Blue Monday, Grey Brentford

I really didn't feel like going to watch Brentford last night but I still hopped on the 237 for the 25 minute journey from W12 to TW8.  I could have taken the car but naively I though we might have a decent crowd and didn't fancy hunting out a parking space in the tight back streets around Griffin Park.

As it turns out just over 3,000 were in the ground to witness the second 1-1 draw against Exeter City in 72 hours.  Monday night, a wet wet night and game on Sky, three contributing factors to a pitiful attendance but I think it also shows that at the moment there is real apathy between fans and the club.  Ok it's 'only' the JPT but we are in the area final, a two legged affair that sees the winners play at Wembley so surely we can do better than a crowd of 3,093!!

The GPG is always a good barometer to how Bees fans are feeling and there are plenty of people on there calling for a change in manager.e  I'm not one of them but I can se why people are frustrated and believe the only way we can move forward is with a new man at the helm.

Performances, especially at GP haven't been very good.  We lost just two league games at home last season whereas we've already lost four this time round.  We haven't got going on our own patch this season and, truth be told, if it wasn'tfor the remarkable run of five straight away wins across October/November/December we'd still be in trouble around the foot of the table.

Personally my appetite for football has been on the wane for a while but this season I'm even even more disaffected than usual.  Some of it stems from the World Cup and England's dismal showing but I'm a club before country man anyway so that really can't have had much on an impact.

As I'm sure Sarah will atest I do get upset, frustrated, pissed-off (often all three at the same time) when Brentford loose but what I am able to do is shrug it off a lot quicker than in years gone by.  Nobody wants their team to loose but with age comes maturity (apparently!) and a realisation that a Brentford defeat isn't as big an event as it once was.  There's always another game around the corner so the boys are back out on the pitch a few days later which brings with it opportunity to get back on track.  In any case we loose so many games that if I did let each defeat get to me I'd be in a state of constant despair!!

Of course as you get older priorities change but I've still got a season ticket so am as committed to watching Brentford as ever but over the years going to games has become less about the football and more about catching up with mates over a few beers.

In recent years the lads who used to be regulars with me at GP have got married and had kids so we don't get to see each other as often as before.  This means that a typical Brentford matchday involves turning up at five to three for 90 minutes of often uninspiring football and then heading straight home.  Still, it not as depressing as 2007/08 when I really was the last man standing of my lot for most of the season.

I want going to Griffin Park to be a an exciting and uplifting experience like it was a five or six years ago.  Maybe it will take a change of manager to make this happen, maybe it won't but I'll be a regular on the 237 for a long time to come.

Perhaps I'm suffering from a hangover of Blue Monday but whatever it is I hope it doesn't last too long.  A win at Oldham on Saturday would be the perfect tonic.

Snow Stopping this Cold Snap!!

Sarah's intent on watching Sports Personality so it seems like a good time to hop on the laptop.

I love sport but have absolutely no interest in Gary Lineker, Sue Barker et al. harping on for two hours.  I can barely watch a full 90 minutes of football on the TV without getting bored so this would be unbearable!  Sarah's already taken down the number for Jessica Ennis and is chomping at the bit to vote.  Who knows what she'd do if there wasn't an Athletics representative on the shortlist!!

I hope AP McCoy wins it.  He is without doubt the greatest jump jockey of all time and this year won the Grand National for the first time in his career.  It was the only major race he hadn't won and coupled with him winning the Champion Jockey title for the 15th straight season it's about time he got the popular recognition his achievements deserve.

What with all the snow it's been a pretty quiet weekend.  The Brentford game was called of on Friday which turned out to be a wise decision.  We had a short, sharp dumping of snow in west London on Friday afternoon and I thought the ref (good old Andy D'Urso!) might have been a bit hasty but yesterday there was a deluge of snow all over the country with all but 8 League and two Premiership games being postponed.

We've not had a home league game since 13th November and unless I can persuade Sarah that it is worth coming back from Bury on the morning of 28th, in time for the Tranmere game at GP, that'll be it for me and Brentford in 2010.  We're away at Yeovil on Boxing Day which, weather permitting, gives us a decent chance of continuing out fine away form.  We won 2-0 at Southampton last weekend to push the continuous away victory run up to five.  Andy Scott rather cheekily called it our most comfortable away win of the season.  Nothing like rubbing salt into a defeated opponents wounds!!

We did play at home against Charlton on Tuesday in the Southern Area Semi-Final of the Johnson's Paint Trophy and sneaked through 3-1 on penalties after a 0-0 draw.  Thankfully Extra Time there is no extra time and we should really have won the match in the 90 minutes.  Richard Lee saved the first three Charlton penalties, the second and third saves were world class.  Watch the highlights if you don't believe me ;)  Exeter await in the two-legged Area Final and hopefully we'll get through to our first game at the new Wembley.


