Ipswich Town v Brentford
Saturday 7th March 2015 – 15:00
Portman Road
Opening Thought – Jamma
What a difference a year makes! Amongst all the doom and gloom surrounding our gradual slide down the table, I found myself looking back 12 months to see just how far we had come in that space of time. If you go back to this time last year, Town were in the middle of a similarly inconsistent spell taking in wins against Birmingham, Yeovil and Brighton and defeats to Leicester, Middlesbrough and Wigan. Our league position was also near identical, with the win at the Amex keeping us on the fringe of the play-offs. The difference in 2014/15, of course, is that the Blues have spent the vast majority of the campaign in the top 6, at times looking more likely to break into the automatic places than slip out of contention. Along with this upturn has come an increase in expectancy levels, with supporters now understandably questioning our ability to last the distance. It is often said that a side that has been in and around the top 6 all season are at a disadvantage against a team that has come up on the rails to make the play-offs. While Brentford have also been challenging for most of the campaign, they will be boosted by the knowledge that they have taken our place in the top 6. With just one point between them, Saturday’s clash has the definite feel of the biggest match of the season so far for both clubs.
Alex Mathie said something with a lot of truth to it in last night’s radio commentary (yes, it does occasionally happen!
). He pointed out that, not for the first time in recent weeks, Town had come up against a team with nothing to lose, in a Leeds side marooned in mid-table obscurity. We have seen it countless times before with Ipswich, and how we tend to pull a performance out of the bag once we are free from the pressure of picking up a result. This has arguably been the case for the likes of recent opponents Brighton and Reading, who seem to be playing with much more freedom now that their Championship status has all but been secured. Against Sheffield Wednesday and Birmingham, on the other hand, both of whom had outside shouts at the play-offs when we faced them, we enjoyed more success. Our upcoming fixture list undeniably looks daunting but we can also think of it as an excellent opportunity to re-establish our promotion credentials. Our return of 13 points from 33 in 2015 – as well as the loss of back-to-back fixtures for the first time this season – does not bode well for the run-in. But, with 4 of our next 5 matches against fellow nervy top 6 contenders, there is all to play for, in a battle that looks set to go down to the wire…The Opposition - Brentford
Founded on 10 October 1889, at the Oxford and Cambridge Hotel in Brentford where a meeting was held, between the members of the Brentford Rowing Club, to decide between association football or rugby union, to serve as a winter pursuit for the rowing club and its members. As a result of a vote, by 8 votes to 5, taken 6 days later, association football was successful as the sport to partake in.
The football club started out playing its home matches at the Clifden House Ground in Brentford, from November 1889 to March 1892.
In October 1892, Benn's Field in Little Ealing, was the club's new home. The football club decided to move nearer to Brentford and in December 1894 they moved to Shotter's and stayed there until April 1898. Due to high rent increases, the club were once again forced to move on, so in September 1898 the club moved to the Cross Roads Ground, in Little Ealing and this was used until April 1900.
As the club grew, Boston Park Cricket Ground, in York Road, Brentford was then used from September 1900 to April 1904. Finally, in January 1904, the club agreed a 21-year lease on an orchard. The clearance of the orchard, over 200 trees, and the levelling of the land took several months. Griffin Park, as it became known was now ready for use as a football ground after banking was raised along three sides of the ground and an enclosure, moved from their previous ground, was erected.
In 1920, it was a founder member of the Third Division South. During the late 1920s and 1930s, the club began to make real progress. In the 1929–30 season, the side won all 21 of its home matches in the Third Division South, but still missed out on promotion. They are the last of six teams in English football to amass a perfect home record, and the only one to do so over a season of 42 matches or more. After several more near-misses, promotion to the Second Division was finally achieved in 1932–33.
Two years later, Brentford reached the First Division and finished 5th in its debut season which is still the club's highest ever league.
The club was relegated in the first season after the War, and a downward spiral set in, which culminated in relegation to the Third Division in 1953–54 and the Fourth Division in 1961–62. In the process Brentford became the first team to play the other ninety-one clubs in league football.
The survival of Brentford FC was threatened by a projected takeover by Queens Park Rangers in the late 1960s, a bid that was only narrowly averted with an emergency loan of £104,000.
The club continued to yo-yo between the third and fourth divisions during the next three decades. The club won promotion in 1962–63, 1971–72 and 1977–78 but only on the final occasion was it able to consolidate its place in English football's third tier.
After a 45-year absence, Brentford were promoted back to the Second Division (renamed the First Division with the advent of the Premier League in 1992) in the 1991–92 season as Third Division champions, though they were relegated again the following year.
There followed several seasons of the club narrowly missing out on promotionvia the play-offs.
