Brentford Odds

Brentford Odds

There is a wide range of Brentford betting odds worth considering. With Brentford’s reputation as an up and down side, Brentford relegation odds can be popular. However, with Brentford establishing themselves as one of the better sides in the Championship, odds on Brentford going up can offer value.

Derby days always offer some great odds, and some bookmakers offer money back specials and enhanced odds on these occasions. The West London derby is no different, for example Brentford v Fulham odds can be of value too.

History

Brentford Football Club are a professional football club located in Greater London. Brentford have played at least one season in all four professional leagues in their history, and are currently a member of the English second tier, the Championship.

Brentford FC history begins in 1889. A meeting took place in the Oxford and Cambridge Hotel, attended by members of the Brentford Rowing Club. Looking for a sport to partake in during the winter months, the members of the rowing club had a vote, deciding between whether to set up a football team or a rugby team. The majority of members voted for football, and so a football team was created.

In early Brentford history, the club used a variety of grounds in which to play their home games. Brentford started playing at the Clifden House Ground from 1889. In 1892, the club changed grounds and moved to Benn’s Field. From there, the club moved to Shotter’s Field in 1894, and then on to the Cross Roads Ground four years later.

With growing support and increasing crowd numbers, the club moved again, this time to Boston Park Cricket Ground. In 1904, the club agreed to rent a piece of land on which to build a new stadium. This new stadium became known as Griffin Park, and is the home of Brentford Football Club to this day.

Brentford spent their early years of existence playing firstly in the West London Alliance, then in the London League before moving into the Southern League. In 1920, Brentford became one of the founder members of the Football League Third Division, which a year later was split into a north and south division. The club began the 1921/1922 season in the Third Division South.

Brentford spent 12 seasons in the Third Division South. In the 1929/1930 season, Brentford won all of their 21 home games, the only club ever to achieve this feat in a 42 game season.

The club were making progress, and were close to promotion on a number of occasions. Then, in the 1932/1933 season, Brentford won the Third Division South title and with it promotion to the second tier of English football.

Two years later, Brentford repeated the feat and won the Second Division title. This earned the club promotion to the First Division for the first time in the club’s history. In their first season in the top flight, the club finished fifth. This is the highest league position Brentford have ever achieved to this day.

Two sixth place finishes followed, and the club appeared to have adapted well to life in the First Division. However, in the 1938/1939 season, the last full season before the Football League calendar was suspended due to the Second World War, the club narrowly escaped relegation after finishing in 18th place.

After the football calendar resumed, things got worse for Brentford. In the first season played after the war, Brentford were relegated back to the Second Division.

Brentford spent seven consecutive seasons in the Second Division, and never looked likely to regain their top flight place. Instead, in the 1953/1954 season, the club were relegated once more. 

Brentford on a number of occasions looked like they were going to push for promotion, but they narrowly missed out time and again. Then, in the 1962/1963 season, the club were relegated once more.

By appearing in the Fourth Division in the 1963/1964 season, Brentford became the first club ever to have played in all four professional divisions. 

Brentford began to struggle financially, and Queens Park Rangers attempted a takeover of the club. Brentford managed to obtain a loan to ease their financial worries, and the proposed merger was cancelled.

The club’s first stay in the Fourth Division was a short one. Brentford won the Fourth Division title to earn an immediate promotion back to the third tier. Three seasons later, however, and they were back in the bottom tier after finishing 23rd in the Third Division in the 1964/1965 season.

Between 1971 and 1991, Brentford spent this time being promoted from then relegated to the Fourth Division. This changed though in the 1991/1992 season when the club won a Third Division title to finally earn promotion back to the second tier.

For the 1992/1993 football season in England, the Premier League was introduced. This resulted in name changes for the Football League divisions -the Second Division became Division One, the Third Division, Division Two and the Fourth Division, Division Three.

Brentford started the 1992/1993 season in Division One. However, their stay was brief and the club were immediately relegated. The following five seasons featured a number of near misses of promotion. The club twice reached the play-offs but twice they were defeated. In the 1997/1998 season, the club suffered another relegation to Division Three.

However, the club bounced back immediately by winning the Division Three title. Brentford struggled at first back in Division Two, but they reached the play offs in the 2001/2002 season only to be denied once more.

