Brentford Football Club History
2006-07 Season
24th; relegated from League One
League Cup: 2nd round; Luton Town h. 0-3
FA Cup: 1st round; Doncaster Rovers h. 0-1
JP Trophy: 2nd round; Nottingham Forest a. 1-2
Highlight:
3-1 win at Blackpool, 3/2/07
Low Spot:
1-4 home defeat to Millwall, 26/12/06
Good:
Jo Kuffour
14 goals was a decent return after moving from Torquay and ensured that Leroy Rosenior's brief tenure as manager wasn't a complete disaster.
Nathan Abbey
Experienced keeper who arrived on a free in January and was impressively defiant behind the rubble in front of him. There was nothing he could ultimately do to stave off relegation, however, and the fact that he was another player plucked from Torquay highlighted how little was delivered by the existing squad.
In Brief:
Brentford might have made the play offs the season before but with Martin Allen leaving as manager to be replaced by Leroy Rosenior it was hard to be genuinely optimistic about their chances going into the season.
Three wins and an unbeaten start of six games saw the Bees lying 4th early on, however. Then came 18 games without a win and the writing was well and truly on the wall.
With Rosenior long gone there were three wins at the start of February, including an almost unbelievable victory at Blackpool, which lifted the Bees to within three points of safety but only two points came from the next eleven games and relegation had been confirmed by Easter Monday.
There is serious work to be done at Griffin Park.
Brentford Football Club was formed in 1889 and enjoyed early local success as an amatuer outfit which led to them joining the Southern League in 1898. The following year the club turned professional.
Brentford joined the Football League in 1920 as original members of Division Three. This became Division Three South the following season and the Bees remained in that division for twelve seasons.
In 1927 Brentford made it to the 5th round of the FA Cup, beating Oldham Athletic and West Ham United before losing 1-0 at Reading.
In 1930 they were runners up in Division Three South, albeit somewhat distant behind Plymouth Argyle, but in 1933 they clinched promotion to Division Two as champions ahead of Exeter City.
The Bees were only one point away from the Division Two runners up Preston North End in 1934 but made sure of promotion to the first division the followoing season as champions ahead of Bolton Wanderers.
Brentford finished in the top six in Division One in each of their first three seasons and their 5th position in 1936 made them London's top side. They also reached the FA Cup quarter finals in 1938. They beat Fulham, Portsmouth and Manchester United before losing 3-0 at home to Preston.
Brentford managed to win one of the unofficial wartime cup finals and again made it to the last eight when the competition resumed in 1945-46. The Bees defeated Tottenham Hotspur, Bristol City and Queens Park Rangers before losing to Charlton Athletic.
The clubs' fortunes slumped from here on in, however. They lost their first division place in 1947 and struggled to make an impact in Division Two. They reached another FA Cup quarter final in 1949 before losing at home to Leicester City. The game did see the clubs' record attendance being set, 38,678 people cramming into Griffin Park.
Brentford were relegated into Division Three South in 1954 and although they were runners up in that division in 1958, its' last ever season, that was not good enough for promotion to Division Two. Instead the Bees had to settle for a place in the newly formed Division Three.
In 1962 the club dropped into Division Four but emerged at the first time of asking as champions ahead of Oldham Athletic.
Three years later in 1966 the Bees again suffered relegation to the fourth division and this time it took six seasons before they could secure promotion in 1972.
Relegation followed instantly, however, and Brentford would not climb back into the third division until 1978 when they claimed the fourth promotion spot.
Brentford then spent fourteen seasons in the third division.
During this period the Bees managed their best effort in the League Cup, albeit that was only to reach the 4th round in 1983. The Bees had accounted for Blackburn Rovers and Swansea City before losing 2-0 at Nottingham Forest.
In 1985 they reached Wembley in the Freight Rover Trophy only to lose 3-1 to Wigan Athletic.
Then in 1989 Brentford made the FA Cup quarter finals for the first time in forty years. They enjoyed excellent wins against Manchester City and Blackburn Rovers before going down 4-0 at Liverpool in the last eight.
The club had remained almost exclusively in mid table in Division Three until 1990-91 when they reached the play offs. They were then edged out in the semi finals by Tranmere Rovers.
The following season, however, Brentford were promoted as Division Three champions. They pipped Birmingham City for that honour after overtaking them on the final day of the season with a 1-0 win at Peterborough, which made it six wins in a row.
Dean Holdsworth and Gary Blissett formed a formidable spearhead with a young Marcus Gayle also chipping in.
Unfortunately the Bees were unable to settle in the second tier and slipped to an agonising relegation in 1993.
Birmingham seemed inextricably linked with the fortunes of the club at that time and it was they who condemned them on the final day by winning at home to Charlton while the Bees went down 4-1 at Bristol City.
Two years later Brentford finished as runners up behind Birmingham in Divison Two but because of a reduction in the number of sides in the Premier League for the following season they still had to play off for a promotion place. It must have been galling to then suffer a semi final defeat to Huddersfield Town on penalties.
In 1997 the Bees again made the Division Two play offs. They defeated Bristol City both away and at home in the semi finals but then lost by the only goal of the game against Crewe in the final.
The next season saw them collapse, however, and suffer relegation into the fourth tier of English football. The Bees claimed instant promotion in 1999 though and have spent the past six seasons in the third tier.
During this period they have reached the play offs twice, in 2002 and 2005.
In 2002 Brentford this time defeated Huddersfield in the semi finals only to lose 2-0 in the final to Stoke City.
Last season the Bees suffered defeat in the semi finals to Sheffield Wednesday.
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