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So word has hit the street (although has still to be confirmed officially) that Jonathon Douglas has been told he is free to leave Brentford FC. To many fans this has come as a shock. Dougie (as he is known) has become an instrumental player for The Bees and was a key player in our promotion from Division 1.

However, It’s also no secret that Dougie had brittle relationship with the Brentford management over the years and it is though at some time this may have reached breaking point.

Football fans being football fans, what happens on the pitch is more important that what happens off it. Often a player’s fiery character can be part of what makes him on the pitch and it can’t be denied – Dougie has being an absolute revelation in midfield over the past two seasons.

His unrelenting effort and enthusiasm on the pitch often provides the heartbeat for the Brentford team. Fans of his ex-team Leeds recall their 2—0 defeat at Griffin Park in which they described Douglas’ performance as “astounding” and commented his performance was “typical of their luck he came back to haunt them”.

Douglas’ performances waned somewhat after Christmas. However, fans still saw him as an integral member of the Bees’ side – with the team’s performance normally lacking somewhat whenever Dougie’s performance was below par. 

Fans are now wondering where Dougie will end up this coming season. There will undoubtedly be no end of teams willing to take the midfielder on. Beesotted wouldn’t be surprised if a reunion with ex-boss Uwe Rosler at Elland Road was on the cards as they had a good final season (well half a season anyway) together.

Billy Grant decided to pool the views of two of the Beesotted crew Matt Allard and Gerry Burke – two fans with opposite opinions on whether or not Brentford have made the right choice deciding to let Dougie go.

Gerry Burke (@gerry0703) has been supporting Brentford for over 30 years. He is less than happy that the Bees have decided to let go someone he feels is the most influential midfield player Brentford have had in the last 30 years.

So rumours coming out of Griffin Park this week suggest that, after 4 years of unbelievably good service, Jonathan Douglas has been told he can leave.

This would suggest that the club feel he has nothing more to offer and that his best days are behind him. Maybe with the recent midfield signings we have made, match time for Dougie wouldn’t be at the level it’s been previously where  – its fair to say – he’s always been the 1st name on the sheet.

I’m sure Dougie is as realistic as the rest of us though. So playing the full 90 minutes for 46 games at 33 years of age was never going to be likely.

But for the man to influence Brntford the way he has for four seasons, it’s not necessary for him to play every minute of every game. Dougie doesn’t just perform on the field. He brings out the best in others too with his coaxing, cajoling and b0ll0ckings whenever needed.

There’s no coincidence as to why Forrester, Forshaw, Adeyemi, Savile and co have all played their best football at Brentford and have struggled since moving on.

With a new head coach and some new signings never having played in England before, letting Dougie go could be a massive mistake.

For every Jota that hits the ground running there’s a Marcos Tebar (to be fair, Tebar was never given a decent tun in the team. Some players are given a few months to bed in – Ed) or Betinho who struggle to adjust from the outset.

Having Douglas around will give those new players a little bit more time to adjust to the pace, power and frequency of  the championship. Not just on the pitch, but it’s off it too where JD has that calming influence that could be vital in what looks like the most pivotal season in our history so far.

So it has to be said, the decision to allow the most influential midfield player we’ve had in the last 30 years to leave, worries me greatly.

Matt Allard (@themattallard) looks back on Jonathon Douglas’ career with great fondness. But believes it’s now time for everyone to move on.  

So it looks like it’s goodbye to Jonathan Douglas. A nailed on regular for much of the recent Brentford, shall we call it, renaissance.

There’s an outcry in some quarters. It’s even causing trouble at home, Dougie was, or is that is, my girlfriend’s favourite Bees player.

Let’s be clear here before I get into it, I really appreciate what he’s done for us in recent seasons and yes he’d have been in my first 11 for most of that period. I do however vividly remember wondering where he fitted in just two years ago when new signing Alan McCormack seemed like a central midfielder rather than a right back.

But as we all know Dougie, proved me wrong in that glorious promotion season. I also like the fact that he doesn’t look like your typical athlete but he has covered untold miles for the cause. As best I can remember, against the grain of the modern footballer he still wears black boots and then there’s that beard.

For what it’s worth I also firmly believe we’d have dragged ourselves over the line at the end of the 2012/13 campaign with a fit and firing Douglas. But that’s in the past.

Here’s the thing – and we all know this – nothing lasts forever. Alex Ferguson is probably recognised as one of the greats at moving players on at the right time – one of the keys to his continued success. Why shouldn’t Brentford think the same way?

Not many players improve in their thirties and certainly not the ones who charge around in midfield. We’ve watched Steven Gerrard, in both the 2014 World Cup and his last couple of seasons at Liverpool become a shadow of the player he was and then try and reinvent himself as something he wasn’t (a holding midfielder) while remaining undroppable.

We’ll probably never know whether Brendon Rogers actually wanted to move on from Gerrard as there was no way he was ever going to take on the Kop and their latest favourite son. It certainly affected them last season as he continually tried to shoehorn Gerrard (when fit) into the team. As for England, what a wasted opportunity not blooding new talent in Brazil at a tournament we were never going to win anyway.

That’s sentiment dealt with, so back to JD.

Remember Brentford weren’t quite good enough in the end last season. The central midfield mainstays were Judge, Diagouraga, and Douglas. So agreeing we need to improve here as well as in other areas of the park, who are you replacing?

The 26, the 28 (player of the year) or the 33-year-old?

Yeah, it’s sh!t getting old. I’ll be honest I was more surprised when he was offered a new contract last season than I am by the latest turn of events.

If you are still in the “Dougie must stay camp”, then when should Brentford move on?

Remember, not all players go quietly like Kevin O’Connor, accepting that their first team options are limited and happy to move slowly into a new role at the club. I don’t know Jonathan Douglas personally but I am going to take a not to wild a guess that he isn’t the sort of guy who is happy sitting on the bench.

I would fancy that Dougie (like Gerrard) wants to play in most games if not all of them. So how on earth do you keep him happy when in the last six months you’ve signed midfielder after midfielder with a view to building a new team.

Even allowing for the likely scenario that we’ll play one up front for the foreseeable future, we’ve got an oversupply of hungry young midfielders on our books. A “not playing regularly unhappy Dougie” in the camp then? Probably not the best scenario for a new regime.

There appears to be some previous here too, including (allegedly) falling out with Dennis Wise, which actually probably isn’t that hard and a supposed bust up with Uwe after being substituted at the Ricoh Stadium back against Coventry a few seasons back .

This is starting to look like a fresh start at Brentford in more ways than some might have expected though and maybe that’s what needs to happen.

As for replacing him. Well I doubt we’ll find another long-haired bearded slightly crazy looking player in the near future. That alone must have scared some opponents but I can’t see Alan Judge or Toums going for that look and I’m not sure if the new crop can even grow a beard yet.

It will be important to have leaders in the middle of park and Douglas was certainly one of those. Saying that, in many ways I see this as an opportunity for someone else to take up the mantel and with it more responsibility – whether that’s one of the aforementioned players or for a new signing like Josh McEachran to step up.

I wish him well of course and hope he quickly finds a club where he gets first team football, hopefully in League One because – even after everything I’ve written –  I wouldn’t be overexcited about Bees coming up against a motivated Jonathan Douglas wanting to prove us all wrong.