This year will be the first time I've spent Christmas with Sarah in Bury.  I've been up for New Year before but never for the big festive event.  It'll be a marked change from the quiet Malcolm Christmas' I'm used to with aunties, uncles, grandparents and cousins turning up to the Bell household throughout the day.  Looking at the forecast it looks like we'll be buzzing up in Meg a day earlier than I expected, maybe there is hope of a morning of 28th return after all!

Oh here we go.  Fat boy Corden is rolling out on to the stage to do his Smithy routine again!  Surely it's been done to death now!!  It can only mean there is a World Cup review on the way, great!

Living deep in QPR territory the snow has given the locals ample opportunity to add their ever so special tag to stationary street furniture.  With them sitting pretty (although not quite as pretty as 10 days ago having lost their first two league of the season against Watford and Leeds) sightings of the blue and white hoops are becoming ever more frequent.  Fair play to them though, and it'll be a real achievement for them to make it back into the top tier having been out of it for almost 15 years.

If QPR do go up all three LBHF teams will be in the Premiership and we'll be the only west London team not feasting on the millions of pounds available at the top table of English football.

Faced with all that I thought it was only fair that me and Sarah had the opportunity to put our own little footballing messages across.

Not quite as bold as the scribblings on a few of the cars down the road but they made me smile earlier today when I saw them again and will no doubt do so again tomorrow while I walk the mile and a half to work in W14.

It's the simple things that keep us football fans happy eh!?!

It's almost time for The Apprentice final so I'd best wrap this up.

Tony McCoy has just won Sports Personality of the Year.  Hopefully Stella will make it two out of two for me tonight :)

Is the Smart(odds) Money on Brentford?

The annual report and statement of accounts for Brentford FC were released yesterday.

I'm not one to take too much interest in the off-field goings on at TW8, it is a subject that tends to divide fans, but it's always interesting to read about how the club is fairing financially.

Here are the highlights:

- After tax BFC lost £1,264,664 in 2009/10.  In 2008/09 the loss was £495,263.
- Our net debt on 31st May 2010 was £8,512,915.  Up from £8,303,278 in 2009.
- Average attendances rose from 5,707 in 2008/09 to 5,985 last season.
- Turnover increased by £197,191.
- We made £501,893 net profit from transfer fees.  We made a loss of £8,774 the previous season!

It's pretty worrying to see that losses increased by over £750k and the debt is around £8.5m.  However unlike a lot of other clubs we are in a very privileged position.

Since January 2006 Bees United (BU), the supporters trust I'd encourage all Bees fans to join, have held the majority (around 60%) shareholding in BFC and currently have three representatives on the BFC board.

Having already given BFC an interest-free loan of £4.5m, last summer Matthew Benham (MB), a Brentford fan, and owner of the Smartodds company agreed to buy the BFC shares held by minority shareholders and also invest £1m a season for five seasons.  The deal also gives MB operational control of the club for the five years.

At the end of the five years BU has the opportunity to pay back the £4.5m loan and buy his shares to give them around a 95% shareholding.  If BU do not take up this option MB has the opportunity to buy the BU shareholding which will give him a 75% share.

The plan is for BFC to become a Championship club and this deal has given us a real chance of achieving this.  The partnership between BU and MB means that BFC can incur operating losses without a threat to its future.  A future that was seriously at risk before BU took control of BFC from Ron Noades at the start of 2006. 

Andy Scott has been backed by the board with the largest budget of any Brentford manager and after a disappointing start to the season Scott has steadied the ship.  In the league games since the start of October we've won six, drawn one and lost two. Scott was named Manager of the Month for October (yes, as it the norm we did loose our next league game!) and we're on a run of four straight away wins and sit 13th in the table.  Our home form has been hit and miss with good wins against Charlton, Wednesday and Peterborough tempered by miserable performances against Rochdale, Oldham, Bournemouth, and MK Dons.

We've not had a game for a couple of weeks having been 'giant killed' by Aldershot in the first road of the FA Cup and the Notts County game postponed last weekend so the team should be rested and raring to go at Southampton on Saturday.  I just hope the lay-off hasn't seen the team go off the boil.  Five straight away wins really would be a great achievement.

