The opponent: Brentford
One of the consequences of 3 games in 7 days is having 3 extra large portions of my ramblings, for this I apologise unreservedly. Post Yeovil, this season is really starting to feel like last season, something mentioned by a few regular TEF contributors over the last few days and the stats speak for themselves really. This is how we are looking after 18 games, this season and last.
2011/2012 - Played 18, Won 9, Drawn 3, Lost 6, For 28, Against 16, Points 30
2012/2013 - Played 18, Won 9, Drawn 5, Lost 4, For 29, Against 14, Points 32
So its another Tuesday night under the lights at home, and making the fairly short journey along the M4 is Uwe Rosler’s Brentford. I have to admit, Brentford still remains one of my favourite away days, a proper old style ground, stinking toilets and a poxy hatch in the wall for the pre match Bovril. Not many people know that the floodlights at Griffin Park were donated by Chelsea, and in turn, Chelsea reserves play at Griffin Park. Brentford FC (you can see why they changed the name from Breguntford) were formed by Brentford Rowing Club back in 1889 looking for a winter sport to participate in, as The Thames would often freeze up over the winter. One thing that is likely to have pissed a few Bees fans off back in the 60’s was an attempted takeover by local rivals Queens Park Rangers when Brentford ran in to severe financial difficulties, the takeover was narrowly averted when they managed to secure a loan of £104’000, and QPR were sent packing. If Bee’s fans had their way, both teams will be meeting in The Championship next season, along with us, of course.
Brentford itself has quite an impressive selection of business that chooses to have its headquarters there. GlaxoSmithKline, Carillion, Audi, Kraft Foods, Sega Europe, the list goes on. Perhaps this is why During the English Civil War, Brentford was fought over by The Royalists and The Parliamentarians, even Julius Caeser kicked off in Brentford back in 54BC, having a right Roman ruck with local king, Cassivellaunus. But perhaps the finest piece of history they have to offer is Brentford Docks, built by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, with a rail line linking the docks to the Great Western Railways. *It is rumoured Brunel buried a Paolos Red and White Army Wembley T-shirt and a signed David Duke pair of Predator boots somewhere near Brentford Docks. *Complete lies
Brentford have a high calibre of supporters, Hollywood A-Listers, Cameron Diaz and Jim Carrey,(I have no idea why), Who guitarist, Pete Townshend, Comedian, Dominic Holland, former BBC Director General , Greg Dyke (who is also Chairman of the club), and my personal favourite, facially challenged Z-lister, Dean Gaffney aka Eastenders Robbie Jackson! Another comedian/actor, Bradley Walsh was also a professional for the club back in the 70’s, and it was rumoured that blubbering Celtic fan Rod Stewart once had trials for them back in 1961, but it was not plain sailing and he was not offered a contract with the Bees. When questioned about this years later, he said, “I don’t wanna, talk about it”.
What are they saying about us? – “Just hope we don't show them too much respect. Clearly they're a good side but only a few weeks ago they lost at home to Macclesfield in the FA cup. Let's be positive and believe we can go there and win”
http://www.griffinpark.org/forums/showthread.php?t=102363Brentford Last 6 – LWDLWD (9th on 29 points)
The Threat – Clayton Donaldson has hit the back of the net 8 times so far this season and has a career average of a shade better than 1 in 3. He can be a bit of a handful but if Ward and Devera keep up the form from the Yeovil match they should be able to keep him quiet. Believe it or not, our former captain has managed to score 4 times for them so far this season!
A Warm Welcome Too - A few people have probably been looking forward to this game, the return of midfield maestro Toumani Diagouraga really will have whet the appetite for some. Also returning is that Jonathan Douglas bloke, couldn’t give a poop about the underperforming gypsy and there is a certain irony in the fact he left us to better himself. One man trying to change the fortunes of The Bees is all round nice guy Mark Devlin, who is the current Chief Executive at the club. Anyone that could tolerate Diamandis for the length of time Mr Devlin did will always be ok with me.
The irrelevant stats – Brentford have the current best home form but away are another matter. It looks like they set themselves up for a draw away from home, as they have only won 1 game, drawn 6, and lost 2. In that time they have scored 9 goals and conceded 10. One thing we may want to look out for is between the 85th and 90th minute, Brentford have scored 6 goals this season.
Head to Head – We have met Brentford in the league on 74 occasions and we slightly have the upper hand having Won 31, Drawn 18 and Lost 25.
The Odds – Swindon
10/11 draw
12/5 Brentford
3/1 (Bet 365) First goal scorer odds may be worth a look if you fancy James Collins to carry on where he left off on Saturday, you can currently get
5/1 or if you think Darren Ward could open the scoring with a towering header then
33/1 seems to be the going rate. For those wanting to back the inevitable (more often than not), Douglas is a poor
12/1 with William Hill but back to Bet365 and you can get a rather large
28/1.
Sid Says – With minimal encouragement, the normally pessimistic one has predicted a 2-0 home victory.
The Prediction – A winnable game, no doubt about it. Brentford set themselves up away from home not to be beat. They play a bit of football but if we put them under enough pressure then we will win this 3-0, with goals from Ritchie, Collins and Ferry, who subsequently runs past Douglas kissing the Town badge in from of 7’821 (493 away)
And Finally – The first drawing of the moon made with a telescope, and the first telescopic observations of sunspots, were made at Syon House in Brentford. Thomas Harriot , who had surveyed Virginia with Walter Raleigh, obtained one of the early ‘Dutch trunk’ telescopes and set about making astronomical observations with it, seemingly before Galileo. He was at the time in the pay of the Earl of Northumberland, and lived at the latter’s Syon House by the Thames.
