It was a year ago today that Griffin Park hosted her last competitive match and Bees fans shared a night of mixed emotions as play-off celebrations merged with waves of regret and a real sense of bereavement.
Seeing off Swansea City (remember them) and coming from behind to clinch a play-off final place was, of course, all-important… and fans congregated outside the Braemar Road forecourt to mark a landmark evening under the floodlights… before they were ceremoniously turned off pylon by pylon to mark the end of the old girl’s life hosting football matches.
Since that day, as the inevitable wrecking balls were moved into position and Griffin Park was taken apart piece by piece , here at Beesotted, we’ve intentionally turned our backs on the grotesque dismemberment… we made the decision that nobody who genuinely cared for Griffin Park, or had a fond place in their hearts for what was so much more than just a patch of land, wanted to see a dear old friend in that condition.
And, as the author of The Big Book of Griffin Park, that has just been updated and reprinted for the final time to include a handful of special photographs I recently acquired, I knew it was a time to possibly include The End – just the book had included The Start – back in 1905. I declined the opportunity. Again, who wants to really see that in print and I think the book is all the better for it. Fans won’t get that gut wrenching sinking feeling as they get to the back of what is a landmark book and I won’t feel dirty for doing so.
Brentford Football Club has moved on leaps and bounds in that year. A new stadium, even without fans cheering the team on, has indeed provided a springboard on to bigger and better things and we are about to embark on the club’s first campaign in the top flight in a lifetime.
We are already making new memories and, rightly, it is time to seize and savour these new opportunities rather than constantly look back. However, I have been pleased to provide images from the Griffin Park and Brentford Reimagined books for the club to use around the inside of the new stadium, as well as for the forthcoming Griffin Park exhibition. Gone, but never forgotten.
So today, I will be raising a glass to Griffin Park… Remembered with pride.
Dave Lane
@beesotted100
