Griffin Park has witnessed many things in its long and eventful history, and although time is running out for the old girl with the new stadium about to be built, we all hope there’s some significant history yet to be made at our proud old home. However, I can’t see three English World Cup winners gracing the pitch at the same time again before we leave.
Today we cast our minds back to the summer of 1968, and a long-forgotten pre-season friendly between Jimmy Sirrel’s Bees team and former Brentford player Ron Greenwood’s West Ham United – with the lowly Bees seeing off Martin Peters, Bobby Moore, Geoff Hurst et al thanks to George Dobson’s goal.
Not only were West Ham generous in their team selection, but the Hammers’ board also agreed that gate receipts could be used to help repay Brentford’s loans that had been taken out as part of the battle for survival and the 1967 QPR take-over threat.
The single page match programme also announces that in the 1968/69 season that was to follow, Brentford FC would be experimenting with the introduction of three Saturday fixtures with a 7:30pm kick off – the first of which would be the season’s curtain raiser against Colchester United – which ended in a 4-0 home win.
The brand new Big Book of Griffin Park book is crammed full of hundreds of stories and photographs that really capture the spirit and soul of Griffin Park – the publication is a perfect way to celebrate a ground we all treasure.
If you haven’t got one already, make sure you get your own copy of this limited edition run by visiting the Brentford club shop or buying online via shop.brentfordfc.com.
Dave Lane
@beesotted100
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