It’s been over seven decades since the Bees from West London were last in the top division.
Back then they were still playing at Griffin Park; a Scottish player, George Paterson, was captain of the club; and they won only nine games, with 26 losses and seven draws.
But now, 73 years later, they have a massive chance of getting promoted back to the top flight and into the Premier League for the first time in their history. And with a new stadium coming along just down the road from Griffin Park, it’ll be a massive boost for them in many aspects, especially the financial side.
Here’s why they deserve a shot in the Premier League.
(Photo by Athena Pictures/Getty Images)
Attack, attack, attack
Everyone knows the old adage ‘the best defence is a good offence’. Well, that isn’t the case for Brentford, who’ve basically based their game plan on possibly the Championship’s most lethal attack in Bryan Mbuemo, Saïd Benrahma and Ollie Watkins.
It has worked out as well, with the Bees the top scorers in the league so far with 86 (including the play-offs), with Mbuemo, Benrahma and Watkins scoring 59 of those goals (approximately 69 per cent). They averaged 14.5 shots per game, including five on target, while scoring 55 goals in open play.
Their playmaking ain’t bad either, with the team having 56 assists, including 19 from their front three. And they keep and pass the ball well too, averaging around 55.6 per cent possession per game and a completion rate of 79.8 per cent.
Strong defence and discipline
Now, even though they have easily the best attack in the Championship, they still know how to defend well while showing good discipline too. Those two, along with a strong attack, are always key parts to any team, especially a team looking at promotion.
Regarding defending, they had the equal third-most clean sheets with 16, have conceded the second-fewest shots per game (9.1) and still made the seventh-fewest tackles (14.6), and the fourth-fewest interceptions per game (9.1).
However, their discipline was even stronger, conceding the second-fewest fouls per game (10.7) with only two red cards so far. They also have the fewest yellow cards this season (57), which, given it’s now a 49-game season, is very impressive.
No-one gave them a chance
As most Bees and Championship fans would know, Brentford weren’t exactly shining in the spotlight, with the team finishing between ninth and 11th for the previous four seasons after making the play-offs in their first season back in the Championship in 2014-15.
However, after a massive July-August window, when they signed 17 players – a further five came in the January window – they redecorated their line-up just a little bit, with the team on Thursday morning having eight new players.
Because of this redecorating, they bought in players such as Bryan Mbuemo, Christian Norgaard, Ethan Pinnock, David Raya, Pontus Jansson and Mathias Jensen. They struggled at first, losing four of their first seven, but managed to click, going on to win 24 games, including an eight-game win streak before and after the COVID-19 break.
With the signings they made and already having some star Championship players such as Said Benrahma and Ollie Watkins while also having young talent such as Josh Dasilva, it was no wonder they did as good as they’ve done so far this season. If they do get promoted, they could also surprise a few Premier League teams next season.
It’s been one heck of a season from the Bees, and the three reasons above just add to why they deserve to be promoted. It has been a long road, yes, but it should be worth the wait.
We’ll find out next Wednesday morning if they get promoted or are stuck for another season in the second tier of English football.
True Believer
Roar Rookie
so here we are again -third placed Brentford in the playoff final again ! Once again the most attacking team in the Championship with 79 goals ! No team in the Championship has lost fewer games than the Bees. This time it has been achieved without Ollie Watkins (transferred to Aston Villa) and Said Benrahma (transferred to West Ham) Ivan Toney broke the record for the most Championship goals with 31 goals. The absence of key players like Rico Henry, Josh Dasilva and Christian Norgaard through injury made it difficult for the Bees to compete against the wealthier big teams particularly the former Premier league clubs with so much depth in their large squads. Yet Thomas Frank's side have done it again - 3rd place - just missing out again on the automatic promotion and reaching the playoff final. Swansea will be a `challenging opponent in the final but for the good of attractive attacking football all "neutral" football fans everywhere will want the Bees to win this one.
Jwoody74
Roar Rookie
The question marks were Bee emojis by the way.
Jwoody74
Roar Rookie
I lived in Ealing for 10 years mate and adopted the Bees as my 2nd team and had some great nights at Griffin Park. About 6 months ago my 5 year old who was born in Brentford announced that he had decided that he was a Brentford supporter and even tho we had left London and moved south to Hampshire there was no reason for him to choose any other club. I’d never even heard of Brentford when I moved to London but I’m glad I have and love the fact that my West London born lad has adopted a club like them to support. I can’t wait for the final but I’m kinda gutted that his first match at Wembley can’t be this one. Go Bees ????????
lesterlike
Roar Rookie
Happy enough for a new team but got a feeling they'll just be another boring southern team.
JOHN ALLAN
Guest
Watford (Hornets) are relegated. So if Brentford (The Bees) replace them in the EPL, at least their supporters will get "a buzz" out of it.
True Believer
Roar Rookie
What a team ! Highest scorers in the Championship (80 goals in 46 games) Brentford play attractive attacking football and would be a welcome addition to the EPL. The Bees' BMW forward line would trouble most EPL defenders. The Bees had the best defence in the Championship - only conceding 38 goals in 46 games. Goalkeeper David Raya has produced some amazing saves this season to win the Golden Glove award with 16 blank sheets to his name. Apart from his goal saving abilities Raya has been instrumental in setting up fast counter attacking opportunities with his perceptive and accurate distribution. Centre back Pontus Jansson is literally a tower of strength at the back. Manager Thomas Frank has produced a top quality side that is a pleasure to watch. All Australians who are looking for more attacking football in the EPL in 2020-21 will be desparately hoping the Bees can win the Championship Play-off Final.
gusty
Roar Rookie
Great to see the Bees getting some coverage. I was surprised that so few picked them to be around the promotion spots at the beginning of the season, given what they've been building there for a few years now. Really think they deserve their shot in the premier league given how they've performed throughout the season despite a slow start. As an aside, I've been to one game at Griffin Park and saw them get demolished 4 nil by Crewe in League One. Got to witness a protest outside the stadium afterwards that saw their manager sacked. It's fair to saw they've come a long way. Good luck to them.
Samuel Laffy
Roar Guru
Sounds like they're a club worth getting behind - unfortunately 'deserving' something doesn't really equate to anything in the sporting world! Let's hope the seemingly equally adept offense and defense get them over the line...
Derek Murray
Roar Rookie
As an Australian living in London who's not a soccer fan, I inherited the Bees as my local team (I live 1 mile from Griffin Park but a couple of hundred metres from the new stadium). We were at our local, The Express, for dinner last night and were joined by a large noisy crowd of Bees fans. We have an 8yo so were home about the time the second leg of the playoff kicked off and I watched it right through and shouted loudly when we scored. It's a tragedy for the real fans that Wembley will be empty in a week when they play for that spot in the EPL. BTW, you didn't mention that Mbuemo, Benrahma and Watkins are known as BMW. I watched the manager Thomas Frank. Danidh guy who's full of good passion i.e. not surly arse like Jose but intelligent, honest bloke like Klopp. He wears tshirts not tucked in so may need to upgrade his wardrobe if they win at Wembley. It's a great local story, thanks for the write up. Oh, the really great news is that the Bees will share the new ground with London Irish which has a bunch of ex-Wallabies so I will visit often