Another season….in the Premier League!
As we end another season in the Premier League, I wanted to take a moment to thank all our Bees United Members for the continued support throughout the year.
While this year has not been plain sailing by any means I am sure that we all remain delighted that the main goal of staying in the top flight has been achieved, once again. As our Captain Christian Nørgaard said in our AGM interview – it is not getting any easier to stay in the Premier League and we should, as fans, absolutely not take it for granted (and I am sure that few (if any/many) Bees fans do take our current exalted status for granted).
At Bees United we have had a busy and productive season. As you will be aware, one of my roles is as Co-Chair of the Fans Advisory Board, alongside Adam Hobbs at BIAS, and in our first full year of meetings we have discussed a broad range of topics relating to the club including safeguarding, matchday operations, season ticket renewals, and Club priorities for the future.
Bees United has also participated in a number Club working groups including on ticketing and the Every Seat Counts policy, and on the Club’s approach to sustainability. We do also, through my role as a non-executive director on the Club’s board, continue to discuss and have input and representations in to all aspects of the Club strategy and actions. We had a huge response to our Member Survey and nearly 800 of you shared your views on a wide range of issues.
Thank you – it has given us a real insight into what you are concerned about, and we have used this insight to update the Club’s board on the specific issues you raised. This included your comments on Season Ticket Renewals, where you were broadly of the view that Brentford continues to offer good value for money despite the recent price increases. We will continue to work with the Club so that this remains the case.
Many of you will also have attended the Fans Forum recently, where a number of issues where raised. In particular, we note that there were questions put to Jon Varney regarding rumours the Club was planning to use Twickenham Stadium to host future matches. Jon made it very clear that there were no current plans to do so (“…there are no plans and there are no live discussions with Twickenham about taking games there…”). With Bees United having been closely involved in securing the site for the Gtech, we are proud that in a short time the new stadium has become our home. The fans and the Club have come together to create a fantastic atmosphere and matchday experience at the Gtech. Our priority is to ensure that is never compromised.
Recently there have been a flurry of other issues that we are keeping under review. We have made clear that we oppose any attempts to schedule domestic competitive fixtures outside England, and also given our view to the Club’s board ahead of the Premier League vote on the use of VAR that it is our view that VAR is here to stay but that steps should be taken to improve it significantly.
We have erected a plaque on the site of the Oxford and Cambridge Club to celebrate our foundation
We have recently taken ownership of the Club archive and memorabilia.
Our heritage work is therefore now progressing at a great pace as we have necessary completed the very slow and meticulous work of recording every single item into our catalogue. “Have you got a catalogue” was the first question posed by the CEO of the Gunnersbury Museum at a meeting back in February 2023. David, we nearly have got a catalogue now, and we will return to talk to you and tell you about it.
Our thanks go to Paul Stembridge, Jonathan Burchill and Siân Allpress.
The second of our commemorative plaques simply records the location of the house owned by Harry Curtis where he lived with his family during the heady years of his very successful period of management (and as secretary!) of the club in the 1930’s through to the war years when we won the War Cup.
The QR code takes you to our more detailed article about Harry from earlier this year
We have also collaborated with the Club on the launch of two heritage shirts, two authentic replicas of the first playing kits worn by our team from the late 1800’s. Watch this space for our third heritage shirt in yellow and blue stripes (the Rothschild colours) worn form the 1903/04 season.
Keep on reading for much more on our history and heritage activities next season.
Thank you for your ongoing support and for your most valuable donations – we are here to represent you, our Members, so do let us know if you have thoughts, views or ideas about how we should continue to do that.
Have a great Summer, and it’s only a few weeks until we do it all over again in 2024/25! And here is a diary date, the fixtures are out on 18 June….
Stuart Hatcher
Chair