[Lord Snooty]

Brentford v Huddersfield Town
The Sky Bet Championship
Saturday 2nd November - 15:00 ko
at Griffin Park

Huddersfield Town travel to Brentford on Saturday afternoon for a meeting of the Championship's two form teams. Brentford are top of the recent form league table with 13 points from their last six games, including winning their last three matches on the trot. Town are unbeaten in six games and have 12 points in that there form table. The Bees come into this game following two impressive away wins. They won last week at Swansea by a score of 3-1. And then on Monday night they won 3-1 at QPR.

So how will Town cope with the challenge ahead, before another tricky looking trip next week to Preston? Well hopefully we will have Terence Kongolo back in the starting line up. He is back in full training after missing far too many matches since picking up a calf injury down at West Brom.

There aren't any tickets left for this one for Town supporters. It's a sell out. Is this due to the improving form? The Danny Cowley effect? Or is it that Town fans are all sentimental old sods and are keen to see Griffin Park for one last time before it closes it's doors at the end of the season?



A brief history of Brentford FC: They were founded in 1889, playing in the London League and the Southern League before becoming members of the Football League in 1920. They were in the newly formed Division 3 (South) and in 1933, under the managership of Harry Curtis, they won promotion to Div 2. Not only that, but in 1935 they went up again into Division 1, their first and only time in the top flight of English football. They stayed there for 4 pre war seasons, finishing in 5th, 6th then another 6th, and then 18th, before getting relegated again in the first season after the second world war. By 1954, they were back down in the 3rd division.

Things got even worse and they were relegated to Division 4 for the first time in 1961. They came back up a couple of seasons later, but were up and down between the lower two leagues for the next few decades. Their first bit of real excitement came in 1985 when they reached the final of the Football League Trophy at Wembley, but were beaten 1-3 by Wigan Athletic.

The nineties started as a better decade for them, winning promotion back to the 2nd tier in 1992 for the first time since the fifties. Only a couple of seasons later though they were back down again. They reached the Play Offs in 1995, when we beat them. And then in 1997 they reached the Play Off Final, only to lose to Crewe. This sparked off another downturn in fortunes, getting relegated the following season. But they were back up by the end of the decade and in 2000 they reached another FL Trophy Final, losing this time to Port Vale.

They got revenge over us in the 2002 Play Offs, but went and lost to Stoke in the final. More Play Off failures followed, getting beaten by Sheffield Wednesday in 2005 and then Swansea in 2006. They then had another spell in the 4th tier before coming back up again in 2009. Another FL Trophy Final defeat came in 2011, beaten now by Carlisle, and then the next season saw them mess up automatic promotion on the final day of the season. Needing a win to go up, they won a last minute penalty against Doncaster. The Donny keeper saved it and immediately kicked out for the counter attack, which brought the visitors a goal and send them up instead. This setback was followed by yet another Play Off defeat, this time by Yeovil Town.

But that setback wasn't terminal and in 2014 they finally won promotion to the Championship, finishing runners up behind Wolves and have been there ever since.

Brentford moved into Griffin Park in 1903 and are due to move out at the end of this season to the all new Brentford Community Stadium. Griffin Park is famous for having a pub on each corner, but did you know that it is named after the griffin in the logo of Fullers Brewery? Fullers were the owners of the land that the stadium was built on.
It suffered bomb damage twice during the blitz, in 1940 and 41. Six matches had to be postponed as a result. And in 1983 the old wooden stand burnt down. The groundsman who lived in there was rescued by famous ex England international Stan Bowles,who was a Bees' player late on in his career.

In 1953, Griffin Park was host  to 'The Great Game'. A film starring James Hayter, Diana Dors and Thora Hird. This footage features the scenes recorded at Griffin Park.

The new stadium is being built adjacent to Kew Bridge railway station, less than a mile away from Griffin Park.

Brentford Community Stadium under construction

Head to Head



It's a level head to head with 24 wins each with 17 draws.