For the 2004/2005 season, the Football League divisions were renamed once again. Division One became the Championship, Division Two League One and Division Three League Two.

In both the 2004/2005 and the 2005/2006 campaigns, Brentford reached the play offs but on both occasions they were defeated. From being so close to promotion, the 2006/2007 season saw the club relegated, finishing rock bottom of the League One table.

The club had an average first season in League Two, but the following season was far from it. Brentford stormed to a League Two title and earned themselves promotion back to the third tier.

Five seasons of League One followed. In the 2012/2013 season, the club made the play off final but were defeated by Yeovil Town. However, the club went a step further in the next campaign, finishing in second place and gaining automatic promotion to the Championship.

Since the 2014/2015 season, Brentford have been playing Championship football.

Crest 

There have been many designs of the Brentford FC crest used since the club was formed in 1889. 

In 1893, the Brentford FC badge was a shield in white, with BFC printed in blue. The Brentford badge also featured a blue wavy line, said to represent the rowing club members who founded Brentford Football Club.

The next Brentford FC crest was the Middlesex County coat of arms. In the 1938/1939 season, the team wore the crest of the Brentford and Chiswick coat of arms.

For the 1971/1972 season, a new badge was created. This Brentford badge consisted of a shield, split into quarters. In the quarters featured firstly a hive and bees, representing the club’s nickname; seaxes from the Middlesex County coat of arms in another; and featured in the other two were stripes of red and white.

In 1973, a fan designed badge was worn on Brentford shirts. This took the shape of a circle, with an image of bees and stripes and featured the date 1888. However, two years later, when it was discovered that the club had actually been formed in 1889, a new badge was created.

1994 saw the introduction of the badge that is used today. This badge is similar in design to the 1972/1973 badge in that it features four quarters, and it contains the imagery of that early 1970’s badge with just slight alterations.

In 2017, a new Brentford badge was released. A more simplified design, the badge features a bee on a white background, with the name of the club and date of formation circled around it on a red background.

Colours

The standard Brentford colours are red and white striped shirts, worn with black shorts and black socks. These colours were first used in 1926, before then the Brentford players wore a variety of colours and styles.

In the year the club was formed, 1889, the team wore blue, pink and brown hooped shirts with white shorts and black socks. The following season, the kit was changed and featured a blue, pink and brown striped shirt, with dark blue shorts and dark blue socks.

From 1897 to 1901, the Brentford kit featured blue and brown striped shirts, with dark blue shorts and dark blue socks. The shirt colours remained the same for the 1902/1903 season, although the blue and brown stripes were thicker, and this shirt was worn with white shorts and brown socks.

Between 1903 and 1909, the Brentford colours were blue shirts with thin yellow stripes, worn with white shorts and dark blue socks. The shirt was changed for the 1909/1910 season, when the team wore blue shirts with yellow sleeves and a yellow ‘v’ shape at the top. The club reverted back to its 1903 to 1909 kit, but in 1914 the club wore blue shirts with a yellow collar.

From 1920 to 1925, the Brentford kit was completely changed once more. The club adopted plain white shirts, worn with dark blue shorts and dark blue socks.

In 1926, the famous red and white stripes were introduced. The Brentford kit of red and white striped shirts, black shorts and black socks has been worn ever since, although on occasion red socks have been utilised.

Brentford Stadium

The Brentford FC stadium is called Griffin Park. It has been the home of Brentford since it was constructed in 1904. The current Brentford stadium capacity is 12,300, making it one of the smallest grounds in the Championship.

Griffin Park is famous for having a pub in each corner of the ground - The New Inn, The Griffin, The Princess Royal and the Royal Oak, which closed in 2015.

Griffin Park features four stands. These are the Braemar Road Stand, the New Road Stand, the Ealing Terrace and the Brook Road Stand.

There is a new Brentford FC stadium plan currently being developed. The Brentford Community Stadium, or the Brentford FC Lionel Road Stadium, is currently under development. After many years of discussions, Brentford FC new stadium plans are underway, with a new stadium due to be completed soon.

Supporters

Brentford supporters traditionally hail from West London and the surrounding areas. There are other branches of Brentford supporters clubs across the country too. 

