New Beesotted contributor, Jem Rampling, gives us a dollop of food for thought as he looks back on some of the defining moments in the changing fortunes of Brentford Football Club.
There is a paradox of motion which proposes that, because time can be broken into infinitely smaller parts, and that in a single instant all matter is static, movement is an illusion. It is impossible for an athlete to catch a tortoise because each movement towards the tortoise can be divided into smaller movements. You can close the gap by half, then by half again, then by half again ad infinitum, but that specific moment when the tortoise is caught by the athlete can never be qualified by the mathematics.
It is equally impossible to specify the moment when what Brentford used to be was superseded by what it now is. No single definitive moment exists; not promotion, not the stadium move, not even the emergence of Matthew Benham as club saviour and benefactor. Yet even as a 16 hour gimmick, Brentford sitting top of the Premier League embodied the completion of an extraordinary transition in the culture and standing of this humble club. The shift has been subtle, imperceptible to those of us outside the inner circle. But New Brentford is now unquestionably here, defined by self-confidence, rational intelligence and sustained progression, and we are now comfortable being the benchmark for optimising footballing potential within the UK and wider.
Those of us who lived it know what Old Brentford stood for; cycles of languishing, promising, disappointing and deconstructing, punctuated by intermittent threats to the club’s survival. “You don’t wanna go up” and “typical bloody Brentford” were the paddock catchphrases to define that era now gone. Driven by the investment and ideas of Benham and his team, old became new not in a single moment but over the course of the most wonderful decade in our Brentford supporting lives. And from this fan’s perspective, here are six key footballing moments that best define the metamorphosis of our club.
15 December 2007 – Wrexham 1 Brentford 3
After five consecutive games without a goal, including a 7-0 drubbing at Peterborough and successive 1-0 home losses to Morecambe and Grimsby, the club sat 87th in the football league and were drifting ever lower. Relieved from Terry Butcher’s awful tenure, his assistant Andy Scott was given the caretaker role and instantly oversaw a change in fortune and, equally, a change in attitude. Beginning with this 3-1 win against an incompetent Wrexham side, within 18 months Scott had overseen promotion to the third tier while Matthew Benham was planning a regular financial commitment to the club. This single game marked the turning point from the club’s decline into a sub-standard fourth tier outfit and Scott’s side were to lay the foundation for what would come over the following decade.
Promotion 2014
It was definitely still Old Brentford when, in April 2013, Marcello Trotta wrestled Kevin O’Connor out of the history books and we ended, at home to Doncaster, on our knees in their box with the ball down the other end in Simon Moore’s net. Yet having lost the Play Off final to underdogs Yeovil, the club made immediate positive noises of holding onto our best players and investing for another push. 2014 saw a comfortable, confident, anguish-free promotion once Trotta had achieved absolution at the season’s definitive game at Brisbane Road. This was a novel experience, a controlled promotion wrapped up prematurely and with some surprise on a Good Friday when all the stars seemed to align in our favour.
February 2015 – Schism
Our first season in the Championship was a glorious season of attacking football and overachievement, yet in the build-up to a crucial midweek game at home to Watford it was announced that Mark Warburton and his coaching staff would be moving on at the season’s close due to a difference of opinion with the Board over the future direction of the club. This was a test-case for the project, and the call divided opinion amongst fans with some loyal to a very popular and capable manager and others to the ethos of the Benham project. The club was unanimously ridiculed by national media, committed as they were to traditional football methods and traditional football men and, setting the club’s progression back considerably, the subsequent appointment of Marinus Dijkhuisen provided some vindication to the naysayers. But the hierarchy were honest enough to learn from this mistake and got back to where they needed to be in appointing Dean Smith before the year was out. Viewed from 2021 it seems obvious that the club should have stuck with principles over personnel, but at the time it was a bold call made in the face of opposition from within and outside of the club.
1 November 2017 – Birmingham 0 Brentford 2
Just a wonderful night. Two cheeky Maupay goals. Harlee Dean benched. Jota ineffective. Colin subbed after ten minutes. Had we been asset stripped by the Blues? Had we ‘eck? If a single match cemented confidence in the club’s recruitment methodology, this was it.
