| Play Offs 09:52 - May 17 with 61138 views | TomS |
Surely the only team that can stop Brentford from getting promoted is Brentford. Looking at the form table, Wycombe have a better record in their final five matches than all of the other three clubs in the Play Offs, and they got relegated.
Momentum is everything in the Championship, can the serial chokers keep their composure this time around? |  | | |  |
| Play Offs on 23:59 - May 31 with 2850 views | Myke |
| Play Offs on 23:11 - May 31 by Wegerles_Stairs |
I'd love to be wrong but I don't think we are the same as them. Their model is driven by a highly intelligent owner (and fan) taking what he has learnt from his business life and implementing that throughout the club. Brentford would not be where they are now without the analytics (as much as we take the piss out of them) and number crunchers.
Our owners have never shown the same level of dedication to our club. They are not boyhood QPR fans and do not have an emotional attachment to us like Benham has to Brentford. They've frequently shown that they make decisions based on flogging their businesses rather than for the good of the club - can you imagine Brentford signing a player because he might sell some shirts in South Korea? Or planning the location of a new stadium on how many flats they can sell? It's laughable.
Our chairman is only in the job because of who his father-in-law is. The appointment of someone like (Chelsea fan) Jamie Reuben to the board encapsulates the problem. Why was he there? He doesn't have any love for the club and departed as soon as he got a better offer, yet he was on the board making decisions about the club's future. Again, I can't see Benham letting some random billionaire have input into how the club was run.
Sadly, until we have someone as intelligent and committed as Benham I think we're kidding ourselves about the future. Yes, we had a decent second half of the season but the poor quality of the teams above us (bar Brentford) shows that finishing eighth is no guarantee of anything. [Post edited 31 May 2021 23:22]
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There are a lot of flaws in your post W_S. Nobody is suggesting we have been following the Brentford model since before they invented it! Obviously signing Park was in our embarrassing Prem era, which is exactly what we have been trying to trade our way out of for the past 4 or 5 years. We may not have a QPR 'fan' as an owner, but for a non-fan he is pretty damn committed, pumping millions into the club while his own primary business goes down the toilet due to the pandemic.
We also have some highly intelligent people like Hoos, real QPR men like Ferdinand and superb underage coaches like Ramsey, slowly but surely driving us on. Initially our sales were fire sales; Smithies, Luongo, Furlong etc, but Eze marked a significant departure from this, as we negotiated the best deal we could for both ourselves and the player. And the signs are good that this will continue with Dieng, Dickie, Chair, the former two are already attracting prem interest and are tied down to long contracts, which puts us in the driving seat. Clive is dead right when he says the likes of Dieng should be sold when we get a decent offer and then he is replaced with a cheaper (but not inferior) model. We may have already done this with Walsh. Year on year, Brentford sold their best players and replaced them. I am quite sure if they had not got promoted Toney would have been sold for in excess of £30M. This is not lacking ambition, this is shrewd business, developing the plan
Of course, you have to improve incrementally and there is evidence over the past two seasons that that is happening, particularly in the season just finished, DESPITE losing Eze, Manning and BOS, all mainstays of our previous season.
Yes we have needed loans to prop up our season, never more glaringly obvious than the season just finished, but nothing wrong with that, if it is either a short term fix to keep the overall project on board (Jo Jo) or genuinely improves the team in the longer term by making those signings permanent. You cannot have a team full of kids or OAP's, there has to be a balance, a space created to allow the kids to grow and develop, without carrying the full burden of results on their shoulder.
Yes, Warburton left Brentford over policy disagreements, fair enough, but people change and evolve. Good people learn from errors and change them, while holding onto the bits that worked. There is plenty evidence supporting Warburton's ability to change and improve.
