The Fabled Five Finals

The phrase “cup final” is normally thrown about by football fans without actually thinking what the phrase means. To some, the FA cup final at Wembley is the ultimate “cup final”. To others, a last game of the season relegation dogfight at a ground where the pitch is more sand than grass would be worthy of the title.  But recently, the term has taken on a completely new meaning to the Brentford faithful.

Why’s that? Well, most teams have one cup final a year if they’re lucky. However, Brentford have had 5 cup finals in a row this season. 5 games to see us into 6^th place and fire us into the play-off picture. Hartlepool, Notts County, Stevenage, Sheffield Wednesday and Chesterfield. Our cup final won’t be played at Wembley like last season, but rather at the traditional Griffin Park and the amazing B2Net Stadium.  As a fan, this is fine by me.

Let me give you a scenario and ask you a question. It’s May, and your team are in the relegation places in League One but you had a day out at Wembley for the Johnstone’s Paint trophy final. Would you consider this a “successful season” simply because of a Wembley appearance? Or would you rather that you were out of the cup competitions by December, but had a chance of gatecrashing the play-offs come the end of May because of a great run of games? Well, the latter is the predicament that Brentford find themselves in this season, and what a fantastic place to be.

Normally, a league game lacks excitement, and it tends to feel like ‘just another game’. Our 5 cup finals has changed that feeling completely. I don’t tend to get pre-game nerves, at the end of the day I feel as though we have many games left to gain back the points we may have dropped. That’s changed in the last few weeks, as every Brentford fan knows full well that a loss is no longer acceptable, and to be fair a draw isn’t much good either. Only a win will do. The excitement, thrill and thought of the unknown just isn’t applicable to most league games, but is to these end of season match ups, and the atmosphere round Griffin Park couldn’t be better.

Which is strange. I recently purchased a fanzine from outside of Griffin Park entitled “Thorne in the Side” to see how other fans were writing about the season. What a shock I was in for. Rather than seeing intelligent discussion about whether Niall McGinn has been fully utilized or if the new signing Stuart Dallas will be a major coup for us, it was full of hate and distaste for Uwe Rosler and his Brentford team. This was not a fanzine. It was as though the most miserable, boring and brainless people in the world had assembled to simply slag off people that have done better than them. Or, to me, it seemed as though the “authors” of the fanzine were stuck in the past, constantly referring to past players who they seemed to think “played with some heart”. This coming from the people that seem to think the only player that had done something this season was Kevin O’Connor, even though he has been injured for most of it. It was neither intelligent nor well thought out, but the biggest waste of money ever.

Moving on, I have to once again sing Uwe Rosler’s praises. As seen in previous articles, Rosler has been up and down more times that a yo-yo in the views of some Brentford fans, which has been completely unjust. The signing of Clinton Morrison has been an act of pure genius, and has coincided with our great run of form. Why may that be? In my personal opinion, it’s because of the vibe that Morrison brings to the dressing room. Any one that has seen Clinton Morrison will understand full well when I say the bloke is a bit of a character. Its because of that, however, that the dressing room has seemed to pick up after slumps at Orient and Bournemouth and all of a sudden find themselves in the play-off picture. Its remarkable that one simple signing can produce fruits like this. If it hadn’t, mind you, I’m sure the authors at the ‘fanzine’ would be slating him for not scoring yet. Football is a strange, strange world unfortunately. 

The Notts County game at the weekend was one of the best games I have been to all season long. Of course, the crowd had swelled as a result of it being such a huge game, meaning an increase in the amount of ‘”floating fans”. This didn’t harm the atmosphere however, but made it a million times better. For once, all three sides of the ground were singing in unison, aided by a small army of children in the New Road stand that sang Brentford songs when no one else was. You could see the benefit of this to the players on the pitch, who played some very slick football that Barca would most definitely be proud of. We were the better side for most of the game, and it’s a huge shame that we came away from that game with a 0-0 score line. How Sam Saunder’s freekick was cleared off the line by the defender’s head when it should have nestled in the top corner is beyond me, but nevertheless it was a thoroughly good game. I just wish the 7000 fans that were there would come every week; our players seem to love the attention.

