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Brentford F.C.

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Brentford Football Club (nicknamed the Bees or The red and white army) are an English association football club from the town of Brentford, Hounslow, Greater London and are currently playing in Football League One.

They have played at Griffin Park since 1904, but since the late 1990s have been considering relocation. Plans were announced in October 2002 for a new 23,000-seat stadium at a state-of-the-art arena complex in Feltham, but these were later scrapped.

Contents

History

Foundation to 1939

Founded in 1889 to serve as a winter pursuit for the Brentford Rowing Club, the club spent its early years in the lower divisions of the Football League and achieved little of note, save for a move to its present day home ground, Griffin Park, in 1904. In 1921, it was a founder member of the Third Division South. During the late 1920s and 1930s, the club began to make real progress. In the 1929-30 season, the side won all 21 of its home matches in the Third Division South (a record which still stands in English football), but still missed out on promotion. After several more near-misses, promotion to the Second Division was finally achieved in 1932-33. Two years later, Brentford reached the First Division and finished 5th in its debut season - which is still the club's highest ever league position - to complete a remarkable rise for the club. Brentford achieved more impressive placings in the league for the rest of the decade (6th in the following two seasons) before the Second World War interrupted.

1945-1989

During the war, Brentford competed in the London War Cup, losing in the 1941 final at Wembley Stadium to Reading and winning in the final against Portsmouth a year later. The club were relegated in the first season after the War, and a downward spiral set in, which culminated in relegation to the Third Division in 1953-54 and the Fourth Division in 1961-62. The survival of Brentford FC was threatened by a projected takeover by Queens Park Rangers in the late 1960s - a bid that was only narrowly averted with an emergency loan of £104,000 - while the club continued to yo-yo between the third and fourth divisions during the next three decades. The club won promotion in 1962-63, 1971-72 and 1977-78 but only on the final occasion was it able to consolidate its place in English football's third tier. Other bright spots in this period included reaching the final of the Freight Rover Trophy at Wembley in 1985, where it lost to Wigan, and a run to the FA Cup quarter-finals in 1989 which included wins over three higher-division sides and was only ended by the reigning league champions Liverpool.

1990 to present

After a 45-year absence, Brentford were promoted back to the Second Division (renamed Division One with the advent of the Premier League in 1992) in the 1991-92 season as Third Division champions, though they were relegated again the following year. There followed several seasons of the club narrowly missing out on promotion. Former Chelsea FA Cup hero David Webb was appointed manager in 1994 and twice led the side into the play-offs. In 1996-97 he led them to the play-off final at Wembley, but the side were beaten by Crewe Alexandra. The club were then relegated to the Third Division the following year. Brentford won promotion as champions again in 1998-99 under manager and chairman Ron Noades and have remained in the division ever since. The club suffered more promotion agony in 2002 under manager Steve Coppell as they lost out to Stoke City in the play-off final having been just minutes away from automatic promotion on the final day of the season, and again under manager Martin Allen in 2004-05, on that occasion losing 3-1 on aggregate to Sheffield Wednesday in the semi-finals after finishing 4th in League One.

Former BBC Director-General and Bees fan Greg Dyke was announced as chairman of Brentford on January 20 2006 as part of the takeover by Bees United, the Brentford Supporters Trust. On January 28, Brentford famously beat Premiership strugglers Sunderland 2-1 in the 4th Round of the FA Cup, but lost 3-1 to another premiership club Charlton Athletic in the 5th Round on 18 February. Brentford finished 3rd in the league and lost to Swansea in the play-off semi-final.

On May 30 2006 Martin Allen announced his resignation as manager of Brentford. [link] The club named Leroy Rosenior as manager on 14 June 2006 [link]

Current squad

As at July 12, 2006:

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Managers

Name From To
William Lewis 01-08-1900 31-05-1903
Dick Molyneux 01-08-1903 31-05-1906
W G Brown 01-08-1906 31-05-1908
Fred Halliday 01-08-1908 31-05-1912
Ephraim Rhodes 01-08-1912 31-05-1915
Fred Halliday 01-08-1915 01-08-1921
Archie Mitchell 01-08-1921 01-12-1922
Fred Halliday 01-12-1924 01-05-1926
Harry Curtis 01-05-1926 01-02-1949
Jackie Gibbons 01-02-1949 01-08-1952
Jimmy Blain 01-08-1952 01-01-1953
Tommy Lawton 01-01-1953 30-09-1953
Bill Dodgin, Sr. 01 October 1953 01 May 1957
Malcolm MacDonald 01 May 1957 01 January 1965
Tommy Cavanagh 01 January 1965 01 March 1966
Billy Gray 01 August 1966 01 September 1967
Jimmy Sirrel 01 September 1967 30 November 1969
Frank Blunstone 01 December 1969 11 July 1973
Mike Everitt 01 September 1973 15 January 1975
John Docherty 20 January 1975 07 September 1976
Bill Dodgin, Jr. 16 September 1976 1 March 1980
Fred Callaghan 1 March 1980 2 February 1984
Frank Blunstone 2 February 1984 9 February 1984
Frank McLintock 9 February 1984 1 January 1987
Steve Perryman 1 January 1987 15 August 1990
Phil Holder 24 August 1990 11 May 1993
David Webb 17 May 1993 4 August 1997
Eddie May 5 August 1997 5 November 1997
Micky Adams 5 November 1997 1 July 1998
Ron Noades 1 July 1998 20 November 2000
Ray Lewington 20 November 2000 7 May 2001
Steve Coppell 8 May 2001 5 June 2002
Wally Downes 28 June 2002 14 March 2004
Martin Allen 18 March 2004 30 May 2006
Leroy Rosenior 14 June 2006 Present

Famous players

Famous players, past and present, include;

Honours

Mascot

Brentford FC's mascot is the ever-smiling Buzz Bee. Standing at 6 feet tall, he has black and yellow stripes and wears a Brentford FC club strip. He circles the ground before each game, and is a great hit with the kids who come to watch the matches.

Famous Fans

Club Records

External links

 

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
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