So the QPR model of the past two years IS the same as Brentford's, or very similar. The big difference is that we have been doing it (properly) for TWO years, as opposed to their EIGHT. We have the right hierarchical structure in place, we are a couple of signings away from being very competitive in this league. Of course you are right, there are no guarantees, it could blow up in our face. But what is the alternative, randomly changing management, playing staff, playing styles etc, at least once a season (sometimes more often) and hoping it will somehow all click into place? If this doesn't work, then we at least can say we gave it a real go, before dramatically ripping it all up to start again. |  | | |
| Play Offs on 02:23 - Jun 1 with 2783 views | SydneyRs |
| Play Offs on 23:59 - May 31 by Myke |
There are a lot of flaws in your post W_S. Nobody is suggesting we have been following the Brentford model since before they invented it! Obviously signing Park was in our embarrassing Prem era, which is exactly what we have been trying to trade our way out of for the past 4 or 5 years. We may not have a QPR 'fan' as an owner, but for a non-fan he is pretty damn committed, pumping millions into the club while his own primary business goes down the toilet due to the pandemic.
We also have some highly intelligent people like Hoos, real QPR men like Ferdinand and superb underage coaches like Ramsey, slowly but surely driving us on. Initially our sales were fire sales; Smithies, Luongo, Furlong etc, but Eze marked a significant departure from this, as we negotiated the best deal we could for both ourselves and the player. And the signs are good that this will continue with Dieng, Dickie, Chair, the former two are already attracting prem interest and are tied down to long contracts, which puts us in the driving seat. Clive is dead right when he says the likes of Dieng should be sold when we get a decent offer and then he is replaced with a cheaper (but not inferior) model. We may have already done this with Walsh. Year on year, Brentford sold their best players and replaced them. I am quite sure if they had not got promoted Toney would have been sold for in excess of £30M. This is not lacking ambition, this is shrewd business, developing the plan
Of course, you have to improve incrementally and there is evidence over the past two seasons that that is happening, particularly in the season just finished, DESPITE losing Eze, Manning and BOS, all mainstays of our previous season.
Yes we have needed loans to prop up our season, never more glaringly obvious than the season just finished, but nothing wrong with that, if it is either a short term fix to keep the overall project on board (Jo Jo) or genuinely improves the team in the longer term by making those signings permanent. You cannot have a team full of kids or OAP's, there has to be a balance, a space created to allow the kids to grow and develop, without carrying the full burden of results on their shoulder.
Yes, Warburton left Brentford over policy disagreements, fair enough, but people change and evolve. Good people learn from errors and change them, while holding onto the bits that worked. There is plenty evidence supporting Warburton's ability to change and improve.
So the QPR model of the past two years IS the same as Brentford's, or very similar. The big difference is that we have been doing it (properly) for TWO years, as opposed to their EIGHT. We have the right hierarchical structure in place, we are a couple of signings away from being very competitive in this league. Of course you are right, there are no guarantees, it could blow up in our face. But what is the alternative, randomly changing management, playing staff, playing styles etc, at least once a season (sometimes more often) and hoping it will somehow all click into place? If this doesn't work, then we at least can say we gave it a real go, before dramatically ripping it all up to start again. |
Don't forget its taken Brentford an awful long time, and patience, to get there step by well planned step. Frank had a dreadful start and QPR twitter would have been screaming for a sacking in similar circumstances, but they stuck with a plan they believed in and its paid off.
I do think it can only take them so far (bottom half of prem battling relegation) because now they will be in a division dominated by teams who can buy the world's best. Picking up well scouted scandanvians etc might get you out of the championship eventually but in the prem is unlikely to make too many waves.
Ultimately even in a new ground they are very small for that league and its hard to survive for very long in that situation without a mega rich owner coming in, which in itself would change the whole club ethos and may be counter productive. Bournemouth managed to survive for a bit but long term it doesn't happen for the little clubs. Burnley are another that will eventually go, they are already at their ceiling. We know only too well how tough it is.
Others have been well run in the prem and admired. Charlton, Swansea to name a couple. All eventually ended up back down again. I like what we are doing but again it can probably only take us so far. History shows how tough it is for small clubs to consistently succeed.