So why these musings about the finances of BFC?  Well Greg Dyke's Chairman's statement at the start of the accounts paid tribute to us Brentford fans and it made me proud to be a Bee.  The club was at in trouble before BU took over an MB made the £4.5m loan.  Perhaps not as at risk as in 1967 when news broke that then Brentford chairman Jack Dunnett had been in secret talks with his QPR counterpart Jim Gregory about moving them into Griffin Park and flogging Loftus Road, but things were seemingly pretty dicey.

There isn't much glamour supporting a lower league team and every now and then it's good to hear that your efforts are noticed and appreciated.  I hope BFC don't mind me reproducing the comment here:

Before a brief note on Lionel Road I wish to thank all Brentford fans for their continued support. These are very difficult economic times and there are many demands on supporter's time and pockets. Your enthusiasm for a Club which has languished in the bottom two divisions for nearly sixty years (bar one season) is remarkable and your board is working hard to ensure that we have the best possible opportunity of delivering on what we all want and that is a financially viable, self-supporting Club playing in a modern stadium and consolidated in the Championship.

The line about us languishing in the lower divisions for almost sixty years really brought into focus how small we are compared to the other three west London clubs.  OUCH, typing that hurts, but it's true no matter what we think as partisan Brentford fans.

After a dismal relegation from League One in 2006/07 and first season in League Two, (be honest Bees fans, we all expected to get up at the first attempt!), we got our act together won the division the following season and had a great season last term to finish 9th.  OK performances at home this season haven't been great but we are well positioned on and off the field to have a decent tilt at promotion over the next 3 seasons.

Keep the faith Bees fans I'm certain we'll get there in the end, erm, maybe!!

Get Settled, Get Curtains Drawn

Another weekend is coming to an end.  Dinner's been eaten and the night is drawing in.  The clocks go back in two weeks as we say goodbye to BST and welcome back GMT for the winter.  The central heating has been on in the flat for the past couple nights, autumn is here and winter is on its way.

I actually don't mind winter.  Cold, crisp and sunny mornings are a joy to wake up to and help make up for the grey wet days we get more and more used to at this time of year.

Saying that it really doesn't rain that much in London not compared to Sarah's beloved North West anyway.  In the four and a half years that we've been going out it's only not rained in Bury once when I've been up there.  It was even raining the first time I went to Bury, Easter Monday 2002.  That really was a miserable day!

It was 1st April and the joke certainly was on Adam, Gabs, Paul and me.  Traipsing up to the relegation threatened Shakers expecting a nice Bees win to help us on our way to promotion.  Nothing ever goes to plan as we were well beaten on surface that was almost totally bereft of grass.  End of season came around, Bury did indeed go down while we finished third, made it to the play-off final and lost without even mustering a whimper to Stoke. MIS-ER-Y!!

Eight and a half years later I'm going out with a Bury lass and looking out for the Bury scores.  They had a nice 4-3 win away at Torquay yesterday having been 2-0 down in 20 minutes.  Hopefully they can join the Bees and near neighbours Rochdale in League One next season.  We're up to fourth bottom after the 3-0 win at Tranmere yesterday, still in the relegation zone but at least we're showing signs of life with two wins in three October games.

Yesterday I did my third straight Parkrun, something I've only managed once before.  I went round in 21:14, my best time since July, and finished 36th out of 197.  I finished 36th last week as well and 35th the week before.  If I'd have finished 35th this week I would have won a prize, damn the bloke who managed to keep me at bay in the final 100m ;)

As my number of Parkuns increase I'm becoming more and more interested in how and why my times change from week to week.  I was 57 seconds quicker this week than last, a pretty dramatic increase.

At Richmond there is quite frequently a noticeable headwind as the course climbs and then flattens just after halfway.  Last week however there was a pretty strong headwind over the first half of the course as we undulated our way down Sawyers Hill to Sheen Roundabout.  As soon as I felt it my time was done for.  My mind was confused, annoyed and resigned to defeat after about 750m.  I wanted to stop but you just can't, can you?!?  No, especially not having got my arse out of bed earlier than on a weekday and cycled to Richmond.

The number of runners varies from week to week so I'm also interested in my finishing positions and times.  As I mentioned earlier I've finished 35th, 36th and 36th in the past three runs.  In the Summer I did three runs in a month and had times of 21:06 (32nd), my PB of 21:05 (33rd) and 21:06 (22nd).  I don't wear a watch so three consecutive runs within a second of each other was pretty cool.  Now I have three consecutive runs within a place of each other, also pretty cool.

Not All Great In TW8

It's been a grim grim 36 hours in and around W12 (and in Britain in general judging by the coverage of Man City v Newcastle on ESPN) so having blogged about my close encounter with Uxbridge Road last week I thought I'd take the time to have a ramble.

