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Beesotted contributor 6 Music Chris Horricks feels that Trotta’s determination to make amends after that penalty miss last year typifies the resolve throughout this whole Brentford team

A football season is a long and winding road, to paraphrase Adam and Jakes fellow Scousers, and sometimes it’s even longer and has more winds in it than others. This is certainly true in the case of our current set up at Brentford Football Club.

Way back when Uwe Rosler first arrived in TW8 as an unknown quantity managerially, sure he had the playing reputation and notoriety but then again so did Terry Butcher and we all know what happened with him and our club.

Luckily for us Uwe turned out not to be a Terry Butcher and took the task on of managing the Brentford team alongside a largely unknown and certainly unmentioned man, Mark Warburton.

Uwe and Mark saw what Terry didn’t. They believed ‘children’ were the future. Teach them well and let them lead the way (well ok, not children but younger players, but that’s not a song lyric) and this was shown in their first signing, Shay Logan, a product of Manchester City’s youth set up, who through no fault of his own was over looked in preference to a multi-million pound signing from abroad or elsewhere in the game’s elite.

Shay wasn’t the only young player brought in. Others followed. But Uwe and Mark knew that the kids couldn’t do it all on their own. They needed teaching and guidance on and off the pitch. Experienced heads who had experienced top flight, even international in some cases, levels of football. This is where Jonathan Douglas comes in.

Dougie, since his arrival, has been a spectacular servant to the club. A virtual ever-present for 3 solid seasons, the one injury he suffered caused him to miss the play off final and the beginning of the current campaign.

A portcullis between the defence and midfield, both areas of the team comprising youth signings from higher division clubs who have come to Brentford and made names for themselves. In defence Jake Bidwell, Harlee Dean and the aforementioned Shay. Midfield-wise the likes of Adam Forshaw and George Saville, technically gifted players but at the same time experiencing life as a first team regular at a club for the first time. For these players the importance of having Dougie there to help out in defensive situations and start attacks by supplying the multi-talented midfield cannot be under estimated.

In attack the philosophy of youth and relative experience continues. It is largely forgotten that in his first season Clayton Donaldson was in some quarters subjected to the same or similar criticism Will Grigg is currently experiencing.

50 odd goals later the stone that some rejected has become the figure head. As Uwe said on numerous occasions ‘Clayton is Clayton’ meaning he’ll run until he drops, work so hard for the team and pop up with sensational goals into the mix. In the first season and a half Clayton often had to lead the line, chase to get the ball back, and in all likelihood drive the bus to away games himself.

Mark and Uwe saw this and acted to help save some energy for the big number 9. How? Why bringing in another untapped, unproven young player from a premiership club, in this case a lot closer to Griffin Park. The club in question, Fulham. The striker – one Marcello Trotta.

Asides from the obvious Fools and Horses connotations of his surname, he often in the first few games I saw him, looked slow and disinterested unless the ball was given to his feet. That didn’t bode well but it shows how wrong you can be about a player.

Some of the goals and moments of individual brilliance he conjured out of nothing, amongst them, the Crewe goal, and the equaliser at Hartlepool, have been amazing. in a few short months he had gone from a guy with a funny name to a terrace favourite and had played a major part in taking a team that finished outside the play offs in the previous season, to serious promotion candidates in the next.

We all know what happened in the game directly after Hartlepool, I’ll not mention it again. The print and television media have done that often enough. Suffice to say, in one kick, all the moments of magic were forgotten and he became public enemy number 1.

Uwe’s men had to settle for the lottery of the play offs. In first leg against Swindon, the big Italian was left on the bench. However, in the second he had the game of his young career and was part of a team that survived spot kick drama to reach a Wembley final.

On that fateful day in North West London when things went Yeovil’s way, Bees fans left the famous stadium presuming we’d seen the last of Marcello. How wrong they were as following a brief return to Craven Cottage, he was soon to pull on the red and white stripes again.

The news was greeted with mixed reaction. However, following a shaky reintroduction period at the start of the second spell, he hasn’t looked back since. Despite his best efforts which have brought him spectacular goals aplenty in 2013/14, the end of 2012/13 season will follow him for the rest of his life. It was even mentioned in the Sky Sports News report on his winner at Orient a fortnight ago.

His ability at the age of 21 to respond in such a way and, in his own words return to settle some ‘unfinished business’, speaks volumes for him as a man and is indicative of the character of all at Brentford Football Club.

We are Bees

We never know when we are beaten

And we ARE going up (finally………..hopefully………#beelieve)

Chris Horricks
@chrishorricks31