I can see Brentford becoming a WBA style yoyo team where, if they come down, they won't have wasted their prem money and will be very likely to go back up again. [Post edited 1 Jun 2021 2:24]
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| Play Offs on 07:23 - Jun 1 with 2705 views | joe90 |
Congratulations to Brentford and their fans. Must be a great feeling to enjoy promotion after all these years, and definitely much better doing it now than last year.
Unlike some of on here I don't believe we're following the 'Brentford model' exactly and nor would I want us to. We seem to have a more traditional model in comparisons as we still have a youth set up and are looking to get all the teams training in the same place once the new training ground is open. Our model isn't simply buy low sell high...we're more ambitious in how we want to develop and sell players, which I think will create a longer lasting legacy. I also think it's really impressive how quickly we've turned it all around. |  | | |
| Play Offs on 07:39 - Jun 1 with 2687 views | distortR |
| Play Offs on 07:23 - Jun 1 by joe90 |
Congratulations to Brentford and their fans. Must be a great feeling to enjoy promotion after all these years, and definitely much better doing it now than last year.
Unlike some of on here I don't believe we're following the 'Brentford model' exactly and nor would I want us to. We seem to have a more traditional model in comparisons as we still have a youth set up and are looking to get all the teams training in the same place once the new training ground is open. Our model isn't simply buy low sell high...we're more ambitious in how we want to develop and sell players, which I think will create a longer lasting legacy. I also think it's really impressive how quickly we've turned it all around. |
yeah, I'm proud of our youth teams offering a door to local kids, as well to those further afield. It appears to me we have looked at their model (We'd be stupid not to), but have adapted it to fit in with what we want to do.
It's also worth noting that Benham has sunk over £100m into Brentford - for all his undoubted success and excellent dealings in the transfer market, they are not, or haven't been up to now, self-funding.
Which in itself shows the problem championship clubs have, when the club who have been far and away the best at playing the transfer markets are still losing money. | | | |
| Play Offs on 10:28 - Jun 1 with 2561 views | Juzzie |
"its hard to survive for very long in that situation without a mega rich owner coming in..." Unless FFP is scrapped or completely overhauled this is not possible, hasn't been for a few years.
Clubs have to manage based on their own income stream and generally having 25k+ crowds (lets put C19 aside for the minute) is key to that. I think it's why Bournemouth finally succumbed. As with everyone else, they were no longer allowed to have their owner pump in money to offset the small stadium. The attendance difference is probably around £18m loss per season at least I reckon.
C19 may mean FFP is temporarily reviewed and, for a few seasons at least, may give owners an opportunity (maybe capped/restricted too) to put money into the playing side but there may be all sorts of caveats such as any investment is to keep the club stable so the just don't go crazy and gets loads of Park's, Bosingwa's, Rio Ferndinand's etc. and lumber the club in the schit again.
It's certainly going to be an interesting time for Brentford to be in the PL again next season. |  | | |
| Play Offs on 10:52 - Jun 1 with 2505 views | switchingcode |
| Play Offs on 19:55 - May 31 by Northernr |
No absoluely don't mean you, I hoped that was clear, I value your input on here. I mean Frank, one or two of the players, and one or two of your more high profile fans.
I would suggest the Warburton way has changed a bit, partly because of regrets he has over how it ended at Brentford. |
Ok l obviously took it the wrong way ðŸ‘Warburton has long since made up with Benham he actually gave a good reference for him when he was being considered for a coaching position within England’s youths set up before he joined you. | | | |
| Play Offs on 10:58 - Jun 1 with 2489 views | switchingcode |
| Play Offs on 16:50 - May 31 by sprocket |
TF does himself no favours. Watch pointing during Bournemouth match was cringeworthy and stopped as soon as they went 3-1 up.
