2006/07 Review

Well, what a season it was, and for all the wrong reasons. Following Martin Allen's departure in June 2006, there were murmurs of discontent when his successor was announced as being Leroy Rosenior. This was largely due to fan's expectation for a "high calibre manager" that Chairman Greg Dyke had talked about. Rosenior, while being by all accounts a thoroughly decent, honest man, had hardly blazed a trail through the leagues. His only highlight guiding Torquay to promotion to league 1.

However, Rosenior set to work rebuilding the squad with the intention of pushing for a place in the championship. Initially results went well for the Bees, as they pursued a passing game and tried to play decent football. A season's best of 4th place though became a distant memory and after some very poor results, Rosenior was sacked.

His replacement, Scott Fitzgerald, another thoroughly nice guy, fared little better and he too was dismissed. The common denominator in both these sackings was the poor form and apparent lack of effort by a number of players.

While this nightmare was unfolding, events in the Halls of Griffin Park were turning from gloomy to almost entirely fruitless, in a day by day battle for survival against crippling debts totalling over £9 Million. Many unknown people have, since the dire financial state the club is in became apparent, gone out of their way to help the club in various different ways. From organising sponsored walks, to quizz nights, to lending the club large sums of money to help pay wages and keep the club running from week to week, month to month.

The end of the season led to relegation and almost utter humiliation. Even Rotherham with a 10 point deduction finished above Bees, in what has to go down as one of the worst in living memory, if not all time.

Terry Butcher and Andy Scott, both old pro's with a never say die attitude, have taken over the management at Griffin Park. There's no doubt it will not be an easy challenge gaining promotion, but that is the task ahead for the new boss and his assistant. Only time will tell if Bees can make the leap back at the first attempt, and whether they can continue to pay their way and remain competitive.

Removing some of the old deadwood and bringing in some fresh new faces has brought with it an air of hope I believe, that Brentford can consolidate, build, grow and prosper.