Heartbreak for Bees But They Go Again

One more game for Griffin Park as Brentford FC face the playoffs

Fans will be at the ground in spirit on the night. Picture: Brentford FC

Brentford FC’s dream of making this Tuesday night’s (21 July) game against Barnsley the last ever fixture at Griffin Park was dashed as the relegation threatened team from Yorkshire sprung a surprise.

Manager Thomas Frank praised his players for giving everything against a team that were ‘fighting for their life’.

He said, “This is of course extremely painful. It hurts massively and I know it hurts all the fans and all those involved in this club and, of course, we will do everything we can and we will make sure we are ready on Sunday.”

Needing to better the result of West Brom to clinch automatic promotion, the Bees went into the game with some confidence after a blistering run of form. However, a 2-1 defeat with the Baggies managing a draw against QPR meant that they now must seek to gain promotion through the playoffs.

The semi-finals will take place over five days, starting this weekend, with the Final to take place at Wembley Stadium on Tuesday 4 August.

The Bees will travel to Swansea on Sunday to play the Welsh side at 6.30pm. Their host pulled off a stunning result to sneak into the play offs by a goal difference of one. The second leg, and Griffin Park’s swansong, will be on Wednesday 29 July at 7.45pm. Should Brentford prevail there is a possibility that Fulham may face them in an all west London Wembley final.

There had been concerns that if the club had gained promotion on Tuesday crowds would have assembled around Griffin Park and the club issued a statement urging supporters to stay away.

The police were granted Section 35 dispersal powers beginning at 5pm Tuesday running until 3am on Wednesday in the immediate vicinity of the ground. This gave a police officer in uniform the power, under certain circumstances, to direct a person or persons to leave the area and not return for 48 hours.

Dispersal area around the ground

If Brentford do make it through the play offs it will not be the first time that Brentford have been in the top flight of English football having had a spell there during the thirties and briefly after the end of the Second World War but there has never been as much riding on the next three games in financial terms in the club’s history.

July 25, 2020