Gone by Christmas is my prediction. Brentford to stay up though. |
Think most managers of other clubs piss us off from time to time.The only way Thomas goes this season will be if it’s his choice.Look at our recent history with managers. | | | |
| Play Offs on 11:01 - Jun 1 with 2479 views | switchingcode |
| Play Offs on 16:50 - May 30 by denhamhoop2 |
I thought Grimes challenge in the first few minutes was worse a snidey studs first challenge luckily it was on Canos so he was already flying through the air before the challenge came in |
So did l ,thought the red card harsh although detest Fulton | | | |
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| Play Offs on 11:08 - Jun 1 with 2460 views | switchingcode |
| Play Offs on 18:18 - May 31 by denhamhoop2 |
I think the smugness is by a lot of the newer fans that post on Facebook oh and your manager Herr Frank and a few of the players. Might also include a chairman/owner who has stated he expects to be Top 10 like Leeds(Must be tongue in cheek unless he is totally deluded) . As for having an expensive academy is it much difference than a Development squad in terms of outlay am quite shocked that Brentford actually have more goalkeepers than QPR which takes some doing.
Then throw in lots of new fans who have known nothing but success for Brentford let's see what happens if this rollercoaster dips down for a bit.
Still think it was mad to have a shiny new stadium that holds less than 20k
As for resale value there is more to football than making money but then I am a football romantic and was brought up on QPR teams where Venables McLintock and Wilkins played a massive part in using their experience |
I agree with you about new fans the ones who have constantly called for Franks head when we lose a few games.The stadium was all we could afford and we are stuck with it as we can’t increase capacity unless we go back to standing sections and then the present rules won’t make much difference.We will spend the rest of my days mainly in the championship I expect (I’m an old git)so it will do.Sad fact of life these days it’s all about the money. | | | |
| Play Offs on 11:32 - Jun 1 with 2424 views | switchingcode |
| Play Offs on 23:59 - May 31 by Myke |
There are a lot of flaws in your post W_S. Nobody is suggesting we have been following the Brentford model since before they invented it! Obviously signing Park was in our embarrassing Prem era, which is exactly what we have been trying to trade our way out of for the past 4 or 5 years. We may not have a QPR 'fan' as an owner, but for a non-fan he is pretty damn committed, pumping millions into the club while his own primary business goes down the toilet due to the pandemic.
We also have some highly intelligent people like Hoos, real QPR men like Ferdinand and superb underage coaches like Ramsey, slowly but surely driving us on. Initially our sales were fire sales; Smithies, Luongo, Furlong etc, but Eze marked a significant departure from this, as we negotiated the best deal we could for both ourselves and the player. And the signs are good that this will continue with Dieng, Dickie, Chair, the former two are already attracting prem interest and are tied down to long contracts, which puts us in the driving seat. Clive is dead right when he says the likes of Dieng should be sold when we get a decent offer and then he is replaced with a cheaper (but not inferior) model. We may have already done this with Walsh. Year on year, Brentford sold their best players and replaced them. I am quite sure if they had not got promoted Toney would have been sold for in excess of £30M. This is not lacking ambition, this is shrewd business, developing the plan
Of course, you have to improve incrementally and there is evidence over the past two seasons that that is happening, particularly in the season just finished, DESPITE losing Eze, Manning and BOS, all mainstays of our previous season.
Yes we have needed loans to prop up our season, never more glaringly obvious than the season just finished, but nothing wrong with that, if it is either a short term fix to keep the overall project on board (Jo Jo) or genuinely improves the team in the longer term by making those signings permanent. You cannot have a team full of kids or OAP's, there has to be a balance, a space created to allow the kids to grow and develop, without carrying the full burden of results on their shoulder.
Yes, Warburton left Brentford over policy disagreements, fair enough, but people change and evolve. Good people learn from errors and change them, while holding onto the bits that worked. There is plenty evidence supporting Warburton's ability to change and improve.