Well there's one big head to head match that stands out above the rest. That is of course, the 1994/95 League 2 (now League 1, but actually the 3rd division) Play Off semi final 2nd leg, played at Griffin Park. The first leg, as would become the norm in these games, Town failed to win at home. That ended 1-1 with Chris Billy scoring ours and Nicky Forster scoring for the Bees. The second leg didn't start well for us. Martin Grainger giving them the lead from the penalty spot, before Andy Booth levelled up not long after. That concluded the scoring in normal and extra time and the match went to penalties.
Grainger again netted from the spot to give Brentford an early lead, before Ronnie Jepson scored our first. Robert Taylor then made it 2-1 before Kevin Dearden, the Brentford keeper gave them the advantage, saving from Pat Scully. It was soon level again though as Town keeper Steve Francis saved from Denny Mundee. Lee Duxbury then scored to make it 2-2. Simon Ratcliffe and Lee Sinnott took it to 3-3. Then came the decisive moment as Francis saved from Brentford skipper and club legend Jamie Bates, thus setting up a win for Town should we convert the next one. Up steps cult hero Darren Bullock. Did he bury it? Not quite, he blasted it down the middle and Dearden looked to have saved it, causing some home fans to stifle a cheer as they realised it had actually gone in. It seemed a couple of seconds before the Town fans at the other end of the ground realised and a delayed raucous cheer came up as Bully turned around and everybody of the blue and white persuasion went barmy.
Oh happy days and of course we then went on to beat Bristol Rovers in the final at Wembley. Here you go. Re-live that penalty shoot out.

That all seems a long time ago now. Not as long ago as our first ever meeting. That was in January 1920 in the first round of our epic FA Cup journey, all the way to the final (which we lost 0-1 to Aston Villa), and it was a 5-1 victory for Town at Leeds Road. Goals for our brave boys that day were from Billy Smith, Sam Taylor (2), Jack Swann and Ralph Shields. The second meeting came at the same stage of the same competition in the very next season. This time down at theirs with Ernie Islip and William Wright scoring in a 2-1 win for the Town, who of course were now playing their first season in the First Division, whereas Brentford had just joined the Football League.

Our first meeting in the League came in 1935/36 when the Bees had been promoted up to the 1st Division. It was a 2-1 Town win to start with, Len Butt and Charlie Luke scoring ours. That was followed by a 2-2 draw down at Griffin Park in January with Luke again on the scoresheet as well as a Reg Mountford penalty.

The following season saw two 1-1 draws in the league, but then Brentford got FA Cup revenge, beating Town 5-0 down there in the third round, as they went on to reach the quarter finals for the first time. They had the upper hand now as they were reaching their best ever league finishes and did the double over us in 1937/38 and 1938/39.

The next game between the two was a 1-0 win for Brentford, but would not count for anything in the end. It was played at Griffin Park on the 2nd of September 1939. It was the third match of the season, a season that would soon be cancelled as the day after this defeat Neville Chamberlain declared that this country was at war with Germany.

Griffin Park suffered in the blitz and after the war had finished, the Bees were relegated in the first post war season. Brentford won the game 2-0 at theirs with 31,264 squeezing into the ground. Town won at Leeds Road 3-0 with Arnold Rodgers (2) and Jimmy Glazzard scoring.

We had one season together in the 1950s, but didn't meet again until the 1975/76 season when we had both dropped all the way down to Division 4. Terry Gray and Colin Garwood scored the goals in a 2-1 win at Leeds Road, then we played out a goalless draw down at theirs in front of only 4,413 spectators. After three seasons together in the basement league, we met up again in Division 3 in 1980/81. We won 3-0 at home with goals from Ian Robins, Steve Kindon and Brian Stanton, before another 0-0 draw down at their ground.

