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16 Jan 2016

Dear James Tarkowski. An open letter.

Sadly last night you were not “dear” to the 10,000 fans who having worked to earn the money to watch a football game that you were supposed to be playing in. You clearly felt it right to “go on strike” or refuse to play in the game. Why would that be? It seems that you are not brave nor maybe stupid enough to reply on twitter to the stream of invective and vitriol that I have been reading all evening from Brentford fans. So I have to surmise what the issue might be.

No Camera even this large would have found James Tarkowski at Brentford.

Brentford played Burnley and we assume you and your agent have had contact with Burnley who have made an inadequate offer for you. Brentford who have trained you and improved you over the last two years quite reasonably need payback for that. After all who else will pay the coaching and fitness staff whose services you have used freely to improve. And while on the topic of pay, maybe I should remind you of the games you have missed through red cards and suspensions, and of course those when you were injured. The club supported you through all this. You indeed have been a good player. Not a world beater. You will never for example be an international player like some of your team colleagues. I assume also that you have an issue with Brentford rejecting the bid as it would lead no doubt to higher wages. Brentford have stated, or the media has at least, that a bid of 4-5 million £ would buy your services. Presumably Burnley will pay that if they agree with the valuation. So, back to the game tonight versus Burnley. Why would you say you were not wanting to play? I can again only guess that you did not feel comfortable opposing the team you hope or imagine or know will sign you. Or worse, did not want to be part of a team that would beat Burnley? This is not how football or life works. You are under contract, legally to Brentford and presumably have been paid in accord with that contract? So you might not want to play, but in short you have to. You owed that to the fans and the club. But you declined this kind offer of team selection. So in short your loyalty is with the potential new club Burnley, who may not be blameless in all this by unsettling you and offering ridiculous low transfer bids, but your real loyalty is to yourself and your selfish desire to secure more money, without a thought for the fans, coaches and others who got you as far as this. In short you have let down everyone who has helped and supported you in your career.

A quick look at twitter reveals extensive vitriol towards you not only from fans but from those who know football from your side, players like Marcus Gayle, and journalists. You really have chosen to upset a lot of people. Football supporters who even have no connections with Brentford.

So if You were watching the game on TV tonight you would have seen a Brentford team clearly unsettled by your selfish, arrogant and stupid behaviour lose an important game. You would also have heard 10,000 Bees fans chanting and singing your name, followed by expletives. You will go down in football history as one of the bad guys, who decided that they were more important than the game, the fans, the clubs and the very fabric of football. You will certainly be remembered in years to come but not for your football prowess. Any club who signs you in years to come will take all this into account as will your fellow footballers. How do you feel about letting down not only the club and fans, but also your fellow professionals. I think it is fair to say you have shown all of them a total lack of respect. I do look forward to hearing your side of the story.

Posted in brentford, football, Uncategorized and tagged @Tarky19, alan judge, brentford, brentford defender, brentford fc, Brentford Football Club, brentford v burnley, burnley bad behaviour, championship, football, footballers on strike, footballers wages, griffin park, harlee dean, james tarkowski, james tarkowski goes on strike, jim levack, john swift, league 1, lionel road, london, loyalty, loyalty to club, marcus gayle, mark devlin, money football, new malden, player wages, ryan woods, sean dyche, surrey, tarkowski, tarkowski strike, tarkowski twitter, turf moor, twitter, twitter tarkowski

13 Jan 2016

Brentford 0 Middlesbrough 1. An unlucky evening for Bees

On the face of it Brentford a mid-table side were beaten by the league leaders and in my opinion, Champions elect. There however was a lot more to this game that on balance should be very encouraging for Brentford.