So the QPR model of the past two years IS the same as Brentford's, or very similar. The big difference is that we have been doing it (properly) for TWO years, as opposed to their EIGHT. We have the right hierarchical structure in place, we are a couple of signings away from being very competitive in this league. Of course you are right, there are no guarantees, it could blow up in our face. But what is the alternative, randomly changing management, playing staff, playing styles etc, at least once a season (sometimes more often) and hoping it will somehow all click into place? If this doesn't work, then we at least can say we gave it a real go, before dramatically ripping it all up to start again. |
Think both this and WS post have a lot of credibility I would also add Matthew Benham has always said he’s not in this for the long run so I’m just going to enjoy it while I can in my old age.If we end up as a good championship side for the rest of my days I’ll be happy. | | | |
| Play Offs on 12:19 - Jun 1 with 2382 views | BazzaInTheLoft |
| Play Offs on 11:32 - Jun 1 by switchingcode |
Think both this and WS post have a lot of credibility I would also add Matthew Benham has always said he’s not in this for the long run so I’m just going to enjoy it while I can in my old age.If we end up as a good championship side for the rest of my days I’ll be happy. |
As fans of a Club that completely squandered two Premiership opportunities and whose expectations were unreasonably sky high, I’d imagine in hindsight most QPR fans would recommend that you just enjoy the new grounds and the occasional exceptional result but otherwise ignore all the other plastic Premiership trinkets.
Also, avoid Kia Joorabchian like he’s got super strength Ebola. [Post edited 1 Jun 2021 12:24]
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| Play Offs on 19:00 - Jun 1 with 2145 views | SK_hoops |
| Play Offs on 12:59 - May 22 by stevec |
Cameraman’s a perv, keeps focusing on some woman pointing at her watch. |
Catherine of Arrogance. [Post edited 1 Jun 2021 19:04]
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| Play Offs on 01:15 - Jun 2 with 1981 views | NewBee |
| Play Offs on 14:33 - May 31 by Mick_S |
I didn’t know that Thomas Frank behaved like that before the Bournemouth match. No point calling him names, but, deary me, show some class.
Again - well done Sc. Well done and about time, but he really needs to have a look at himself. |
As Switching Code explained elsewhere, TF was not giving it the old "3-0", rather it was "2 games still to go".
And that was only one brief episode during a lap of the pitch to rouse the fans. As he said afterwards, it wasn't pre-meditated, it was just spur-of-the-moment.
And by crikey it worked, since the atmosphere was brilliant, right from the kick-off. | | | |
| Play Offs on 01:22 - Jun 2 with 1965 views | NewBee |
| Play Offs on 16:50 - May 31 by sprocket |
TF does himself no favours. Watch pointing during Bournemouth match was cringeworthy and stopped as soon as they went 3-1 up.
Gone by Christmas is my prediction. Brentford to stay up though. |
With a 1-0 lead from the 1st leg, Bournemouth were time-wasting right from the kick-off i.e. even before they stretched the lead to 2 goals
And of course he stopped doing it after Bees went 3-1 up - that's when Bournemouth suddenly stopped time-wasting for goodness sake! lol | | | |
| Play Offs on 01:41 - Jun 2 with 1951 views | NewBee |
| Play Offs on 18:04 - May 31 by ParkRoyalR |
I think the same could be said when I lived off the South Ealing Road in the late 90's, you wouldn't know a match was on unless you were well south of the station,
They did put alot of work into the Community but probably undid that over-night when closing their Academy without too much empathy for the young lads who had committed so much time to training and playing for it,
I think Hoos is right in that unfortunately fans now days are very much motivated by success and Brentford have had 8 good years with the last 5 of those coinciding with no success for Arsenal and United, hence what was once a lot of peoples 2nd team now becomes their 1st, be it due to their recent success or affordability.
Also think traditional working class support in Inner West London areas like W12, W10 etc is no longer there, hence why you see more Fulham shirts in the leafy streets off Goldhawk Road and Top 4 shirts in White City estate, Latimer Road etc.
Clubs like Arsenal, Chelsea, Fulham, Watford and Brentford will continue to draw support from our traditional catchment areas unless we can put together a winning team, which I think Warburton can. |
Re the Academy, there is a lot of misunderstanding about what really went on.