Following on from little sister's birthday on 1st September mine wasn't far behind on 7th.  As usual I didn't arrange to do anything!  I'm never really fussed about celebrating my own birthday and turning 33 really wasn't anything to get excited about!  The previous weekend me and Sarah went for a a few beers around Westbourne Grove and then had dinner at Rodizio Rico.  I suppose that could count as a birthday meal ;)

Whenever we've been to Ricos before we've been able to sit at street level, so I was a bit disappointed that we had to sit downstairs.  It's a bit too bright down there with the white walls and it seems a lot more cramped.  There isn't as much atmosphere either because the kitchen is on the open-planned ground floor and you get to see all the cooking action.  I have to admit my mood wasn't helped having seen Brentford get soundly turned over 3-1 at GP by Rochdale in the afternoon so perhaps I'm not being totally fair.

September was a mixed bag for the Bees.  Mostly next to useless in the League, we ended the month bottom, but through to the fourth round of the League Cup (for only the second time in our history) having seen off Everton on penalties after the game finished 1-1.  There were great scenes at GP when we equalised and pitch invasion aside, it was another special Brentford moment when Phil Jagielka missed his spot kick to give us the win.

Thankfully yesterday we began October with a 2-1 derby win over Charlton, but September had all Bees fans starting to fear the worst.

To be fair the month started off OK.  We deservedly beat the then leaders Sheffield Wednesday 1-0 in a game televised by Sky and got the usual 0-0 draw at Bristol Rovers.  Then came the Everton game and we all thought the season had finally got out of first gear.  Sadly it wasn't to be as we drew 0-0 at home against Hartlepool, meekly surrendered 1-0 to Leyton Orient on a chilly Friday night in east London and then lost late on 1-0 at Brighton.  Five games, five points and one League goal later we found ourselves bottom of League One with fans starting to wonder if it was going to be another season of shattered dreams in TW8.

Anyway, September is over and after yesterday's win were up to (haha!!) second bottom.

Dan and Jenny came down to stay in the Bush last weekend and while Jen went off to indulge herself in the shoe-fest that is the new Selfridges Shoes Galleries me and Dan went to the Emirates to watch Arsenal loose 3-2 to West Brom.  He's finally got himself a red membership so should be down for a few more games over the coming seasons.

For the most part Arsenal were terrible, wonder where I've heard that before!  It was 0-0 at half-time with everyone's favourite 'keeper Manuel Almunia saving a Chris Brunt penalty but 3-0 to West Brom after 73 minutes.  Arsenal did manage to get it back to 3-2 by the end of the game but the sixty or so thousand Gooners leaving the ground at full time were a frustrated bunch.  It certainly makes you realise that us football fans are a fragile lot no matter what level of football we watch.

Right, enough of the football chat.

I've started the on the Spanish trail again.  There are a lot of familiar faces in the class and a few new people. It's good to be back in the classroom ready to crack on the summer break.

However, the biggest thing to happen this month will be a shock to most of my mates, Sarah and I bought a car.  I know, a CAR!!  We are the proud owners of a 2006 (56 plate) Renault Megane.

Sarah's brother wanted to get himself a new car so we gave him the £5k he had left to pay off on his car loan.  A pretty good deal I reckon.

I've hardly driven since I passed my test waaaay back in 1995 so it's going to be a bit of a rapid re-education.  I've driven a few times since then, mostly on holiday, but I'm going to have to get back up to speed pretty quickly.  Besides, it's about time I got driving because 15 years is a long old time between passing your test and getting your first car!

Ooooooh Just think of all those Bees away games I can go to ;)

You are my Brentford, my only Brentford...

Considering the 2010/11 season is almost three weeks old I haven't blogged much about Brentford. Truth be told there hasn't been much to shout about. An opening day defeat at Carlisle was followed a week later by Walsall at GP and yep, another defeat.

In between those two games we did manage edge past Cheltenham in the League, OK, Carling Cup. We'd not beaten them in five previous attempts so it was good to finally beat the relative newcomers to the Football League.

Last weekend we took a good point away from Swindon Town's County Ground. We lost 3-1 home and away to them last season so it was a decent point and our League campaign is up and running.

We drew Hull City in the second round of the Carling Cup, and as you can tell, I was really looking forward to them coming down to Griffin Park!  The reason for my total lack of enthusiasm for a game against a team newly relegated from the Premiership was (and still is) because for the 1990's and first half of the 20th century, Brentford were a better team than them and it's hard to get away from that way of thinking.