The most important thing is that this group of players are playing hard for their manager and to their potential. The second most important thing is that the fans back the team even in unfortunate defeats such as this. So what was the story of the game? We learned that David Button is an excellent goalkeeper but made one error that cost us the goal and the points. But long before Brentford should have been 2-0 up at least with chances missed and decent saves by the Middlesbrough keeper. Despite all the transfer speculation, and that is all that it is, Diadouraga and Tarkowski started and played decent games. The man of the match who improves with each performance is Maxime Colin, and for once our defence looked more solid than of late. Sam Saunders got a rare start in midfield and did not disappoint . What was apparent though was that Bees have no strikers. Lasse Vibe tries hard but he is not a lone striker and realistically would slot in to midfield in place of Saunders. Hoffman when he came on was invisible. A pair of strikers would make the world of difference to this side. The other fact that cannot be hidden is that Brentford must be the smallest side in the Championship and maybe the league. A midfield of Judge, Saunders, Woods is not a physically threatening vision. Does this matter? Maybe and maybe not.

I am encouraged by the excellent performance tonight but still wondrous at why we have not signed not it seems threatened to sign some strikers. To raid the lower leagues possibly.

But even though the rain came down again and this was the second 1-0 home defeat in 4 days there is plenty of reason for optimism.

Posted in brentford, championship, championship goalkeepers, Uncategorized and tagged brentford, brentford 0 middlesbrough 1, brentford fc, Brentford Football Club, brentford new ground, brentford new stadium, brentford promotion, button own goal, david button, diadouraga, football, griffin park, hoffman, hoffmann, james tarkowski, lasse vibe, london, london football, london football clubs, maxime colin, sam saunders, tarkowski, tarkowski transfer rumours, vibe, west london | Leave a comment

12 Jan 2016

Waffle Jacks Wimbledon

Posted in food, food photos, Uncategorized and tagged ADHD, american diner, art, BA, bees, brentford, cinnamon waffle, food photo, food photos, football, london, merton, merton waffle, murder, new malden, surrey, surrey waffle, vacation, waffle jacks, waffle jacks menu, waffle jacks merton, waffle menu, waffle photo, waffle picture, waffles, wimbledon waffle house, wimbleon waffles | Leave a comment

08 Jan 2016

Reflections on Glasgow

Glasgow is a city that many people like and love. Host to various international events and museums. But I have never really “got” Glasgow. Maybe I have not been shown the cool places? I had an hour to spend this walk and just walked around central Glasgow taking a few photographs and again found the city not exactly full of inspiration. As usual it was raining and there was rubbish everywhere. Streets were littered with huge rubbish bags and general detritus. I need someone to point me in the right direction and show me the real highlights of Glasgow please. Strange images of jellybabies playing bagpipes, various graffiti, grey streets and Irn Bru.

Glasgow Graffiti

Irn Bru looked too dangerous to try. As for the Blue Police box, is this serious? The planes had propellers, ok, I exagerrate a little, but not so much. Glasgow airport looked quite dead compared with previous visits. Few planes coming and going. A million shops selling “real fish and chips”.

Now to put the other side of the equation. From

http://www.peoplemakeglasgow.com

Glasgow has been named as one of the top 20 ‘Best of the World’ destinations for 2016 by influential publication National Geographic Traveler, the city has also been voted the ‘friendliest city in the world’ in a Rough Guides poll and named a must visit destination by leading publications like the New York Times, The Guardian and Wanderlust! Earning its reputation as one of the world’s greatest cities, you can expect a very warm welcome and when you add world-class architecture, a vibrant nightlife, breathtaking scenery and outstanding shopping, you’ll never want to leave!

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Posted in Uncategorized and tagged ADHD, art, aviation, BA, bagpipes, bagpipes photo, bees, blue police box photo, cheap hotels glasgow, city of culture, flybe, football, glasgow, glasgow airport, glasgow photo, glasgow rubbish, glasgow tourism, hilton glasgow, hilton glasgow photo, hotels glasgow, info glasgow, information glasgow, irn bru, jellybaby, jellybaby bagpipes, london, marriott glasgow, murder, new malden, photo glasgow, police box, rain, rubbish on streets glasgow, scotland, scotland vacation, vacation, vacations | Leave a comment

04 Jan 2016

1 Comment

Lets Remind Ourselves of the highlights of Burnley before Tarkowski and Judge decide.