We spent a few more seasons together, both clubs suffering relegations and winning promotions, with of course that famous Play Off win in 1995. The Bees however gained revenge in the 2002 Play Offs. After a goalless draw at the MacAlpine Stadium, Brentford beat us 2-1 at Griffin Park. Andy Booth scored as he had in 1995, this after he had returned from his spell away at Sheffield Wednesday, but couldn't inspire a victory as Darren Powell and Lloyd Owusu gave Brentford the win. They lost in the final so we spent some more time together.

Some remarkable games took place in the following years in League 1 and in the Championship. There was a 4-4 draw in the final league game of the 2010/11 season. We had already booked our place in the Play Offs and it looked to be going well as Danny Ward scored twice to put us 2-0 in front, only for Jeffrey Schlupp to score twice to level things up. Lee Novak then restored the Terriers' lead. Lewis Grabban then equalised before Benik Afobe made it 4-3 only for Grabban to grab another. That was 4-4 in the 68th minute and we were all expecting some kind of record score, but it never came.

The next season saw us win brilliantly down at Griffin Park. Jordan Rhodes (2), Novak and Gary Roberts scoring in a 4-0 victory. We followed that with an evening televised Sky game. Town were 0-2 down when Alan Lee bundled the keeper, 1920s style, into the back of the net. Incredibly, the ref, instead of booking the big lad and disallowing the goal, pointed to the centre spot and Town had a goal back. Brentford obviously weren't happy and were less happy as Jamie McCombe equalised on the stroke of half time. To make the Bees mood less than buzzing, young Mr Rhodes made it 3-2 in the second half to round off a remarkable Town victory.

There was a 1-5 home defeat for the Terriers in the last game of 2015/16, which didn't bode well as we were given Brentford at home for the first game of the following season. But unknown to many so called tv experts, David Wagner had put together a brand new squad and had had them away on a Swedish island preparing for this. Elias Kachunga gave Town the lead on his debut in the 50th minute, only for Nico Yennaris to level things up in the 77th. So Wagner sent on young Chelsea loanee Kasey Palmer. The John Smith's Stadium roof went flying as he took the ball with his first touch of the match, rounded the keeper and buried it to win the match. His touchline hug with Wagner was one of the iconic moments of what turned out to be a very successful season. And we completed the double down at theirs, in the last time the clubs have met until this upcoming match. Rajiv van La Parra scoring in that match, with a funny looking goal which somehow went in under the keeper's body.

So what's happening down at ye olde Griffin Park? Managed nowadays by Thomas Frank, the former Brøndby IF boss. The 45 year old Dane began his career as a youth coach at the age of 22 after a short amateur playing career. He worked his way all the way to national level managing the Danish under age teams.
He was then given his first senior appointment in 2013 by Danish Superliga club Brøndby IF. They reached high enough in the league to qualify for the Europa League, but twice failed to reach the group stage and following a disagreement with the chairman, Frank quit.
His next move was to Griffin Park and an assistant's job, initially to Head Coach Richard O'Kelly and then Dean Smith, but midway through last season he became Head Coach when the pair of them buggered off to Aston Villa. In his first half season the Bees reached the 5th round of the FA Cup and finished the season 11th in the Championship.

So who have they got in their squad? Don't laugh! The prat with the magic hat is now their captain. Yes, I mean Leeds loser, Pontus Jansson. He was last seen sulking down by the advertising boards at Bellend Road and up he pops here. Well, well, well. We all remember his last outing against us, stood there with his arm in the air as Michael Hefele went on his heffing dream, scoring a late winner against the White Shite. Let's hope he has another miserable day against us.
His defensive partner is Danish international Henrik Dalsgaard, who partnered Zanka at the World Cup last year. Obviously well known by the current manager, he is one of four Danes in the squad. The other three are defender Mads Bech Sørensen, who's out with a knee injury, and midfielders Mathias Jensen and Christian Nørgaard, who both arrived in the summer, Nørgaard from Frank's old club Brøndby IF.
Making up the defensive line up are Frenchman Julian Jeanvier and ex Walsall left back Rico Henry.
Algerian international Saïd Benrahma plays in midfield, as does South African Kamohelo Mokotjo. Also in midfield is ex Arsenal Academy lad Josh Dasilva. Winger Bryan Mbeumo is another Frenchie. He was another of the summer arrivals.
Up top they have a Greek lad Nikos Karelis and Ollie Watkins, who came to Griffin Park in 2017 from Exeter City.