I still find it hard, as do most Bees fans I reckon, to think of Fulham, Stoke and particularly Wigan as established Premiership teams.  Recent Brentford history shows we've been better than all of them but have never grabbed the opportunities when they've presented themselves.  A terrible play-off record, including Wembley (loads of quality in that 1997 Crewe team) and Millennium Stadium (shit that Brentford team was good) defeats, have poured cold water over promotion hopes at regular intervals and led to the dismantling of many a team well equipped to play in the second tier.  Relegation to the basement in May 2007 (although it was on the cards months before the dreaded final day of the season) hit the club hard but there is renewed optimism around the club since bouncing back from our two season stint in League Two in May 2009.

A great ninth place finish in League One last season has led to major investment in the playing squad over the summer and we appear to be in a position to have a real go at promotion over the next two or three seasons.  Of course, with investment comes expectation and the GPG was awash with negativity following our two defeats.  The point at Swindon has helped to ally some fears and this is where (eventually) Hull City come in.

On Tuesday we had a great result.  A 2-1 win (Bees view, Hull view) and a place in the third round for the first time since 1991.  All of a sudden the negativity has been replaced with a renewed confidence that we have what it takes to push on into (at least) the top six.  Oh the fragile and fickle mind of a football fan, what a world we inhabit!

Fingers crossed we get a decent draw, a winnable home or top Prem team away will do.  Most fans will echo this list of teams that we want to draw and those we want to avoid.  Any takers for Wigan away?  It's bound to be them now isn't it!?! 

Saturday sees Rochdale, bloody hell even they've got executive boxes, in TW8.  They are in the third tier for the first time since the 1973/74 season, 36 long long years ago, having finished last season in the final automatic promotion spot from League Two.  So far they've drawn two and lost one in the league so they've had a better start than us!  They've also won on their last two trips to GP so I'll be heading to GP a little nervous but expecting a win.

Three points on Saturday and we'll be cooking on gas.  YOU REDS!

It's All Kicking Off Again

For the 72 teams of the Football League, the football season kicked-off last Saturday. The tarts in the Premiership start their season this weekend.

For the second season in a row Brentford started with an away game at Brunton Park.  Sadly there was no repeat of last season's 3-1 win with the Bees going down 2-0 in a dismal performance.

 Tonight attention has turned to the League Cup and we're playing at GP against Cheltenham Town.  It's 2-1 at the moment and I'm listening to the Bees World commentary.  It's been pretty crap since half time with the Robins having got a goal back and seemingly bossing the play.  After such a dominant first half performance it's looks like were going to be holding on for the last quarter of an hour!

After England's piss-poor showing at the World Cup (there's even a crap friendly tomorrow night!) and the inevitable slating of the apparent 'cream' of English football it's great to have the Bees back playing week in week out.  Last season we finished 9th, a great showing in our first season back in League One after a couple in the basement, and this season we look well equipped to make a decent push for the play-offs.  Not that Bees fans will be looking forward to that, we've got a dismal record in the end of season lottery!

It's Walsall at GP on Saturday and I can't wait to get back amongst the usual faces.  There's even a new Bees fan, Paul and Lynda had a baby boy just over a month ago and he's already looking good in his Brentford romper suit :)

My last blog post was about the Brits at the European Athletics in Barcelona.  Turned out to be a very good championships with plenty of great British performances :)  Mo Farah did the 5,000m 10,000m double, super Jess won her heptathlon gold (although it was closer than a lot of people expected), Andy Turner took gold in the 110m high hurdles and Phillips Idowu won long jump gold.  We even managed to dominate a couple of events with two British 1-2's.  Chris Thompson took silver behind Mo in the 10,000m with Dai Greene and Rhys Williams taking the top two podium places in the 400m hurdles.

To many people's surprise, Sarah said he didn't even deserve to be in the final, Mark Lewis-Francis took silver in the 100m and there were plenty of other good performances which the BBC have done a good job of summing up here and in Tom Fordyce's blog here.  The two 4x100m relay disasters didn't happen, right ;)

Last week myself and Sarah were in Rhodes for leisurely weeks holiday so she missed the final two days of competition.  The V+ box came to the rescue again and she was straight into the living room to watch the recorded coverage as soon as we got back to the flat on Sunday at 06:45!  If this isn't the behaviour of a total athletics geek I don't know what is!  I had a few hours kip like any normal person would!

The temperature was around 40°C for the whole week so we didn't do much during the day.  We had a self catering apartment in the chilled out and very well run Cosmos Maris complex close to Lardos Beach so stayed around there during the day and then headed out for dinner in the evening.

Lardos was the nearest town, about a 25 minute walk away, so we went there most nights.  We did have a night in Pefkos and also one in Lindos but Lardos was much more convenient and a lot better value.