The fact is, Bees were originally one of the most committed clubs to the Academy concept, being (I think) one of just two third level clubs who invested in a second level Academy. As such they spent literally millions from the start, including a brilliant new Training Facilty/Gym at a school in Uxbridge, for the benefit of both their own Academy intake AND the school.
But then the PL changed the Rules, whereby in return for a few quid thrown the way of the EFL, they imposed a cap on transfers between Academies.
So that after BFC lost two star pupils, Joe Hardy and Ian Poveda, to Liverpool and Man City for £50k each, when previously they might reasonably have expected £500k each, that's when Benham decided that he wasn't going to spend money creating a Feeder Academy for the Big Clubs. (Nor, unlike many, does he subscribe to The Sunken Cost Fallacy).
Instead he and his team came up with a new strategy, the 'B' Team, which this season alone saw 6 'B' players make their 1st team debuts. and is now beginning to be copied eg by Huddersfield.
As for the kids who lost out when the Academy closed, sure that must have been very disappointing, but don't fool yourself, clubs don't take these kids on just from the goodness of their heart. Rather they do it for the good of the club.
And considering that statistically, of every 100 kids who enter a full-time Academy at 16, only one will be playing f-t professional football 10 years later, then the other 99 are goiung to be discarded anyhow.
And none of that is Brentford's doing. | | | |
| Play Offs on 01:59 - Jun 2 with 1948 views | NewBee |
Re DenhamHoop2:
"Still think it was mad to have a shiny new stadium that holds less than 20k"
If you look at the stadium "footprint" i.e. hemmed in by 3 railway lines, it is a marvel that there was room for a stadium of any size.
But seeing as that was the only available/affordable piece of land within 5 miles (mimimum) of Griffin Park, the owner decided he'd rather have a smallish stadium in Brentford, than a bigger one out on eg some soulless indusrtrial site out by Heathow.
Meanwhile, as for the capacity, when they looked at the figures, they realised that by increasing the number of premium/hospitality seating at the expense of standard seating, a 17.5k capacity would produce more revenue than the orignal 20k capacity.
Moreover, it was also more attractive to our tenant, London Irish, and so made it more "rentable". I don't know how much Irish are paying, but in one sense, the stadiun could be said to have a 20k+ capacity, in that it gives BFC that level of revenue.
And when you're hoping to compete with the likes of Chelsea, Spurs and Arsenal etc, never mind Fulham or QPR, every penny counts. | | | |
| Play Offs on 05:24 - Jun 2 with 1895 views | stainrods_elbow |
| Play Offs on 13:21 - May 31 by Northernr |
Apart from another club in our vicinity moving ahead of us (which is dire news when we’re talking about attracting young players and fans) Brentford getting promoted in the way they have is good news for us because it’s shown you can trade your way out of this. That’s our only hope, and why we’re now miraculously getting better despite the supposedly best players leaving. It’s why any decent offer for Dieng should be taken. Selling at the right time when the price is right is success, not failure or lack of ambition. There seems to be a growing consensus that it’s the same 3 up and down and you’re fcked without parachutes but it’s not true, Brentford we’re better than Watford and Bournemouth for me, and Norwich are a special case as they’d specifically planned to go up down and up again. We can do this, we can. Selling Eze and spending some of the money on Dykes, Willock, Dickie, hopefully Thomas still, is a really positive step for us.
They are bloody smug with it though, and that attitude holds them back. They should have been second this year, but they wobbled and drew a load of games abs instead of assessing why that was happening Frank just came out with stuff like “effectively it was a 3-1 win”. Even before the Bournemouth semi final he’s going round the pitch pre game holding up three fingers telling everybody they’re going to win 3-0 - first thing that happens, they put all ten in the box at a corner and concede on the counter.