Some of the Brentford fans had the pleasure of a day out at Turf Moor earlier this season. The stewards and fans were friendly enough and maybe we were unfortunate to lose 1-0 to a sloppy goal from defensive error. But would I want to live there?

Judging by the news Burnley are after signing the whole Brentford squad, the fans, the badge and most likely the urban architecture that is Brentford! Today allegedly having a 2.3 million offer rejected for James Tarkowski. A ridiculous bid.

Lets take a look at what Burnley the town and the football ground was like and maybe Tarkowski and Judge may form a different view of where they want to play their football.

A Night out in Burnley. If these were the new ideas from the new owners, what exactly were the old ones like?

A night out in Burnley

2. Maybe not much different to many Northern towns but this is what the streets looked like around the ground

Burnley Streets

3. Uninspiring architecture here at the away fans entrance

Away Fans entrance

4.The ground itself

Lovely Wooden Seats

Posted in brentford, championship, football, Uncategorized and tagged alan judge, away fans burnley, away fans wooden seats, away stand burnley, burnley, burnley 1 brentford 0, burnley fc, burnley streets, burnley v brentford, championship, david fishwick stand, dean smith, dean smith brentford, football, gogia, griffin park, james tarkowski, lancashire, lancashire football, lancashire town, latics, lee carsley, life in lancashire, london, mark devlin, maxime colin, new owners, night out burnley, northern towns uk, oldham athletic, photo burnley, photo burnley fc, photo turf moor, photos burnley, pubs in burnley, streets burnley, The Bees, turf moor, uk north, what burnley like, wooden seats, wooden seats football ground

02 Jan 2016

Reflections on Birmingham 2 V Brentford 1 Away Day. Jan 2nd 2016

Trips to Birmingham have never been without incident and this one is no exception. The nonsense of buying tickets began on tuesday night with the announcement that sales of tickets from Brentford, having reasonably been on sale for four weeks, would cease lunchtime wednesday, but Birmingham in their wisdom decreed no match day sales. Can anyone explain to me why? Why do clubs not want bigger crowds, especially in the holiday season when often plans are not cemented till the last minute. This ridiculous decision was then reversed maybe 48 hours later. Thankfully Twitter and Mark Devlin kept us updated. A number of tickets were sold at the last minute and these needed collection at the ground.

The nonsense continued on match day with no-one in the Birmingham ticket office seemingly aware that these tickets were somehow being escorted to the ground. A random vision of the sign ” Collections” on a gate at the away end gave at last a clue where tickets might be collected. Two unhappy looking souls distributed tickets after checking for names on an envelope. And giving the impression they were auditioning for a role in a prison behind bars.

A number of positives need to be stated. Firstly all the staff at the ground, the stewards and in fact the fans are super friendly, and it was a pleasure to listen in to a conversation on how awful a referee Keith Stroud is. Parking is also easy. Travelling through the suburbs of Birmingham is frankly non unlike the opening of a horror movie. But ground parking is easy and anyone prepared to walk 10-15 minutes can find free easy street parking. Lower Dartmouth street is my recommendation.

And there are a few sights in Birmingham, somewhat unexpected within yards of the ground. And a good few sights totally expected. The ground is in a sort of area that is an admixture of urban housing and small industrial estates. With a few curious bars and shops thrown in for good measure.

On the way to the ground one walks past canals that look pleasant although here there seemed either a small gravestone or a miniature ” angel of the north”. Street cleaning also seems an optional extra, though maybe a little cruel to say that on Jan 2nd.

The ground itself is a great ground now. Three sides have been re-built and this is one of the better Championship grounds. The whole area smells that gorgeous football smell of onions and cooking burgers.

Views are excellent all around the ground and access is quite uncomplicated. With one notable exception, the tannoy system is so quiet that I did not realise there was one. The game however was dire and will be covered in a different blog. Overall this was a good match day experience. And lastly I should mention that £20 for a ticket is really a very reasonable price in 2016.