We finally ventured out last Friday (ooooh, just realised this Friday is Friday 13th!!), to the large waterpark near Faliraki ;)  I'd not been to one since a school trip to the Ardèche in my second year at St. Mark's and I wasn't all that keen to go.  To tell the truth I was a bit nervous.

After a gentle introduction on a few of the tamest slides we started to move on to the more daunting attractions.  I actually think we went on the worst ride quite early in the day.

The 'Sting Ray' has a really steep drop-in which only becomes apparent once you've sat down on the ring and given yourself the heave-ho on the railings and by that time it's way too late anyway.  I've found this on YouTube:



It probably doesn't do the drop-in justice but it is pretty scary the first time.

I'd also never been on the steep slides before but after a bit of persuasion from Sarah I took the plunge.

From left to right are the Turbo Slide, Kamikaze and Free-fall.  Your brain tells you that Free-fall is the worst because it is a steep, straight drop but I thought the Turbo Slide was the worst.

After going  over two humps in quick succession you end up airborne for a split second before going into a tight curve.

The Kamikaze has just one hump which again sends you airborne for a short while but you're soon down the steep part of the slide and heading horizontally to the plunge pool at the bottom.

Although it doesn't look it, the Free-fall slide is the easiest ride.  Like the Sring-Ray it's the view from the top that is daunting and after that it's just straight down to the horizontal final few metres.

My advice, don't look down...

If you've made it this far you'll no doubt be glad to hear that Brentford held on to their 2-1 lead to book their first appearance in the second round of the League Cup for three seasons.

Here's hoping for a decent draw when it's made.

Birthdays, Beers and Brentford Beaten...

...actually, make that thrashed!

A 5-0 defeat is never good and it's even worse when it comes against (at one point at least) one of our major rivals.

Last night was the first friendly of the season and Fulham came down to GP.  To be honest the result, although dissapointing, didn't really matter.  Having been postponed last pre-season, the match was Kevin O'Connor's testimonial and a celebration of his 11 years as a Bee.

A very decent crowd of 4,136 came down to GP and gave Kev a night, erm, to remember!  I met Gabs inside the ground and we took up our usual sport on the Ealing Road terrace.  There were plenty of familiar faces in the crowd and

It was my first friendly for a fair few seasons and I won't be going to another one in a hurry.  The main reason for going was to show support for one of my favourite ever Brentford players, and after 11 'interesting' years in the red and white stripes I thought my £12 contribution to his testimonial fund was money well spent.

As frequently happens, Gabs and I spent most of the 70 minutes (yes we left early, when the fifth went in!) we were in the ground catching up.  One of the worst things about growing up, actually I've not down that yet, lets say growing older and having responsibilities, is that you don't get to see your mates as much.  Brentford games are the main occasions we Bees supporting buddies get to chew the fat.  I'm looking forward to seeing Londra at GP when the season kicks-off.  He's just had his first kid, a boy, no name yet.  CONGRATULATIONS PAUL AND LYNDA :)

Fingers crossed the Bees' pre-season will get better.  Next up are Tonbridge Angels away on Saturday and then Wycombe (and their gaggle of ex-Bees) at GP next Tuesday.  I'll be at GP on 14th August for our first home League game of the 2010/11 season.  I'm on holiday for the first game, Carlisle away.  OK, OK, I wasn't going to schlep up to Brunton Park anyway!  We won 3-1 up there on the first day of last season, here's hoping for more of the same.

Away from football, although I do need to blog about the World Cup and my bloody post about video technology at some point, Sarah turned 27 on Tuesday.

Over the weekend I baked her traditional birthday cake.  Nothing too flash, a Victoria Sponge, but I think I've got it nailed on now :)  I have to give some credit to mum, Ruth, Mrs Malcolm because I used her homemade raspberry jam in the filling which as expected lived up to her Delia Smith-esque cookery reputation, amongst us Malcolms anyway!

Being creatures of habit we went for a meal at Maggie Jones's.  I first went there with work many years ago and it's one of my favourite restaurants in London.  The food is amazing and the house red comes in a magnum and you pay for what you drink which is usually the whole bottle for us two greedy gits.  We go there most birthdays so we'll most likely be back there in September :)

Last Thursday work put on the annual 'Profits Party', in fact I was nicely oiled this time last week!  It's basically a celebration of the previous financial year which with the parent company being American, ends on 30th June.

For the previous couple of years we've had the party in the atrium at work.  Redundancies, and the general downturn didn't warrant a big celebration but with things picking up in CACI-world this year the venue was Aqua Nueva.

