentford’s management “celebrated like they’d won the FA Cup” after the crucial victory at Leyton Orient – the man who coined that phrase is up against the Bees once again.
Russell Slade, then in charge at Brisbane Road, gave his opinion on the way Mark Warburton and his coaching staff had reacted at full-time in our televised victory – a result which saw us climb into the automatic promotion places at their expense.
Slade is now in charge at Cardiff, who play their first competitive match at Griffin Park for 12 years on Saturday.
He took over at the Cardiff City Stadium in early October in place of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who stepped down the previous month.
Although he won five of his first eight games in charge, the side’s form then slumped and they only picked up one victory in their next 13 matches. – a sequence that included our 3-2 triumph in south Wales just before Christmas.
Since then City have won their last two away games but in-between lost their last two at home.
Off the pitch the big news came when owner Vincent Tan finally agreed to change the club’s kit back from red to their traditional blue – a campaign backed by the travelling Bees fans in December.
Cardiff are back in the Championship this season after the briefest of stays in the Premier League – having won promotion in 2013 as champions following three successive years of missing out in the play-offs.
Elevation to the top flight marked the end of a 10-year stay in this division but before that they had been in the bottom two divisions since 1985.
RUSSELL’S RECORD
Russell Slade is one of very few managers around to have gone into the profession without having a career as a professional player behind him.
Slade was working as a PE teacher and played for Notts County reserves before starting his coaching work at the club.
He worked his way up at Meadow Lane from assistant youth coach to assistant manager and then had a spell as caretaker manager during the 1994/95 season.
After taking his first permanent managerial roles in non-league football, he returned to the Football League and had two caretaker spells in charge of Sheffield United before being named as manager of Conference side Scarborough in 2001 – leading them to the FA Cup fourth round in 2004.
Back in the Football League he lost successive play-off finals – with Grimsby in League Two in 2006 and with Yeovil in League One a year later.
He went on to save Brighton from relegation before taking charge of Leyton Orient in April 2010.
HEAD-TO-HEAD
Cardiff were regular opponents in the 1980s and 1990s and we had a mixed record against them.
They did the double over us in the last season we met – 2002/03 – with two 2-0 wins.
Our last win over them here was a 2-1 triumph in February 2002 when second half goals from Stephen Hunt and Ben Burgess cancelled out Jason Bowen’s first half strike to take us up to fourth in the table.
Other notable results included us doing the double over them in the 1994/95 season and the Bluebirds all but clinching promotion by beating us 3-1 at Ninian Park on the first May Bank Holiday Monday in 1983.
Arguably our most famous game against Cardiff though was our famous 2-0 win in south Wales as a Fourth Division team in the fourth round of the FA Cup in 1970.
BRENTFORD CONNECTIONS
Cardiff have four familiar faces in their ranks with goalkeeper Simon Moore, midfielder Tom Adeyemi, striker Conor McAleny and winger Kadeem Harris all at the club.
Our former youth team player Simon made 77 appearances for us in four years before making the move to the Bluebirds in the summer of 2013.
He spent the second half of last season on loan to Bristol City but he has had a run in the Cardiff team recently following injury to first choice David Marshall.
However the Scotland international is close to full fitness so Simon may be back on the bench again today.
Tom spent the entire 2012/13 season on loan to us from Norwich – playing 39 games in all competitions with his last appearance coming in the play-off final defeat by Yeovil.
Conor was on loan to us from Everton at the start of last season before suffering a broken leg in his fourth appearance.
He has now made a full recovery and the Toffees loaned him to Cardiff at the start of last month.
Kadeem scored twice, against Colchester and Staines, in 11 appearances for us during the 2013/14 season.
He was the only one of the trio to play against us at the Cardiff City Stadium in December – in a game which marked his first-ever Championship start.
CARDIFF SQUAD NEWS
As mentioned above, David Marshall may return in goal in place of Simon Moore on Saturday.
Midfielder Peter Whittingham returned to the side for last Saturday’s defeat by Charlton after missing his first game of the season the previous Tuesday following a red card against Wolves.
Fellow midfielder Aron Gunnarsson has also been involved in all but one Championship game and several other players have taken part in most matches.
Top scorer Kenwyne Jones, who has scored 11 league goals, defenders Sean Morrison and John Brayford, goalkeeper Marshall and midfielder Craig Noone have each only missed a handful of games.
Also worth watching out for is former Manchester United striker Federico Macheda, who has scored in each of the last two matches.
However the rest of the side has been far from settled with 37 players making at least one substitute appearance in the Championship.
DID YOU KNOW?
It is a well-known fact that Cardiff are the only club to take the FA Cup out of England thanks to their 1-0 win over Arsenal in the 1927 final at Wembley.
Less well-known however is that the match was the first-ever final to be broadcast on BBC Radio.
IAN WESTBROOK
@ianwestbrook
Pubs in Brentford
For Bluebirds fans coming down, you are probably aware there plenty of pub options pre-match and all are most welcome.
As is etched in common folklore , there are four pubs around the ground. The Griffin is closest to the away end (like 30 secs walk) and is very popular with away fans – but also very, very busy. The New Inn is on the other side is also popular with away fans. The Princess Royal and The Royal Oak (sometimes home fans only. The only pub with bouncers on the door in Brentford) are the other two options.
Other pubs slightly further afield for the more creative amongst you include (and this is by no means a definitive list) include  … The Globe (Windmill Rd) &The Lord Nelson (Enfield Rd)  – both incredibly friendly and cosy away-frienly pubs .. frequented by ‘away fans in the know’. Boro fans and Bees fans had one hell of a party before and after the match in these boozers (despite us losing)- and The Plough (Northfields Ave) in Northfields is a decent stop-off if you are coming by tube to Northfields before making your way down to the ground (normally stopping off at The Globe and Lord Nelson en route).
There is also a pub right by Brentford station always referred to as … the Pub by Brentford station. I guess many Muff fans will use that.
For ale head to the Magpie and Crown pub on Brentford High Street. The Royal Horseguardsman can probably hold 15 of you at a push. The Brewery Tap is a cosy boozer by the river. And if you are super adventurous, get off at Kew Bridge and visit the brand new boozer One Over the Ait right on the river – beside the bridge. There are loads more too.
A quick Google search and you’ll find them all. There are many many more too if you have a look around.
Parking is pretty easy away from the ground going up towards and over the A4 Great West Rd (ie. North) via Ealing Rd or Windmill Rd.
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John Brayford plays for Sheff Utd after leaving Cardiff last January
Fair point – I was only pointing out that he was one of a group of players who had each made more than 25 appearances this season. I have taken him out of the piece. Thanks. Ian.