Brentford FC in the Premier League?

[rfgqqabc]

@OptaJoe: 42 - Brentford had 42 shots vs Blackpool tonight, 10 more than any team has managed in a Championship game this season. Relentless.

Jfc those are some stats. I would love to bet Bentham is the best chairman around. Would love him at the rovers

[DungBeetle]

The chairman is sacking the manager who produced these stats!  Maybe Warburton should get some credit.

[arbboy]

Wonder if they got a bollocking for 'under performing' last night and only winning 4-0.  The article in the guardian says they are not 'results orientated' and assess performances on the stats so surely that was an under performance given they produced so many shots on target to the worst team in the league?

[DungBeetle]

Impressive stats anyway - but just saw that Blackpool got a 1st half red card.

[Marky147]

Wonder if they got a bollocking for 'under performing' last night and only winning 4-0.  The article in the guardian says they are not 'results orientated' and assess performances on the stats so surely that was an under performance given they produced so many shots on target to the worst team in the league?

1/3 of total shots on target, and 30% of those converted.

Surely that has to be above the norm?

Imagine the Blackpool keeper ought to have improved, given the amount of work he does every week

[luther101]

looking at Brentford's run in, it's only the Derby & Forest games that could prove difficult     .....      surely got a great chance for the Play Offs, at worst?

[tikay]

Fulham 1 - Brentford 4.


HUGE result for The Bees, in so many ways.

[rinswun]

Today was a fun day. Bring on the playoffs!

[DungBeetle]

Well done to the bees.  What a bunch of clowns Derby are though!

[tikay]

I've been following the Bees, first as a supporter - never missed a game, home or away, for the best part of 20 years - & since then via my all too comfy armchair.

Tonight must be their biggest game in all that time. (First leg play off at home to 'Boro).

Would love to see them do well, & I'm pretty sure they will go for it.

It's on Sky Sports, & will be watching for sure.

Click to see full-size image.

[rinswun]

+1.

Of all the nights I agreed to accompany a friend to The Stoop for a non-entity of a game against Bath. Booked in for 3 months so can't let him down. Will be doing my best Likely Lads impression to try and avoid the score until I get back. Fear it will be nigh on impossible.

[tikay]

The outlook is not good.

Boro scored a simple goal first half, then a defensive error gave the Bees an equaliser & some hope after some neat work by Andre Gray, but Boro nicked the winner in injury time.

Seemed a fair result on balance, even though Brentford dominated possession (62%), & there seemed no doubt in my mind that Boro had far more class than Brentford, especially Bamford & Tomlin.

Is that Tomlin chap the fella who used to be at Posh, aka "Fatty Tomlin"? If so, he still seems to carry a bit of weight, but he's well tricky.

So, Brentford need to win the away leg, it's that simple.

It might just be a good thing to miss out this season, & continue building good foundations, & of course, the new Stadium. Neither the team nor the current Stadium, much as I've loved it down the years, are up to Premier League standard yet.

If they miss out, they'll be 0 from 8 in play offs, quite some record that. 

[TightEnd]

Marinus Dijkhuizen ‏@MDijkhuizen9

I am very proud to be Brentford FC's new head coach! Looking forward to work hard together to achieve the ambitions of this folk club.#Bees



The new Brentford manager's 15th place Eredivisie finish looks a *lot* better when you put it in financial context per
‏@MartijnHilhorst

Only Excelsior needed less than 100k per point

[The Camel]

Marinus Dijkhuizen ‏@MDijkhuizen9

I am very proud to be Brentford FC's new head coach! Looking forward to work hard together to achieve the ambitions of this folk club.#Bees



The new Brentford manager's 15th place Eredivisie finish looks a *lot* better when you put it in financial context per
‏@MartijnHilhorst

Only Excelsior needed less than 100k per point

I'm assuming budget includes transfers and salaries?

If so, running a top division club in one of Europe's big leagues on less than £3 million per year is almost unbelievable.

That's the equivalent of spending £0 on transfers and paying a 20 man squad an average of around £150k per year (or £3k per week).

No wonder Excelsior and Dordrecht finished in the bottom 3!

[rinswun]

Excelsior stayed up Keith. Finished 4th bottom and actually had a Newcastle like end to the season - no wins in 9 - after being comfortable for most of the year. Excited to see what this new chap will bring to the equation. Strangely I'm more excited about Rasmus Ankersen's appointment as DoF. Seems like a really bright mind, and someone who understands exactly how to manage resources to achieve maximum value. Apparently we've also picked up Ted Knutsen as head of player analytics. He was the head of football trading at Pinny for 7 years so certainly has an interesting background.