Two years ago when the long ball was all the rage at Brentford, the fans called for Andy Scott’s head and a dramatic change in the style of play.
Last season, after a steep learning curve and shift in style, the club came within an inch of over-achieving, ahead of schedule, to reach the Championship.
Expectations soared to the extent that, at the season’s start, we were red-hot, nailed on favourites for automatic promotion… in many peoples’ heads at least.
Cue a stop-start beginning to the campaign, where we are still just a win or so off the play-offs, and Saturday’s scenes at Griffin Park were a shameful reflection on the face of football.
The almost feral and jubilant chant directed at a good man in the dugout was something I have never before heard home fans sing at their own manager.
Afterwards Rosler, not unnaturally, looked hurt and slightly bemused by the nature of the guttural terrace howls… and rightly so.
Were I him, my initial reaction would have been to feel that I had been slapped in the face by the so-called supporters of a club that I had worked so hard to win over.
Which is why it’s so important that the large, silent majority of right-minded fans now use that incident as a turning point in the season to get behind manager and team.
The result. and surge in confidence that came after the equaliser and ensuing two goals, silenced the idiots, whom I’m certain the vast majority of Brentford fans would want nothing to do with.
They are, presumably, part of the ‘want it now’ generation who demand immediate success because “Rosler’s budget is xxxxxxx huge and he ain’t turning it into results”. But football isn’t always like that straight away.
The outpouring directed at someone I believe is a good man – irrespective of his record and yes, sometimes questionable desire to change the team too frequently – was frankly, shameful and embarrassing.
It just wasn’t Brentford… or at least I didn’t think it was.
Success in football, by its very nature, depends on luck, decent refereeing, lack of injuries to key players and getting the blend right. The mental side, to my mind, is what gives talented squads the edge.
We saw that for ourselves on Saturday when the confidence came flooding back and players who, ten minutes earlier, had been misplacing the most basic of passes, were trying something extra.
Rosler won’t get everything right – who does in their job? – but when he’s got things wrong he has been man enough to admit it.
Given time, just as some of the best managers working on a project have been, and the absence of feral name-calling I think he will complete the project which, let’s face it, is still on track.
We’re not playing well and we’re still a few points off the play-offs, so, “Sacked in the morning!”… Do me a favour.
Jim Levack
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Well said. Too often the less informed have caused the downfall of decent management teams through their lack of patience and all too eager and unfounded critism of manager and player alike.
No one responds well to negative criticism which often results in further mistakes and a downard spiral in confidence.
The team is still within a whisker of the playoffs with only 35 games to go!!
Get behing Uwe and the lads and together we canachieve the glory so long denied us.
Come on you Bees
I think your article is so correct and i think Uwe is a genuine guy and he thinks the world of his players and does not deserve the IDIOTS screaming for his head. They are cowards and if they were face to face with him i am certain they would not front him on their own.
I was and still am embarrassed by the so called 5% of those so called fans, how they think it helps is beyond me . Am I wrong to say supporters should support and if things are not going our way then encourage .This club is moving the right way and at the correct speed .
Great piece from Jim Levack.
Agree with the articke, although sometimes I feel Uwe does need a small nudge in the right direction regarding selection. I can only assume Shay isn’t 100% or perhaps said too much in last week’s ‘full and frank’ post-90 minutes 90 minutes as he offers solid defending and an attacking overlap that I think puts him ahead of the very good McCormack.
However, what most got up my nose on Saturday was the level of negativity aimed at Marcello Trotta. For all the time he was on the pitch he did very little wrong, made an effort to chase balls, tackled, completed passes that set up chances and rectified his first half howler by notching at the other end. On the odd occasion he did go wrong, a significant proportion of the crowd was vocal about how supposedly poor he is and that he shouldn’t be at the club. In stark contrast to this, George Saville received a polite round of applause for clumsily punting an easy pass into touch.
Marcello put in a man of the match performance in my eyes (I did wear my glasses at the game) but it was no surprise that he didn’t get the award from the lounge. The final insult came when he was substituted to a mix of sardonic cheers which was countered by appreciative applause from those in the crowd who actually bothered to watch his performance. Again, this was in contrast to the ridiculous reaction when Will Grigg was taken off. A chorus of boos rang out, as if it made any sense to persist with a striker who didn’t and won’t perform when shoved out wide in a system he isn’t used to. It appears to me that Uwe may have too many toys. Having already squeezed out on loan the only one of five who has the muscle to hold the ball up, he’s retained four who all want to be in, and do seem to suit, the centre forward position. So we have a top scorer on the right wing making good crosses that he should be on the end of, a nigh-on half-million pound man looking a bit lost out on the left, someone half the stadium doesn’t want in the middle and a proven goalscorer who causes absolute chaos in defences parked on the bench. Has Uwe’s aversion to the supposed ‘dinosaur football’ 4-4-2 system bitten him on the backside? Is it too much to expect that Uwe and the management vary the formation depending on who we’re playing against and occasionally match up a four in midfield so that there aren’t yawning gaps when we lose the ball against the teams that play in a traditional hump and bump third division style like Orient, Rotherham and Stevenage? The change in style over Scott’s is very much appreciated, as stated in the article, but it isn’t helping us to deal with the sort of team we should be scoring at least three against. All you can ask is that the manager puts players in their specialised position whenever possible. Failing to do this is what did for Scott. I am hopeful that Uwe’s seemingly interminable tinkering with his toyset won’t result in his departure.
Some fans are so keen to open the trapdoor for Rosler I despair. With the confidence boost from Saturday and a few lucky breaks we will start to climb the table. It is fortunate that the owner understands the noise present in the league position even after 12 games. By the end of the season we will be able to see how successful Rosler has been as our manager.
Over reaction to a few fans venting their anger at the game.so what?Why not discuss what many of the fans who kept quiet are thinking.Why dispite one of the biggest budgets and squads in the division are we so far behind the top 3 teams?
Bill just look at the league table now Nov 3rd.I used to say silly things like you when i was a boy.
Bill what a silly statement. Just look at the league table now !!!!!
If Rosler is so commited to the Brentford “project” why did he apply for the Wolves job?
Bill, are you seriously suggesting Orient will finish above Brentford?
If so then you know less about football than I thought you did.
Jim, If you are seriously suggesting Brentford will finish above Orient, then you know less about football than I thought you did.
So Brentford fans let their displeasure be known after enduring 450 minutes of football at home without a goal.
How disgraceful of them. How ungrateful of them. They should sit quietly while their betters work on the long term plan, which we are only 130+ games into. Let’s see how the next 100 go and maybe more before we “rush to judgment”.