I hate the smugness, I hate the sky coverage, I’m not a fan of franks “I’m 100% certain we’re going to win”, and I hate that another local club has gone past us, but I love what they’ve done and it gives me great hope that our model can work if we keep faith in it. Not sacking Warburton for Sherwood at Christmas last year a big positive step for us. |
I think the fact that the smallest club in West London, the inflated insects otherwise known as Brentford, have now overtaken us in the football food chain, to add to Chelscum and Foolham, significantly outflanks any argument about whether their trading model is anything (let alone the only thing) for us to emulate. In terms of our 'sustainability' (which hinges as much on our attracting and maintaining a new generation of young fans as our wheeling and dealing in the transfer market or even the fluctuations of our league standing), it should have all of us increasingly worried.
Football isn't just a 'market'- it's about, for want a better word, 'soul'. Only those who've sold theirs would argue otherwise. It's about developing intangibles ('team spirit') which comes about through retaining the nucleus of a quality squad that wants to go places together (and taking the fans with it), excellent coaching, an outstanding youth development policy that brings through special young players, and critical but committed supporters who've been there through thick and thin and understand these things. Plus a big dollop of luck along the way with things like injuries, suspensions and the - another intangible - mystical 'rub of the green'. If football were played on a balance sheet, all you'd need to run a successful club would be accountants, business executives and marketing managers, and we fan(atic)s, in our mad love, irrational idealism and pursuit of Theseus' paradox (what does it even mean to support a football club when nothing about it stays the same?) would become obsolete - as at least one brilliant Guardian journalist had argued we are now becoming in the shadow of Covid, fan facsimiles, fake noise, and 'big club' European breakaways.
Selling the likes of Dieng after barely one good season at the first sniff of a decent fee would be two steps forward and at least five back, given that we would almost certainly be back to an inadequate or inexperienced keeper along the lines of Lumley or Walsh, which means we would be losing many more points a season, upsetting an increasingly capable defence and sending out a baleful message to both our better players and fans that we are just going to tread water at best. How many more times! Jim Gregory said it in the 1970s. Gerry Francis said it in the 1990s. Kevin Gallen has said it in the 2020s. If you consistently shed the cream of your crop, you might have a flukey good season, but ultimately the ship will start to sink. It happened to us in 1977-78, in 1994-96, and, had it not been for a trio of judicious loans at the start of this year when we were staring down the barrel of relegation, history could well have repeated itself in 2020/21.
In these situations, if a club does sell an asset, only recruitment that really strengthens the squad will do a job, and that is very difficult to bring off on a consistent basis. We've done it before over the years in replacing Marsh with Bowles and Sinton with Sinclair, for instance - others can cite a few other more recent examples - but more often than not, it's been buttons for diamonds.
I do agree we've done better than expected with the recruitment and coaching over recent months - Chair, Willock, Dickie and Dykes are all looking like they could be the real deal for us - but it still seemed as if the loss of Eze, Wells and Hugill really knocked the stuffing out of us for too long and it took the aforementioned 2021 loans (Charlie, Field and Johansen) to get us back on track - of whom we may only entice one to stay. Next season will be crucial to gauging our progress, resilience and teamwork, and I'd say the scales are finely balanced. Meanwhile, I'm neither madly optimistic, nor miserably pessimistic, but I'm sure the usual suspects will be snapping out of their traps to lecture me on what I don't 'understand'. [Post edited 2 Jun 2021 5:51]
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| Play Offs on 07:25 - Jun 2 with 1829 views | Northernr |
| Play Offs on 17:29 - May 31 by switchingcode |
Who are these smug people ?do you mean me?apart from the now boring bees up Fulham down chant our fans after the game were just having a great time also singing the bus stop song .You ought to have a look at your clubs other site christ I know it doesn’t have much traffic but must house all your rejects from this site that’s an embarrassment.