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Posted in best football photos, brentford, championship, football, Uncategorized and tagged alan judge, angel of the north, away fan sales, away tickets birmingham, bees, beesotted, birmingham, birmingham fc, birmingham prison, birmingham tickets away fans, brentford, brentford fc, clayton donaldson, cost football birmingham, cost of tickets birmingham fc, david button, dean, foot long hot dogs, football, football burgers, football food, football photos, football updates, good stewarding, gravestones in birmingham, harlee dean, keith stroud, keith stroud awful referee, keith stroud referee, lewis dunk, london, lower dartmouth street, mark devlin, mark devlin brentford, match day ticket sales, parking away fans birmingham fc, parking st andrews, price of football, st andrews, staff birmingham fc, stewards birmingham fc, street parking birmingham, twitter, walking to football, where to park birmingham fc | Leave a comment

02 Jan 2016

What have Weekend Offenders and Foot Long Hot Dogs got to do with Birmingham 2 Brentford 1 . Jan 2nd 2016

Sadly an awful football game. The first half was maybe the worst football, if one can describe it as that, all season. Neither team able to pass to another player and nothing to note other than an awful looking tackle in the 45th minute by ex-bee John Toral on Jake Bidwell. Half time arrived with the Brentford crowd baying for a red card and possible execution.

The second half was better though not by much. Brentford leaked their usual two goals with the second resulting from another error from Harlee Dean. Brentford in between scored a goal, a tap in after a goalkeeping error. Frankly this was the sort of game that neither side deserved any points. The referee was also abysmal, Graham Scott. He was finicky to the extreme. Booking an excessive number of players and stoping the game on any any pretext at any time. He ran Keith Stroud a close second in the worst referee of the week awards.

A strange Brentford team performance after recent very strong ones. Raised questions about possible tiredness? Issues behind the scenes relating to transfers?

The team was also a little unusual in that Jota was neither in the side nor on the bench, for which there may be multiple reasons but is he being transferred was the one being discussed? Alan Judge had his quietest game for months. Maybe tired, maybe took a few heavy tackles , maybe again is a transfer allegedly to Middlesbrough for 12 million on his mind? James Tarkowski had his worst game I have seen him have, but still looked good! Again, transfer issues? Tiredness? Who knows.

On the positive side Gogia looked interested when he came on with 20 minutes to go. Neither Hoffmann nor Vibe are strikers we want playing upfront alone.

So, a strange game. St Andrews is a decent ground but we always seem to lose there every time i go……so maybe all my fault.

Weekend offenders was a great piece of graffiti on a wall and foot long hot dogs smelled great. They were maybe the highlights today.

Posted in best football photos, brentford, championship, championship goalkeepers, football, Uncategorized and tagged alan judge, andy gogia, birmingham 2 brentford 1, birmingham city, birmingham fc, brentford, brentford strikers, brentford transfer rumours, championship 2016, david button, dean, dean smith, foot long hot dogs, football, gogia, graham scott, harlee dean, hoffmann, james tarkowski, john swift, jota, judge middlesbrough, keith stroud, lasse vibe, london, maxime colin, ryan woods, st andrews, transfer rumours, vacation, vibe, weekend offenders | Leave a comment

29 Dec 2015

Reading 1 Brentford 2. A few thoughts, reflections and comments.

There are plenty of eloquent match reports and informed opinions on the various blogs and message boards. So no need for a detailed match report. What does need saying though is that fine margins make results. Brentford were the better side but Reading gave the impression, certainly in the second half of working a bit harder.

The neutral would have enjoyed this game, with end to end movement, an awful referee and three truly excellent goals that would have graced any Champions league game never mind the premiership or championship.

Will Brentford fans see two better goals from their side this season? A 30 yard shot from Ryan Woods that gave the keeper no chance and came out of nowhere at a time that Brentford were not on top, was maybe bettered by the effort from Sergi Canos that he both made and scored. He took an excellent pass from Ryan Woods, and produced two sublime touches with his right foot then switching to his left foot to hit the ball home. The Reading goal from Garath McCleary was made by Matej Vydra, a player I would not mind in Brentford colours, with again a wonderful passing movement that one cannot criticise the Bees defence for conceding.