Inside it's a typical, large West End bar with a few different rooms but what sets this place apart, especially for a geeky west Londoner, is the roof terrace.  It's always exciting for me, probably a bit too much so, when I get to see London from a new viewpoint and I was more than happy to geek it up with my camera...before too many colleagues arrived anyway ;)

The party was winding down by 01:00 so I took myself off home.  I walked it back which took about an hour.  The journey was uneventful for the most part but I did walk past a couple going at it over one of the street cabinets just after Queensway tube station.  They must have heard my footsteps because by the time I reached them the bloke was hurriedly pulling up his jeans and the knickers of his lucky lady friend. 

Just another ordinary night in London!

Signed, Sealed, Delivered

The loan transfer window closes today we've added two players to the team.

Lewis Grabban has signed from Millwall but the big news is that Pim has signed until the end of the season AND we have agreed a fee with Ipswich for a permanent transfer.

Lets hope that personal terms can be agreed once the curtain is drawn on the 2009/10 season.

The Joy Of Six

So then, Colchester!

Before last night we'd only scored ten goals away from home so we go and score three!  Not only that but we went two up in 17 minutes before managing to surrender the lead before half time!

After the break we went 3-2 up but were again pegged back and the match finished 3-3.

Bees blogger David Hunt had an eventful night.  He scored the opener from the edge of the penalty box and then scored an own goal.

We would have taken a point before the game but having had a two-goal lead there is a twinge of disappointment.  Still, we’re up to 13th and have two games in hand on most of the teams around us.  Poor Carlisle and Yeovil, we’ve got three games in hand on them ;)

Bees Edge It At Edgeley

The Bees are in action again tonight.  Their third away game in 8 days takes them to Colchester to face a team battling to secure a play-off place.

At the weekend the lads got back to winning ways at Stockport County.  The pitch was nothing like what can be seen on the left as a brief look though these pictures will show.  Harsh winter + rugby union on a football pitch equals the perfect argument for a plastic pitch!

Since beating Gillingham on 6th February we've only managed three draws in five games so it was good to get another three points tucked away.  Four more wins and we should be safe I reckon.

Can't see us getting one tonight though!  Colchester have won 13 and drawn two of ther 17 home games so getting a point there tonight will be a decent result.  Still, here's hoping.

Pims O'Clock?

The word on the street, well, here, here and here is that the Bees are going to re-sign Ipwsich defender Pim Balkestein on loan with a view to a permanent move when the transfer window opens again at the end of the season.
Before he was recalled to Ipswich at the end of December Pim played 8 games for us and played a big part in the upturn in results.
 
It has also been reported that Toumani Diagouraga will be released by Peterborough in the summer.  He's been quality in midfiled since joining us on loan, another one close to the top of Andy Scott's chopping list I hope.

Les Gets West London Buzzing

Today Brentford played away at Elland Road.  Did I go?  Of course I did, always good to get another ground ticked off.  Got back to the Bush at just after 21:00.

Travelled up with two of the usual Griffin Park crowd.  I was meant to meet the lads in Northfields but I didn't account for the Piccadilly Line being shut this weekend between Hammersmith and Northfields!

In the end Paul picked me up from here at around 11:00 and we were in Leeds for 14:00.  Three hours there, three hours back, not bad going at all.  The things people do for 90 minutes of football!

The match ended 1-1, a result surely all Bees fans would have taken before the game.  I reckon we deserved the point and having taken the lead there is even a tinge of disappointment that we didn't take one of the chances we had to go two up.  Let's not get too greedy though eh!

Well over 2,200 Bees fans made the trip and for many, me included, it was a first trip to Elland Road.  Not suprising as we last played a league match there in 1953/54 season!! Chant of the day was 'is there a fire drill' to the Leeds fans streaming out of the ground early ;)

Changing the subject, I'm sure you're all wondering where I've been seeing as my last post was a couple of weeks ago.  Say that again SB, what do you mean nobody reads this shit?!?

SB and I (ooooooh, get me!) were in France riding ski lifts up mountains and then sliding down them on, no not our bottoms, thin strips of plastic!  We went with five others to Les Gets which is a small town in the Haute-Savoie department.

We stayed in a chalet called Ysopes which we shared with two married couples.  They had been to Les Gets many times, at least 15 they told us.  In fact they used to own a chalet between them, nice!!  The week passed without incident and we were even treated to a homecoming party for Déborah Anthonioz who hails from Les Gets and won a silver medal in the snowboard cross.

BRAVO DEBO!