Two of the biggest Brentford supporters clubs are The Brentford Supporters Club, otherwise known as Bees United, the former majority shareholders of Brentford; and the Brentford Independent Association of Supporters.

Brentford supporters have a rivalry with those from Chelsea, Fulham and Queens Park Rangers. Whenever any of these sides meet, it is classed as a West London derby.

Ownership

The current Brentford FC owner is Matthew Benham. Benham bought the club from the supporters group Bees United in 2012. Benham is also the owner of Danish side FC Midtjylland.

Bees United had taken over the football club in 2006, following the financially disastrous tenure of previous owner Ron Noades where the club nearly went out of business, and appointed Greg Dyke as chairman.

Dyke left the role in 2013. The current Brentford chairman is Cliff Crown.

Stats

Brentford’s all time leading appearance maker is Ken Coote. Coote made 559 appearances for Brentford Football Club from 1949 to 1964.

Three other players have made over 500 appearances for the club. These are Jamie Bates, with 524 appearances made from 1986 to 1999; Peter Gelson who made 516 appearances for the club between 1960 and 1975; and Kevin O’Connor, who played 501 games for Brentford from 2000 to 2015.

The Brentford all time leading goalscorer is Jim Towers. Towers scored 163 goals for the club from 1951 to 1961.

Three other players have scored over one hundred goals for Brentford. These are George Francis, with 136 goals from 1953 to 1962; Jack Holliday, who scored 122 goals between 1932 and 1939; and Gary Blissett who notched 105 goals for Brentford from 1987 to 1993.

Brentford hold the joint highest score for a League Cup match. A League Cup game against Dagenham and Redbridge in 2014 saw the game finish 6-6 after extra time.

Brentford’s record league win is 9-0. This came against Wrexham in 1963 in a Third Division match. Brentford’s all time record league defeat is 7-0. Brentford have actually been beat 7-0 on three occasions, the most recent coming against Peterborough United in 2007 in a League Two match.

The highest home attendance that a Brentford side has played in front of came in 1949 against Leicester City in an FA Cup match.

The highest transfer fee Brentford have ever paid is thought to be around £2.5 million, a fee paid to Norwich City for Sergi Canos in 2017. The highest transfer fee Brentford have ever received is also undisclosed, but said to have beaten the £6.25 million the club received for Andre Gray, when Aston Villa bought Scott Hogan in 2017.

In the 2013/2014 season, Brentford broke their club record for consecutive league wins. Brentford won eight successive games in League One.

The same season, the club also broke their record for the most different goalscorers in a season, when 20 different Brentford players found the net at least once during the course of that season.

It was in 2014 that the club broke yet another record, this time for most home wins in a calendar year. The club won 17 matches at Griffin Park, spanning their time in League One and the Championship.

Brentford Players

Brentford FC players currently number 25 in their first team squad, with 20 players in the ‘B’ team.

There are a number of Brentford FC players from the past that entered the Brentford Hall of Fame. There are 53 members of the Brentford Hall of Fame currently, with inductions taking place every year. Wally Bragg, Roger Cross, Ian Dargie, Andrew McCulloch and George Poyser were the 2018 inductees.

Jim Towers is classed as one of Brentford’s best ever players. Towers is Brentford’s all time leading goalscorer. Stan Bowles is another of Brentford’s best ever players, and was named in a PFA vote as the best player in Brentford history.

Two players have played for the England national side while playing their club football with Brentford. These are Leslie Smith and Billy Scott.

Other famous ex Brentford players include Dean Holdsworth, Jimmy Bloomfield, Ken Coote, Billy Gorman and Joe Crozier.

Brentford Manager

The current Brentford FC manager is Dean Smith. Smith took over the managerial reins in December 2015. Smith became the eighth manager in four years to take over at Griffin Park.

Mark Warburton has the highest win percentage of any Brentford manager in the club’s history. He managed the Bees for 78 matches, winning 40 of them giving him a win percentage of 51.28.

The club’s longest serving manager is Harry Curtis. Curtis managed the club for 705 games between 1926 and 1949, winning 305 of them.

Honours

Brentford Football Club have never won a major trophy. Brentford’s list of honours include one second flight title (1934/1935); two third tier titles (1932/1933 and 1991/1992); and three fourth tier titles (1962/1963, 1998/1999, 2008/2009).