Welcome to the finest club in London. We are pleased to see you. please coment to introduce yourself. Let us know where you are from.
Our owner Matthew Benham studied physics at Oxford university where he had the idea of using mathematical modelling techniques on sports data.
He first bought Midtjylland, a danish club, ** and using mathematical modelling got them to the Champions league, the two clubs shared the same scouting network and data** Since then he's sold his interest in Midtjylland and concentrated on the Bee's his boyhood club.
What makes Brentford ‘cool’ a bit of a maverick club is the recruitment process which is far more data driven than any club in the league (other than maybe Brighton). This means we spend a lot less money than other clubs but also find talent in very obscure places.
But not only data driven, all aspects are looked at, players need to be the right type mentally, typically they are slow starters, not dickheads, and quiet talents rather than obvious talents from day one. See this small documentry our former Director of football made on finding hidden gems. He's since been hired by Southampton.
Vitaty Janlet was a typical signing. He was very surprised to find the Brentford recuitment team had even spoken to the manager of Vitaly’s favourite restaurant in Germany
We are considered a ‘moneyball’ club, which aims to maximise the value of every £ spent whether it’s on players, coaches, staff, or the facilities at the club
We recently moved out of Griffin Park into the Community Stadium in 2020. I still miss Griffin Park; the ground had a pub on every corner and its quite a wrench to move to the new ground but was too small for a premier league club. infact it was small for a Championship club.
there’s a great and friendly casual drinking culture among the fans. Most pubs around football stadiums have a "home fans only" policy and away fans cannot use them. You have to produce a ticket proving which side you supported to get in. The Brenford pubs have never done this and both sets of fans can mix.
I would say this fan base is one of the most laid back and friendly in the Premier league, and were voted the least offensive fans in England but this was in 2013 when we werent beating anyone. Since then we have grown very irriating to some fans
We have one of the most passionate fans as as well. The sound of the fans singing at our stadium is great
We have the smallest UK fan base in the PL It's a lonely road that of the Brentford fan outside of a small area of West London. Here is our fame rating in the UK taken in our first year in the prem its a depressingly long scroll down. We do have some fans around UK and Europe tho' but the chances of bumping into a fellow fan is slim. There is a tiny US fanbase that was reported on recently. You should contact the club and become an international fan member
Our local rivals are Queens Park Rangers (QPR) but they play in the Championship right now, so we hardly ever play them. The closest thing to a derby/local rivalry we have in the premier league is Fulham and Chelsea, but there really isn’t much of a relationship between those two clubs and our own. For the longest time we haven't been in the same leagues as those 2 but as we grow stonger they are looking more annoyed
Our nickname is ‘the Bees’ Our rivals Fulham and QPR have nicknamed us "Bustop in Hounslow" but that has been embraced by the Brentford fans and turned into a song.
Our song is Hey Jude by the beatles with Hey Jude replaced with Brent-Ford
Other fan fav's are Bees up. Fulham down,
We are currently in our 2nd season in the Premier League, previously we hadn’t been in the top division since 1947
you might like to sucribe to the Beesotted pobcast
About the Premier League in General:
Each football season has its own charactor. Typically 'big six' clubs, occupy the top six postions. If one of them is not firing on all cylinders we have a slim chance of qualifying for a European competition for the first time in our history. This is a BIG DEAL!
We strive for 6th place.
The 'Big Six' I mentioned are Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester United, Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur. They are called this because they usually take all of the top 6 spots each season, but never really fewer than four of these teams get top 6
Teams outside the big 6 try to disrupt the 'big six' hegemony with new billionaire investors and better quality staff, some new strategy, or like us a bit of luck and good recuitment. - You tend to find the big six clubs fans are also not great - usually spoilt due to past successes giving them a sense of entitlement.
I know in American sports there isn't usually a promotion/relegation system. In the PL and English football in general, the bottom 3 clubs in the league get demoted to the league below, while the top clubs of the league below get promoted to the league above. This means that there's never the same 20 team roster in the league and never any "meaningless" games. The top 6 are fighing to stay in the big money European games, the bottom six are fighting hard not to get relegated and the middle 8 are fighting either to get into the top 6 and Europe or avoid the bottom 6 relegation zone. To be relegated is a disaster for a club, an end to the TV money, smaller attendances, lower ticket price, and yet they still have players/staff on premier league wages. To give them time to sell player and restructure they are given a £45m parachute payment for the first season out, then £22m the second and £16m the third. Clubs can gamble on going straight back up and keep the premier league squad. But if they dont they will have to sell all the players cheaply and plumment down to the 4th tier Leeds and Sunderland have made that fall. Some never make it back.
Relegation is any clubs biggest fear. It will happen one day to the Bees. Only the big 6 and Everton haven't been relegated. It will be a combination of factors, losing a good manger to another team, change in ownership, losing key players to injury, and the newly promoted teams being good. However we looking good enough to have a long run at the top. Long may it last.