The club were then relegated to the Third Division (by then the bottom division of the Football League) the following year. Brentford won promotion as champions again in 1998–99.
Former BBC Director-General and Bees fan Greg Dyke was announced as chairman of Brentford on 20 January 2006 as part of the takeover by Bees United, the Brentford Supporters Trust.
Brentford were relegated to Football League Two in April 2007.
On 25 April 2009 Brentford sealed the League Two championship under Management of former player Andy Scott.
Scott's excellent first calendar year in charge was recognised with an award, the BBC London 'Manager of the Year 2008'. Scott was also awarded the League Two Manager of the Month award for April/May 2009.
At the end of the 2011/12 season, in which the Club finished 9th in League One missing out on the play-offs by 6 points, the club's supporters voted to sell the entire club's shareholding to supporter-investor Matthew Benham.
The 2012–13 season saw Brentford go on an FA Cup run, taking holders Chelsea to a fourth round replay, and mount a promotion challenge, missing out on automatic promotion on the final day of the season before losing the playoff final to Yeovil Town.
On the 25 June 2013, Cliff Crown was elected Chairman Of Brentford Football Club.
18 April 2014 Brentford were promoted to the Championship after they beat Preston 1–0 at Griffin Park in front of 10,774 people sparking a pitch invasion. This meant The Bees' return to second tier after a 21 year absence.
One To Watch – Jonathan Douglas
One player to have witnessed both the highs and lows of Brentford’s recent rollercoaster ride up the Football League is experienced midfielder Jonathan Douglas.
The Republic of Ireland international was a hot prospect when he joined Blackburn as an 18-year-old. Having struggled to hold down a regular place at Ewood Park, he sought out a loan opportunity, moving to Leeds, who he helped to the Championship play-off final in 2006 before signing permanently. He was to get used to the end-of-season lottery, featuring in two further play-off appearances in League One before moving to Swindon. Douglas was named the Robins’ Player of the Year in his first season, which yet again ended in play-off heartache at Wembley. Drama was destined to follow the 33-year-old, who was in the Bees side which missed out on automatic promotion so agonisingly on the final day in 2012/13 and then went on to lose against Yeovil in the play-off final. Brentford made it back into the second tier the ‘easy’ way last season, of course, but if they do manage to finish in the top 6 this time around, their supporters will be forgiven for hoping that Douglas has no part to play!
The Gaffer – Mark Warburton
A defender, Warburton began his playing career as an apprentice at Leicester City and later dropped into non-league football with Enfield. Warburton had a successful four years at Enfield, winning the 1981/82 FA Trophy and the 1982/83 Alliance Premier League title After leaving Enfield in 1985, Warburton spent time playing in the United States, while living in Charlotte and Chicago. Cruciate injuries ended Warburton's playing career.
Warburton began his coaching career in a part-time role at St. Clement Danes School in Watford while working as a trader. He later said to his wife, "we have the money in the bank, the house is paid for, our lifestyle won’t change. I want to do this: 10 years to achieve something in the game. It’s now or never”. After leaving his trading job in the early 2000s, he spent his own money travelling around Europe, watching coaching sessions at Sporting Lisbon, Ajax, Valencia, Barcelona and Willem II. Warburton was offered a permanent coaching job with Watford, at U9 through to U16 level and was appointed manager of the academy in 2006. After a reshuffle in 2009, he became assistant academy manager for U17 to U19 age groups. While at Watford, he established links with Harefield Academy. Warburton left Watford in February 2010 to "pursue other sporting interests”.
Nicky Forster was appointed caretaker manager of League One side Brentford in February 2011 and named Warburton as first team coach. Following a successful interim period, Forster was given the role on a permanent basis until the end of the 2010–11 season. Forster and Warburton applied unsuccessfully for the manager's job in the summer of 2011 and the position went to Uwe Rösler. Warburton commented that he was "disappointed and annoyed" about failing to secure the manager's job.
Warburton was retained by the club and moved into the role of Sporting Director in the summer of 2011, a new position created by an internal restructuring of the club. Warburton stated that the much-maligned Sporting Director/director of football position can work in English football, saying though he "would row every other day" with manager Uwe Rösler, the pair never fell out and Rösler had the final say on team selection and signings.
Following the departure of Rösler to Championship side Wigan Athletic on 7 December 2013, Warburton was included as part of the management team, alongside first team coach Peter Farrell. Warburton subsequently turned down an offer from Rösler to join him at Wigan.
Warburton was announced as the new Brentford manager on 10 December 2013, on a deal running until the end of the 2013–14 season.
Warburton became the first Brentford manager to win his first five games. His winning start garnered him the League One Manager Of The Month award for December 2013. Four wins and a draw in January 2014 saw Warburton nominated for the League One Manager Of The Month award for the second month in succession.