When you talk about following our so called model I can’t see it as you still have an expensive academy and a manager who left us because he didn’t agree with our strategy that’s a fact and we stopped the loan route that he liked after he left.We also had at the time a much smaller fan base so selling your best players every season is not popular with all your fans but there was little resistance or noise.It’s also taken us 8 years and 4 managers in saying all that he could just as easily get you up the Warburton way and I hope you do along with Fulham as long as we mange to stay up of course.I think next season a good tournament for Dykes and a young striker alongside is a better option than the ageing expensive Austin who will have no resale value and lucky to get 30 games out of apart from Stoke (loads of money) can’t see any stand out teams next
season. |
Who are these smug Brentford fans he asks, as New Bee appears for the first time since the day before you lost to QPR to tell us all how it is. |  | | |
| Play Offs on 07:30 - Jun 2 with 1825 views | Northernr |
| Play Offs on 01:15 - Jun 2 by NewBee |
As Switching Code explained elsewhere, TF was not giving it the old "3-0", rather it was "2 games still to go".
And that was only one brief episode during a lap of the pitch to rouse the fans. As he said afterwards, it wasn't pre-meditated, it was just spur-of-the-moment.
And by crikey it worked, since the atmosphere was brilliant, right from the kick-off. |
That's bolox, he's holding three up with his right hand and making a zero with his left. It's not a big issue but don't shit in my mouth and tell me it's chocolate. | | | |
| Play Offs on 07:40 - Jun 2 with 1810 views | denhamhoop2 |
| Play Offs on 01:15 - Jun 2 by NewBee |
As Switching Code explained elsewhere, TF was not giving it the old "3-0", rather it was "2 games still to go".
And that was only one brief episode during a lap of the pitch to rouse the fans. As he said afterwards, it wasn't pre-meditated, it was just spur-of-the-moment.
And by crikey it worked, since the atmosphere was brilliant, right from the kick-off. |
Would be worried that the manager has to rabble rouse the fans for a Playoff game at home especially in a season where all of those fans had only seen the team play once if at all | | | |
| Play Offs on 07:55 - Jun 2 with 1791 views | switchingcode |
| Play Offs on 07:30 - Jun 2 by Northernr |
That's bolox, he's holding three up with his right hand and making a zero with his left. It's not a big issue but don't shit in my mouth and tell me it's chocolate. |
Think if you look again it’s 2 although the reporter says he’s predicting 3 0 but as you say so what
enjoy your Mars bar ðŸ‘😉 | | | |
| Play Offs on 08:14 - Jun 2 with 1765 views | HanwellHoopster |
I mostly lurk here, and enjoy your contributions, but what on earth do you think he's doing with his left hand in that video?!
Surely better just to own this - he's very confident, lots of elite sportspeople and coaches are. Hard to maintain high degrees of confidence without it tipping into overconfidence etc etc | | | |
| Play Offs on 09:18 - Jun 2 with 1710 views | ParkRoyalR |
| Play Offs on 01:15 - Jun 2 by NewBee |
As Switching Code explained elsewhere, TF was not giving it the old "3-0", rather it was "2 games still to go".
And that was only one brief episode during a lap of the pitch to rouse the fans. As he said afterwards, it wasn't pre-meditated, it was just spur-of-the-moment.
And by crikey it worked, since the atmosphere was brilliant, right from the kick-off. |
By crikey, an atmosphere at Brentford, this is going from the sublime to the ridiculous! | | | |
| Play Offs on 09:27 - Jun 2 with 1689 views | MrSheen |
| Play Offs on 08:14 - Jun 2 by HanwellHoopster |
I mostly lurk here, and enjoy your contributions, but what on earth do you think he's doing with his left hand in that video?!
Surely better just to own this - he's very confident, lots of elite sportspeople and coaches are. Hard to maintain high degrees of confidence without it tipping into overconfidence etc etc |
Three fingers up on one hand, circle with finger and thumb on the other? Obvious innit, white power! |  | | |
| Play Offs on 09:34 - Jun 2 with 1671 views | BazzaInTheLoft |
Walcott here clearly teaching Spurs fans GCSE maths.
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