For reasons that remain uncertain, Brentford adopted red & white shirts as we kicked off 1925-26 and this at the end of this season an event was held at the Gtech to reflect on the last 100 years.
Firstly, and most importantly, thanks to all those who attended, appreciating that it was on weekdays and with the trains into Kew Bridge not being at their best!
The club has an amazing history and all of us have joined the story at differing points but in putting on an event like this it was appropriate to keep within the spirit of “100 years in red & white shirts” and not drift into wider off-the-pitch history. There was also the physical constraints of the area designated within the Gtech to host the event.
Initially we started our Football League journey in 1920-21 with plain white shirts. These lasted just 5 seasons before the red stripes were added. This period was displayed with images and stories being termed “Our Rise in Red & White”. It was an era where we won all 21 home league games in 1929-30, became champions of the 3rd Division and 2 years later, champions of the 2nd Division, before finishing 5th in our first Top Tier season – still our highest ever league position. The lifting of the London War Cup in 1942 at Wembley remains our only cup success at the national stadium.
Post war through to the end of the millennium was termed “Post-war Struggles & Decades of Resilience” as we sunk to the 4th tier and yo-yoed around the lower leagues for most of that era. Whilst trying to keep to on-field matters, 1967 & QPR and Noades’s impact could not be ignored.
The first couple of decades of the 2000s were termed “New Ownership & New Ideas”, as apart from Bees United, Matthew Benham appeared on the scene and saw the playing side starting to progress up the leagues.
The most recent years, “Play-offs, Promotion & our Premier League era” brought things up to date.
Whilst the timeline of the men’s team is a relatively well-told story, it was a great to be able to introduce a brief history of the women’s side on a display for the first time.
Outside of the timelines, there was also a summary of the “owners” of some of our squad numbered shirts, which proved quite popular.
Design you own shirt, old programmes, memories of your first Bees shirt, a dressing room full of retro shirts & their history, our first 11 black players, video memories, bespoke embroidery, a photo opportunity and some early red & white memorabilia were some of the other elements.
There were some many great conversations and ideas from visitors and Bees United will look to follow up on some of these over the coming months.
But one thing I must remember, if the 1935 jigsaw needs to be displayed again, it takes me 4 hours to re-assemble!
JB