Five wins and two draws in March meant Warburton received his third League One Manager Of The Month nomination in four months. A win over Preston North End at Griffin Park on 18 April saw Brentford promoted to the Championship with three games to spare.
On May 5, it was reported that Warburton was keen to sit down and discuss his future, with a view to extending his contract. On 26 June, he pledged his future to the Bees by signing a one-year rolling contract.
Past Match - Video Highlights - Trev
Trev's Trivia
Player to play for both Clubs
Jay Tabb ITFC 2013-present Brentford 2000-2006
Media Watch - K L Blue
Courtesy of the clubs Website
Skipper labels defeat to Leeds as an opportunity missed but is calling on his Town teammates to put things right against Brentford at the weekend.
Luke Chambers has called on Town to ‘show their strength of character’ following the defeat to Leeds last night.
Blues left Elland Road with nothing to show following the 2-1 defeat, despite creating numerous chances, but the skipper is calling on his teammates to bounce back against promotion rivals Brentford at the weekend.
“We’ve got to show our strength of character to bounce back and get ourselves back into those top six positions again.
“We’re going into the game on the back of a disappointing result at Leeds last night, which we have to look at as an opportunity missed.
“All the lads were gutted to come off the pitch at Elland Road having lost, because we certainly should have taken something from the game with the chances we had.
“We gave away two sloppy goals and we were guilty of giving them a way back into the game, once we had got ourselves level.
“It’s now up to us to get back into the top six and towards where we want to be and where we believe we should be.”
Stat Time
Head To Head
Ipswich Town Wins.................5 (62.50%)
Brentford Wins......................1 (12.50%)
Draws.................................2 (25.00%)
Ipswich Town Goals...............18 (ave. 2.25 per match)
Brentford Goals....................7 (ave. 0.88 per match)
Head To Head at Ipswich
Ipswich Town Wins.................3 (75.00%)
Brentford Wins......................0 (00.00%)
Draws.................................1 (25.00%)
Ipswich Town Goals.................9 (ave. 2.25 per match)
Brentford Goals.....................1 (ave. 0.25 per match)
The Predicted Teams
Ipswich Town
01 Gerken
02 Parr
04 Chambers
06 Berra
03 Mings
11 Anderson
08 Skuse
17 Bru
14 Chaplow
09 Murphy
20 Sears
Brentford
27 Button
10 Odubajo
26 Tarkowski
29 Moore
03 Bidwell
08 Douglas
20 Diagouraga
23 Peleteiro Ramallo
21 Pritchard
15 Dallas
31 Long
Marko's Caption Contest
Had no time at all to tot up the points and do Caption table this week......., have a go at this picture and I'll have it all done for both Norwich/Brentford game by Monday night. Apologies.
Match Referee – Scott Duncan
Final Thought - Frosty
It’s a funny old Competition this year, probably not helped by the fact our expectations steadily increased up to the New Year period and perhaps haven’t reached the same heights since.
In fairness no team has managed to ‘break away’ at the top of the Competition, the lead changes from week to week and the ‘top’ teams are invariably ‘tripped up’ by teams that on paper look like a relatively easy 3 points. Just look at our mates up the road on Wednesday, who were knocked over by Wigan. The only thing that makes this less funny than normal is that we couldn’t beat the ‘Lactics’ at our home ground either back in January.
The net upshot of all this is that we are only 6 points off the top of the table and one point away from the playoff zone going into this weekend’s game. It’s important to try and get a result from Brentford on Saturday, not just to break a two game losing streak, but also any win over a top 6 side from the point of the season on has huge benefits to our own promotion aspirations. Keep in mind that the ‘Bee’s’ have never beaten us at Portman Road so this is a great opportunity to take 3 points off this season’s surprise package.
Brentford have had some interesting results lately, hammering Huddersfield, Blackpool and most surprisingly Bournemouth, whilst along the way losing to Birmingham and Charlton. Bit erratic like us really.
An interesting table may emerge on Monday after the results of some interesting match up’s this weekend. Bournemouth are at Craven Cottage on Friday, Derby host the ‘Brum’, this is the only time I will cheer for Millwall as they welcome the Budgies, Forest versus Boro should be a good game and the Wolves will do their best to keep out the Hornets.
Let’s keep the faith up, with 33 points still to play for the season it’s anything but decided.
For those of you going on Saturday, have a fantastic day and I look forward to the glowing reports on Sunday
IPSWICH TOWN 2 BRENTFORD 1
Some Boo Bees this week
We've got to end the run so lets do it here, repeat 4-2 at Brentford??? maybe, there will be goals lets make sure its Town that get them with the team that's been selected frosty, so 3-1 win will do, 
. 6/7 wonderful chances and we mess up each time. Feeling rather frustrated right now.