The fantastic position Brentford are currently in, fans should have no excuse not to raise the roof at a Griffin Park against Preston.
But there seems to be a strange “nerves thing” that seems to take place with Brentford fans at times like this where they can tend to go quiet …. Arsenal stylee … and there is no real excuse for it.
Long gone are the days of “hate corner” – the area at the far end of the New Road by the Brook Road stand where the singing section used to assemble – when teams would profess to quite literally hate coming down to Griffin Park because they felt the atmosphere generated was so intimidating (and when we say intimidating they didn’t mean violently intimidating … They meant loud and frighteningly passionate).
I remember a night game against Gillingham. Brentford were 2-0 down at half time. Hate Corner fans were singing all the way through being 2-0 down … Then all the way through half time. And then into the second half they upped the ante with the continuous singing. Lloyd Owusu scored to bring the game back to 2-1 and the ground was rocking till the final whistle. The Bees ended but that atmosphere was amazing. And that was on a Tuesday night in October with 6,000 fans.
Today Preston are going to be in town in full effect. They are out on their annual Gentry day – dressed up in bowler hats and suits – and they won’t give a stuff as they have nothing to lose. The Preston association with the gentry (which traditional meant well-born, genteel and well-bred people of high social class) came about when Manager Alan Ball senior in the 70s praised Preston supporters’ support in a press conference saying “They are the the best. They are the gentry”. As a result, fans in the 70s used to go to games dressed up as gentry in bowler hats and suits.
The dressing up phased out over time but in 2005, Preston supporters decided to dedicate one game a year to supporters and players who have died within the last year by dressing up once again as Gentry. This day became Gentry Day and, needless to say, it became very popular. This season the Genty will be commemorating the life of ex Preston player Sir Tom Finney who died this year. To say they will be lively will be an understatement.
But enough of the history lesson. Let’s get back to basics here. Today of all days Brentford fans should be raising the roof. Today of all days we should be singing from the 1st minute right through to the 90th minute. Today of all days we should be forgetting moaning if the players fluff their shot. Or give the ball away. Or don’t track back. Or misses a penalty. Or because we don’t like a particular song (unless the song is offensive of course). These should all be opportunities to give the team even more support. Like we used to do back in the day. Because the players ultimately respond to it.
So today of all days it’s time to sing up for the Bees. Every single 10,000 of your up porting Brentford in the stadium today.
Respect to the Gentry but for 90 minutes let’s forget the Gentry …. Today is our day. So let’s help get our boys over that finish line. And let’s make some noise!!
BillytheBee
@billythebee99