Pontus Pillock!

Club Connections:

Alex Pritchard: joined Town in January last year while we were in the first season of our Premier League adventure. He signed for us from Norwich City but had previously come through the Spurs Academy. It was whilst at Spurs he went on loan to Brentford for the whole of the 2014/15 season. He scored 12 goals for the Bees that season, including one against us in a 4-1 win for them at Griffin Park and by the end of the season he had earned himself a place in the Championship Team of the Season.  

Jordan Rhodes: is currently wasting his talent at Sheffield Wednesday. Earlier in his career he played for Brentford before becoming a goalscoring legend at Huddersfield Town.
He was an Ipswich Town player to start his career and had spells on loan at Oxford Utd and then Rochdale when in January 2009 he went on loan to the Bees, then of League 2. He made his debut against Macclesfield but then scored on his second outing at home to Aldershot Town. He did even better in his next match, scoring a hat trick at Shrewsbury, becoming Brentford's youngest ever hat trick scorer. He scored three more goals for them before breaking a metatarsal in March, which ended his season and his time at Griffin Park. However, despite only being there for three months, he won the Player of the Year.
Alerted by this accolade, Lee Clark made enquiries with Ipswich about signing him and probably got the deal of the century when Roy Keane allowed him to leave for £350,000. He signed on the last day of July and scored six goals in his first six games for us, including one on his debut at Southend when he and Lee Novak came off the bench to rescue a point for us, having been 0-2 down. He finished the season with 23 goals, which included a hat trick of headed goals against Exeter City at the Galpharm Stadium.
Jordan had three full seasons with us, finishing top scorer in them all. He scored 22 in his second season and then a whopping 40 in his third, including 12 in 5 successive games in December and January, with 4 at Hillsborough and 5 down at Wycombe.
Before the next season started in August 2012 and Town's return to the Championship, he scored his first full international goal for Scotland in a 3-1 win over Australia at Easter Road. And of course by now, the scouts of much bigger and attractive clubs than Huddersfield Town were sniffing around. So it seems an odd choice that he chose to go to poxy little Blackburn Rovers, who were in the same division. The wages had summat to do with it, obviously. And his dad threatening to chin Dean Hoyle if he didn't agree to the sale. So off he went for a club record fee of £8m.
He was back in Huddersfield in November, scoring against us in a 2-2 draw. And then in the return at Ewood Park in April he got the only goal of the game. He came back the following season and bagged a hat trick at ours as Rovers beat us 4-2. But from then on, his career has been in a slow decline. The last time we came up against him was of course in late 2017 at Hillsborough. He came on as a sub in the Play Off semi final and looked a pale shadow of the player we had.