July 2019 – The Transfer Window
It seemed so unlikely when the news broke that we were making moves to sign arguably the best defender in the league from undoubtedly the biggest club. My Whatsapp group began buzzing on the Friday night and, by the end of the weekend, Pontus bloody Jansson was signing for Brentford. We were really going for it here, correcting the soft underbelly that had characterised our Championship failings to this point, spending £6m on the finished article, a master of gamesmanship, a strong leader and a very good centre-back. Looking back now at that Summer’s transfer activity, the progression in ambition is evident as we brought in much of the spine of our Premier League side for hitherto unimaginable fees. Raya, Nørgaard, Pinnock, Mbeumo and Jensen all came in but it was Jansson’s signing that demanded attention, marking us as serious contenders for promotion to the Premier League.
May 2021 – Brentford 2 Swansea 0
Another promotion built on the back of a play off final defeat, the club were by now the embodiment of the sporting cliché “we go again”. And to view this fixture with the secure objectivity of hindsight, it was a match without jeopardy won within twenty minutes. On the day of the final, Thomas Frank and the team were all charisma and self-belief and, in winning promotion through the play offs at the tenth time of asking, the transition into New Brentford was unequivocally complete.
Jem Rampling
What are your own personal ‘changing moments’ in The Bees’ recent history, please add them as a comment below.
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An excellent read. Thank you.
Excellent!
I remember the 1-0 defeat to Grimsby just before Wrexham and really thought we were heading for the Conference.
My lightbulb game is Brentford 3 Brighton 2, 14 September 2014, our first home win in the Championship and the first real showing for me of our wonderful new brand of passing football.
Look forward to your next article!
Fantastic piece Jay bringing back so many memories, personal as well as footballing. Thank you.
Smashing piece that. Really enjoyed reading it and reliving some great memories.
Really good article. Enjoyed that. One missing step was possibly the change in the style of football brought about by Uwe Rosler. (Andy Scott deserves his place here but the football could never be described as pretty!).
But was there one match under Rosler that encapsulates that change?
A very good summary, but I think there are two other decisive moments in the rising of the ‘new Brentford’.
The first being the recruitment of Thomas Frank as assistant to Dean Smith. Another magnificent example of forward planning to have every position covered. Thomas Frank was given time to absorb the Brentford culture and English football, to be groomed ready for the task when Smith, inevitably, would leave. What a masterstroke.
The second being the recruiting of Brian Reimer as Thomas Frank’s assistant. I distinctly remember reading a key brief for him was to work on developing a stronger defensive unit at Brentford. The weakness of Smith was defence and the early days of Frank were much the same. Potus Jansson has been an essential part of the maturing superbly miserly defence, but it is clear than Brian Reimer has delivered by the bucket load. So many teams have a solid defence and poor attack and the combination of Thomas Frank and Brian Reimer, welded with the recruiting team has delivered a seamless defence, midfield and attack.
I can only watch the highlights here in Australia, but wow, those few minutes each week are a revelation from the many years standing at Griffin Park, watching some shockers in my boyhood, youth and young man days. Those of us who spent all those years of the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s , watching Brentford and dreaming what might be are all now in in awe of everyone who has played a part in what is Brentford today, both on and off the pitch, yet still with the same humble values that has always been Brentford.
Isn’t it somehow profound that at a time Brentford are showing the worldwide football community the way of the future, the old world, as encapsulated by the likes of Barcelona, is showing every sign of decay.
What a time to be a Brentford supporter.
Always feel that the signings of players like Yennaris, Vibe and Bjelland were the first tests in markets that were key to our success too. Undervalued PL (London) reserves and Scandinavian imports. All let the staff know “yeah this is a viable model in practice as well”
Mad dog arrival and the great escape… I remember one of those special nights at GP Vs Rushen and Diamonds, 3 – 0 up within 30 minutes. He galvanised the fans and players and injected much needed PMA. Whatever happens, we stick together, Beelieve and love the bees.
Nice article. It’s all been about player recruitment for me. It was clear as a long term watcher from the terraces this process was started with the recruitment of Logan, Bidwell and Forshaw between June 2011 and February 2012. The quality of player went up considerably at this time and continues to this day !