El Lunes

Weekend over :(

I clocked 23:12 in the parkrun on Saturday, my slowest time yet.  Oh well!  I'll put it down to having to weave my way through the swelled ranks of participants for the first coulpe of kilometres!

Down at GP the Bees won 4-0.  After a bright start, our on loan Polish wonder keeper got a hand on a Simeon Jackson shot and pushed it onto the post after a couple of minutes, Gillingahm showed why they are yet to win away from home in any competition this season.

A brace apiece from Charlie MacDonald and Miles Weston secured the Bees' biggest win of the season.  Conceeding two penalties and attempting suicidal back passes are never a good idea when you've only managed 3 away draws!  Wycombe up next at GP on Saturday, I'm sure Bees fans everywhere are already wishing away the working week :)

Away from football, I finally upgraded to a pro flickr account last night.  Not wanting to waste any time, I set a rather hefty upload going and it was still working away this morning!  I've given my internet connection a rest while I'm at work so I'll resume when I get home later tonight.  I've had three positive comments so far which is nice.

My on-line presence is growing!  Absolute geek!

Bees v Gillingham

Brentford will try to secure their second League double of the season at GP tomorrow.

Gillingham are in town in what is bound to be another feisty affair following on from the 1-0 Bees win at The Priestfield on Boxing Day where once again both teams finished with 10 men.

Last season the game at Gillingham finished 1-1 and ten a side and in the post-match fall-out, Andy Scott was accused by Gills manager Mark Stimpson of telling tales to the FA in order to get Garry Richards retrospectively banned.  Since then AS has offered his hand to Stimpson after the final whistle but has been rebuffed.

Anyway, it all adds a bit of spice to the game and with the away allocation being sold-out, there should be a decent atmosphere inside Griffin Park tomorrow.

The loan signings we've madel over the past couple of weeks have created a realy positive feeling amongst the fans and three more points tomorrow will have people starting to believe that a push for the play-offs isn't beyond us.

After a difficult start to life back in League One I'm happy to see us sitting 10th in the table, and three points tomorrow will edge us closer to the magic 52 points touted as the total we need for survival.

Saint Legge!

Perhaps it's a bit to early to request the canonisation of Leon Legge but he secured a deserved point for the Bees on Tuesday night.

The big defender signed from non-League Tonbridge Angels in the summer headed the equaliser in the 83rd minute sparing Kevin O'Connor's blushes after he missed a 70th minute penalty.

At nearly 25 he's a bit of a late comer to the Football League but after, and not unexpectedly considering the jump in level, looking a little raw in his first two or three appearances, I have a feeling he's already well on the way to becoming a cult hero at Griffin Park much like one of his predecessors, Sam Sodje.

I can't speak for other Bees fans but since becoming a regular (and somewhat surprising) starter in November he's been one of the most consistent members of the first team. In fact he's already been rewarded with a contract extension untill June 2011. Keep up the good work Leon!

St. Mary's...

...the name of my Primary School in Isleworth and the home ground of Southampton who we play at Griffin Park tonight.

We grabbed a 1-1 draw at St. Mary's back in August and with our decent home record and current form we should be able to at least match that result tonight.

I didn't make it to Norwich on Saturday. I rang Carrow Road to buy a couple of tickets for the away end but they said it was cash at the ground only. Not making the match means I can still hold on to the memory of my only trip to Norwich, a 2-1 win in the 1995-96 FA Cup Third Round. CHASE OUT! Happy memories.

It was a shame we couldn't hold on for the 0-0 but I'm not too disapointed. Listening to the game on Bees World, it sounded like we gave a decent account of ourselves and seem strong enough for a mid-table finish this season.

EDIT: Just hearing news that Crystal Palace have gone into administration, another sad day for English football.

Keen As Mustard

The Bees take on Norwich City tomorrow at Carrow Road and it looks like there has been a bit of a cock-up with the number of tickets available to Brentford fans.

Should we have been allocated 2,000? We thought we had 1,400 tickets but it turns out we've only been given 900. Who knows!!

Anyway, we've sold the 400 tickets we were sent by Norwich and they have around 300 tickets left for sale on the day.

Need to ring them in the morning to get a couple of tickets put aside for the W12 and W5 Bees making the trip :)

Oh, and I do hope Delia keeps off the vino. Hiccup!

Carlisle Game On

Pretty impressive work by the club and fans to get the Griffin Park pitch cleared of all the snow from the past 10 days.

From this on Wednesday:















To this earlier this afternoon:















Roll on 15:00 tomorrow afternoon :)

Photos referenced from http://www.brentfordfc.co.uk/page/LatestNews/0,,10421~1933866,00.html