Fred Bullock and Jack Cock: both played for both clubs around the time of the First World War. Bullock was the Town captain and played for us from the very first season in the Football League. Cock had played three matches for the Bees before signing professional terms at Leeds Road just before the start of hostilities.
Both players served in the armed forces. Cock served in the army, becoming a Sergeant-Major and earnt the Military Medal for "Bravery in the Field" and was Mentioned in Despatches for "gallantry". He was reported as 'missing, presumed dead' at one point during the war. Bullock joined the Middlesex Regiment, becoming corporal and was injured in the shoulder during the Battle of the Somme. Later he picked up a bad knee injury and was demobbed from the army.
Whilst on service, both lads played as guests for Brentford in the wartime league and were part of the team that won the London Combination League in the first post war season. After this, they both returned north to resume their careers at Huddersfield Town. The Town however were in dire financial straits at this time and one of the first things they did about this was to sell Cock to Chelsea for a record fee of £2,500. This was shortly after he had won his first international cap for England.
The next sign of how bad things were was when a meeting was held in Leeds, following the expulsion of Leeds City for financial irregularities, and a proposal was made to take Huddersfield Town out of Huddersfield and move the whole club, lock, stock and barrel into Elland Road to become Leeds United and take our league place and the rest of our fixtures for that season. In other words, Leeds wanted to do to us what Milton Keynes did to Wimbledon.
There were protests in the town. The FA agreed to suspend the takeover if the ridiculous amount of money wanted by outgoing chairman John Hilton Crowther could be raised for him to forego the merger. Fred Bullock was one of the main players in this fund raising activity, which as you may have guessed was actually quite successful. Not only was that a success, but also the on field business took a turn for the better and by the end of the season, Bullock had led the Town to not only an FA Cup Final, but also promotion for the first time to the First Division.
Sadly though, that knee injury flared up again and he was forced into retirement soon after. He had a testimonial, which he spent the money on buying the Slubber's Arms pub on Halifax Old Road. It was here in 1922 sadly, where he was found dead at the age of 36. It was said that he died of heart failure due to ammonia poisoning and been suffering "nerve troubles" during the month preceding his death. Suicide? Post traumatic stress disorder? Or what they called "shell shock" back then? So a sad end to the life of a true Town legend, who had earned one cap for England against Ireland in 1920.

Brentford's last 6 matches:

QPR 1-3 Brentford
Swansea 0-3 Brentford
Brentford 3-2 Millwall
Nottm Forest 1-0 Brentford
Brentford 1-1 Bristol City
Barnsley 1-3 Brentford

[jjamez]

Well it's good to be back. Had to do some navigating to find it mind.

On the other hand at least I don't have to go through the answers for the quiz xD

[Amelia Chaffinch]

How many effing times did Warnock say effing? That video inspires you to get to the playoffs. We're so good at them penalty shootouts.

[theo_luddite]

Effiing 'eck Snoots. The Sunday Papers will be delivered before I read through that lot.
Are they putting a pub in each corner of the new ground like Griffin Park used to have?
Are they offering it out on a timeshare basis to QPR?
Are we likely to get a win from this one?

I'd bite yer hand off fer a point right now tbh.

[Lord Snooty]

If they aren't doing the 4 pubs, that's a shame.

[jjamez]

This is probably the hardest game the cowleys have had since they joined us. Hopefully Brentford go through the motions a bit like they did against Millwall, only we have to capitalise better

[Amelia Chaffinch]

And not get a load of yellow cards like they did.

[Lord Snooty]

Town’s team vs Brentford
1. Kamil Grabara
4. Tommy Elphick
6. Jonathan Hogg
7. Juninho Bacuna
9. Elias Kachunga
16. Karlan Grant
17. Danny Simpson
22. Fraizer Campbell
26. Christopher Schindler ©
28. Jaden Brown
39. Lewis O’Brien

Substitutes
Ryan Schofield; Trevoh Chalobah, Adama Diakhaby, Alex Pritchard, Jon Gorenc Stanković, Florent Hadergjonaj, Kian Harratt

---

Missed one of the club connections. Just listening to the names of the fallen soldiers names prior to the minute silence, the name Ralph Shields came up for both sides.
Played for us in that 1920 promotion team before joining Exeter then Brentford.
Emigrated to Australia and joined the Australian Army Service Corps in Malaya during World War II, he was captured by the Imperial Japanese Army and transferred to the Sandakan Prisoner of War Camp in North Borneo and interred as a POW. He died on 21 November 1944, aged 52 and is buried at the Labuan War Cemetery in Malaysia.

[jjamez]

Let's see if kian harratt gets a go off the bench

[Lord Snooty]

Let's see if kian harratt gets a go off the bench

If we're 4 up in the 85th minute I think he will. Rather that than bringing him on in desperation as we're chasing the game.