Brentford’s Premiership adventure kicks off TONIGHT and Beesotted contributor Jim Levack shares his excitement, hopes and fears as the big match against Arsenal looms.
Within hours, Brentford fans will be flying even higher than they are now or acutely aware of the task that lies ahead.
It could be a re-run of the time we got up to League One and were outclassed 3-0 at home by Chesterfield… or it might be the day we finally come of age.
The mainstream media have been all over us like a cheap suit in the days leading up to tonight’s game, with Thomas Frank, Ivan Toney and even the once maligned Directors of Football being lauded as football gurus.
They’re not, they’re very naughty boys for upsetting the game’s traditional apple cart … but they have values, principles and a vision that has brought us to where we now sit just hours away from the PL (Promised Land).
No more slipping under the radar for this rag tag and bobtail Bus Stop outfit. We are big news now and will remain so – until we lose a game or two that is.
Then the moaners will be back, interest will wane and the column inches dedicated to well-trodden and lazy references to Moneyball will fade as quickly as they were typed to deadline.
There will also be those among us, quite possibly fans who have only experienced the last six or so glory years, who will begin to question, doubt and condemn.
There will be defeats – it’s the toughest league in the world – but to coin another cliché it’s how the club and us, the supporters, react to those that will count in the months ahead that matters.
Not just matter, but a healthy approach to football’s place in this world will mean we can have a broader view because as Thomas often says, “whatever happens, the sun will come up tomorrow”.
I used to laugh at callers to Five Live’s 606 programme moaning about their clubs with the well-worn charge sheets of lack of investment, underperforming players… the list goes on.
But they were Chelsea and Spurs supporters raised on a refined diet of success, so whatever happens we are streets ahead of them. To savour the adrenaline charged highs you must experience the gut-wrenching lows.
Tonight will be a high regardless of the result, a celebration of decades of extreme emotion, a joyous coming together of passion and pride and a landmark moment that many of us will wish loved ones could join us in.
They will be there with us, if not in person then in the spirit that has forged an indelible place in our hearts for this most special of clubs.
But in the end, come midnight, it will have been another game, another three points at stake and we will have played in the Premier League. Another one ticked off my bucket list.
So please, if you feel the urge to moan, please try to keep a lid on it because as the only real football guru, Peter Gilham, once famously wrote “these are the best of times”. Or did he pinch it from someone else?
It’s easy to say just being here is great, but we know we have the squad and set up to achieve much more than that and with a fair wind, some luck and few injuries, we will.
But football doesn’t always work like that so this season we need to be pragmatic and realistic and give the players and staff time to learn and grow both on and off the field.
Whatever happens, enjoy each game, support like it’s your last and, however hard it might be in the heat of the moment, treat victory and defeat the same.
Because, as the last 18 months has shown us, it’s often the bigger picture that matters more.
Jim Levack