Those that say we should use our pitch to share with other teams, football or rugby, might like to take a look at the awful pitch at Reading especially in the penalty area and corner regions. It was fairly terrible.

The other point of note was the woeful performance, again , of referee Keith Stroud. He was without doubt the worst official I have witnessed in 2015. His decisions were error strewn, with both sides left in bemusement at times. Most bookings were incomprehensible, with the exception of the sensible decision to give two yellow cards to Michael Hector, both deserved. The first one for a crude and potentially dangerous challenge on Alan Judge might have been deserving of a red card and the second one for some poor simulation in an attempt to win a penalty was also well deserved. But otherwise Mr Stroud annoyed both sets of fans and players with odd and seemingly random decisions that defied the many rules of football that I am aware of. It would be a pleasure not to witness that charade again this season or ever maybe.

Brentford did not play to their best. The defence looked more solid. James Tarkowski started the game hobbling in the warm up and seemed to finish that way too, but was excellent. Ryan woods scored an amazing goal but gave the ball away so many times that this is an area of real concern for the team. However other than the goalscorers the Man of the Match for me was Maxime Colin. An imperious display.

Are Brentford play-off contenders? The mathematics say they are but they need to improve on their goal scoring records. They are playing well and have improved enormously since August but need a clinical striker.

Posted in best football photos, brentford, football, Uncategorized and tagged 2015-16 play offs, awful refereee, best goal 2015, best goals 2015-2016, brentford, brentford canos, brentford fc, brentford promotion, brentford promotion 2015-16, Canos, championship, garath mccleary, griffin park, hector brentford, hector sending off, james tarkowski, keith stroud, keith stroud awful refereee, lionel road, london, london irish, madejski stadium, matej vydra, michael hector, pitch madejski, play off contenders, poor pitch reading fc, reading fc, ryan woods, sergi canos | Leave a comment

29 Dec 2015

More Bizarre Going Ons at Leyton Orient. President charged with kicking Assistant Manager

Seems there has been enough circus at Leyton Orient over the last few years with the demise of the club from being a fellow promotion contender with Brentford from league 1 to now a fairly average league 2 side seemingly shorn of their better players.

The recent incident however after the boxing day victory over Portsmouth takes some beating where their president Francesco Becchetti has been charged by the FA for allegedly kicking Andy Hessentaller the assistant manager after the game and after their 3-2 victory which ended 10 a side. I leave you to form your own judgement here in the clip.

http://the72.co.uk/42983/orient-owner-charged-for-kicking-assistant-manager/

Posted in best football photos, brentford, football, Uncategorized and tagged Andy Hessentaller, brentford, football, football stories, fracas orient, francesco becchetti, london, london football sides, london football story, marcello trotta, orient, orient assistant manager, orient fc, orient president kicking, orient president kicking assistant manager, orient v portsmouth, trotta and brentford, vacation | Leave a comment

29 Dec 2015

2 Comments

Reflections on Away Day at Reading FC Madejski Stadium

Away fans have a few minimum expectations when travelling. Mostly that they will get there, be able to park and be able to find the ground. Reading football club make a great effort to ensure that these are met.

Their website gives good parking information and in fact on the presumption that unless one arrives at 2 am that the official car parks will be full, the two big car parks around the ground on a derelict piece of wasteland and on the greyhound stadium site together hold 1500 car parking spaces for 7£ each. Each well signposted from the motorway. The expected downside was an approximate 45 minute wait to escape after the final whistle.

The ground is situated just off Junction 11 of M4 and is surrounded by food outlets including KFC where I had the worst chips ever, and that includes school food. But in terms of availability there is a decent selection of fast food. The stewards were just normal stewards, if that term applies. The ground is maybe 10 minutes walk from the Reading Gate food outlets and shops.

The ground gives great views. There is not a bad view in the ground including from the penultimate row JJ in the away end. Maybe the only surprise was that the front seats in the lower tier of the away end were not available for use. Not everyone wants to sit perched in the sky.