The Brentford love-in

Don't understand it, not on Sky, and certainly not on here. Just another small club gambling on hitting the big time by spending wildly beyond their means. Personally, I'm glad that they failed. Just like I'm very happy that Bournemouth have come down.

 

Spending beyond your means is not the same as punching above your weight.

Tiz correct what you say

 

Just found out there new ground only has capacity for 17, 500. I get the need to move away (maybe, at a push), But if you're gonna do it, do it bigger then that. Doesn't look to me like they ever thought they would reach the PL

 

It's a tricky one. They're historically not a particularly well supported club. Hull and Reading both built massive stadiums, but neither of them was able to sustain top-flight football long term. In the Championship, both of them get around 12-14000 in. In a 17,000 capacity stadium, this number of fans can still create a pretty good atmosphere. In a 30,000 stadium it's like a graveyard.

 

To survive without going over budget , need your scouts to unearth some bargain gems.

Have to work the loan system to maybe get some players in you wouldnt want on long term contracts til you reach a level.

Looking at Bournemouth , they seemed to do that then started spending relatively big on players they had previously loaned. Then when it didnt work out, they are where they are.

 

There isn’t the land available for a 30,000 seater stadium in west London. The plot they’ve found is a strange shape, and squeezed in between a motorway, railway lines and several other substantial buildings.

 

That's another very good point! I also guess that they wanted to retain as much as possible of the feel and atmosphere of Griffin Park.

 

The Ricoh was way too big for Coventry. I'd have gone for 20 000, but space is at a premium in London I suppose.

 

I've read quite a bit about the Ricoh disaster. Most Cov fans are of the opinion that there was nothing fundamentally wrong with Highfield Road, and that they should never have left.

Still, not quite as big a farce as Darlington's 25,000 stadium! Stadium MK is another one which is ridiculously big. The atmosphere at these grounds must be absolutely shocking.

 

Many of their fans are convinced that they’re a well run club as they made £20m on transfers last summer ignoring that they’ve lost about 4 times that in the previous 5 years & have lots of players earning 15,000 a week upwards despite crowds in the 10-11,500 region.

It’s all about how long the owners will put up with the losses. They should be OK for a couple of seasons as Benrahma & Watkins will command big fees but they’ve only to sign a couple of dud’s on them kind of wages on 4 & 5 year contracts & the whole thing will unravel.

 

I think if the West Stand was restored a bit & maybe a few improvements to the away end to deal with whatever issues are reducing capacity our ground is an ideal size. A decent sized away end for the visit of bigger clubs & derby matches. If we could just sort out the bar & catering a bit all would be good.

Brentford would grow their fan base if they got in the top flight, simply because tickets are hard to get for Chelsea, Tottenham & Arsenal. Fulham didn't really have a massive core support, but they've been in the top flight on & off in the last 20 years.

 

Its right at the side of Kew Bridge station so connections should be decent (if fans ever get to go in grounds again!), but you're spot on, large plots of land beyond west london that arent green belt, parks or woodland are pretty rare.

 

Of the 2 teams, I'd have preferred Brentford to go up. Yes they are paying more than they earn (quickly resolved by selling some of their very talented players), but if you look at Fulham, they are paying massively over the odds too. Its just been masked from parachute payments. They too were in the FFP last chance saloon before their win against Villa in 2018.

 

That’s a poor state of mind.
An absolutely crazy position to hold.

What you are saying there is basically every team should be placed in the league on the number of supporters they get through the gate.
So Manchester United will always win the league and Leeds United belong in the Premier League.
NO ...... NO ...... and NO.
What’s the foooking point of playing games if that is the case !?!?!

Hartlepool belong in the Premier League as much as Leeds United do.

 

Kew Bridge station is on the Waterloo line, so not sure how useful that will be for Barnsley fans. I’d recommend Gunnersbury station on the District & Overground.

 

Sold their ground to developers, but will have to buy back their new stadium. Failing to get promoted next season could eventually see them face problems as they will continue to have to sell their best players. They do seem to achieve great fees when selling, but have started to pay larger fees and wages to incoming players. Can Brentfords scouting team continue to find those hidden talents season after season. They do follow the moneyball policy like ourselves although seem to have attracted a better profile for their players than we do recently.

 

Depends where you come in. On the train line to Clapham Junction and Waterloo. You never know, some may go for a civilised wander round Kew Gardens before seeing us get battered ;-)

Good craft beer pub at the side of the station, the Express Tavern, though suspect with the ground being next door it might go to home fans only now.

 

Isn't this a bit misleading though? Yes, their wage bill is 130% of revenue but that's due to the way transfer fees are accounted for. If you include money from transfer fees they make a profit each year...albeit one that relies on successful identification of future talent and selling them on. You say one or two bad windows could kill them...so could relegation to the league below or poor attendances as a result of poor performances. It's their business model and they're very successful at it.

They've built a new stadium to help them generate revenue away from the field. Griffin Park couldn't be utilised in the way the new stadium can so it's actually an investment. I think football fans wrongly believe that matchday income is the biggest source of income other than central payments. It's certainly significant but any successful business would try to diversify their income to lower their risk.

And for those saying they're signing players for bigger money and on better contracts...that's how the model works. They're reinvesting transfer fees into other players and using good contracts to attract tie them down. That increases their resale value and subsequently adds capital back into the club.

I'm not saying their model is perfect but it's essentially a more developed version of what we're doing. Personally, I'm all for it.

 

I disagree that they're a small club spending beyond their means, as they're essentially doing what we're trying to do, but they're much better at it.

They spent an absolute fortune last season on players, but still far less on what they made. They're the sort of team we're aspiring to be like.

They've invested heavily on their scouting network so they can find cheap gems, polish them up, sell them on, and replace them. It's worked for them!

They're certainly not in the same bracket as say Bournemouth or Brighton, who spent well beyond what they were bringing in, just for a stab at the Premier league.

Quick edit: I didn't realise their losses were as bad as they are. But in principle, it's a similar model to what we're doing.