Although this season has been very much up and down, I believe it is vital that we remember that Brentford is a club in progress. Rome, or Manchester United in this instance, was not built in a day. Sir Alex Ferguson didn’t immediately make Man United into the fantastic team they are now overnight, and its crazy to think Uwe could do that with Brentford, who have a tiny, minuscular budget, which is smaller than even Shaun Wright-Phillips. However, with the eye that the management has for talent, I think next season will most definitely be a fantastic season for all connected with Brentford Football Club.  Let’s hope that we have a cup final and a promotion to enjoy!

Thorpe Park? Forget That; Lets go to Griffin Park Instead!

Rollercoasters. You either love them or hate them. Some would consider a day out in the gut-splattering, upside-down, teenage haven of Thorpe Park an ideal day. Others may not. If you are the latter, then I suggest you do not come to Griffin Park any time soon. We can offer more thrills and spills than Thorpe Park, Chessington and that mouse’s funfair over the pond combined.

Here’s what I mean: after losing three games on the trot and already looking as if we had gone on our summer holidays, we’ve turned into the form team, winning four on the bounce. Thankfully, we’re nearly at the end of the ride, but I just cant help but think where we would be without the inconsistencies. At the time of writing we are five points off Carlisle in sixth, a team that we made look like Beddington Terriers. We also just beat MK Dons away, and they’re meant to be the 5^th best team in the division!

Without a doubt some of the football played in the first half last night against Oldham Athletic was (I’m sorry to use the cliché but there’s really no other way to describe it) Barcelona-like. The ball was pinged around from Douglas to Dave like a small man is between the crowds in rush hour on the Underground. It was magnificent. Why pay £50 at QPR to watch a team of useless, overpaid, Twitter-holics play rubbish football when you can pay a third of that to watch the Bees play total football? Shaleum Logan was running down that wing just like Dani Alves (far better in my opinion, cause the lad can defend too) and Sammy Saunders was hitting free kicks just like Xavi. We were too much for Oldham to handle, and that was reflected in the 2-0 score line.

Now we find ourselves at the business end of the season, or if you’re on a rollercoaster the bit that makes you want to puke your guts up for the next 4 hours.  6 games left to ultimately decide whether we end up in the end–of-season-lottery or the rubbish pile. 6 cup finals if you want.  I’m very sure the team are well aware that we cant really afford to drop points if we want to be in the play-offs, Clinton Morrison will undoubtedly have already told them about 45 times, but we can do it. Teams that tend to do well in the play-offs come into form at about this time in the season and carry that momentum through with them, and as sure as anything some of our players are most definitely coming into form. A certain Mr. Clayton Donaldson, who I stood up for whilst he was going through his rough patch, has proved me right and has started playing like that striker we bought from Crewe, big and powerful and able to score bags of goals. Worryingly, it seems that Donaldson and Fernando Torres mirror one another’s performances, as they are both starting to look like their former selves. I say worryingly because we all know Torres gets injured when he plays well, and as much as I don’t like the Spaniard I do not want to see our man Clayton get injured by mirroring him! With him and Clinton Morrison up front, I think we have a strike force that can do damage to even the best defences. That will be tested when Sheffield Wednesday come to visit on the 28^th April.

Although I’m going on about our chances in the play-offs, I have to be realistic and look ahead to the prospect of another season in League One. It wouldn’t be such a bad thing in all honesty.  Its only Uwe Rosler’s first season at Brentford, let alone in England and he has proven to be a top class manager, even if some of the grumpy fans at Brentford call for his head every second game. Our budget is far smaller than some of the teams in this league, and for us to be able to beat them, and beat them convincingly is credit to his management. We’ve also gone from playing Andy Scott football, which for those of you that haven’t had the pleasure of witnessing this is giving the ball to the goalkeeper who in turn lumps in down the field for a striker to head down and then score, to playing one touch football on the ground. It worked for Brighton under Gus Poyet, and it looks like it’s working for us under Uwe Rosler. I wouldn’t be surprised if Barca come in for Uwe if Pep Guardiola leaves them at the end of the season. I’m sure he would stick with us though.

Finally, with the season coming to a 124mph sudden stop that sends your lungs through your ribcage, it looks to be a very nail-biting time to be a Brentford fan. But hey, isn’t that what it’s all about?