Brentford Football Club is an English professional football club based in Brentford, Hounslow, London. The club was founded in October 1889, as the local sportsmen's latest attempt to form a permanent football or rugby club in the town. By 1896, Brentford had joined the London League, progressing to the Southern League in 1898 and entering the Football League in 1920.
Upon the appointment of Harry Curtis as manager in 1926 came the beginning of Brentford's most successful period, with promotions in 1933 and 1935 taking the club into the top-flight of English football for the first time in its history. Three consecutive top-six finishes in the First Division established Brentford as one of the top clubs in England, but a decline began in 1938 which led to the club's relegation back to the Third Division South by 1954.
Brentford's rise from the Third Division South to the First Division had come full circle by 1954, with the club back in the bottom-tier for the first time since 1933. After consistently challenging for promotion to the Second Division in the mid-late 1950s, a further decline set in, which led to relegation to the new Fourth Division in 1962 and the club almost went out of existence in 1967. Brentford yo-yoed between the Third and Fourth Divisions through much of the 1960s and 1970s, before finally re-establishing itself in the Third Division after promotion in 1978.
In 1986, Brentford had been rooted in the Third Division since 1978, but the appointment of Steve Perryman as manager in 1987 gave the club new impetus and under his successor Phil Holder, the club finally returned to the second-tier in 1992 after a 38-year wait. Relegation came at the first time of asking and aside from three seasons in the fourth-tier (winning two championships), Brentford remained in the third-tier until 2014, when after five failed playoff campaigns in the preceding 19 years, the club was automatically promoted back to the second-tier. After two failed playoff campaigns in six Championship seasons, Brentford were promoted into the Premier League after victory in the 2021 Championship play-off final.
Formation and early seasons
Founding (1889) In 1889, the town of Brentford, Middlesex was home to the Brentford Rowing Club and Boston Park Cricket Club. Attempts to form football and rugby clubs in the town fell by the wayside until a new recreation ground was opened on 17 October 1889. Seven days earlier, a meeting had taken place at the Oxford & Cambridge pub near Kew Bridge, during which it had been endeavoured between the rowing and cricket club members to decide how best to use the recreation ground, in the hope of forming a permanent football or rugby club in the town. The rowing club's co-founder Archer Green immediately submitted an application to the Chiswick Local Board for the use of the recreation ground and a meeting with the board was called for 15 October. The result was inconclusive and it was decided that the matter would be discussed again at the board's next meeting, three weeks later. Archer Green and fellow rowing club co-founder John Henry Strachan did not wish to wait and pushed to establish a new club.
On 16 October 1889, the rowing club members again met at the Oxford & Cambridge pub and it was voted that the new club would play association football, be named "Brentford Football Club" and wear salmon, claret and light blue colours, the same as that of the rowing club. J. J. K. Curtis was elected as the club's first-ever captain, with J. Hinton Bailey as vice-captain. Archer Green became secretary, with Richard Dennington Beaver, A. Drabble, H. L. Edwardes, H. Gaterell, and C. West elected to form the first committee. John Henry Strachan became one of six vice-presidents. The problem of the club's ground was quickly resolved, with president Edwin Underwood promising the use of a field behind the Local Board offices at Clifden House, Brentford.
Cup and friendly matches (1889–1896)
On 26 October 1889, the club staged its first practice match (featuring gentlemen who had paid a 5s annual subscription fee to become members of the club) and on 23 November the club's first competitive match was played versus Kew, which resulted in a 1–1 draw, with T. H. M. Bonell scoring Brentford's goal. From then until the end of the 1889–90 season, friendly matches would be played on most Saturdays. Brentford continued to play friendly matches during the 1890–91 season and entered the West Middlesex Cup, with the club's first ever competitive fixture ending in a 6–0 first round defeat to Southall on 8 November 1890.
The 1892–93 season saw Brentford enter a league for the first time – the West London Alliance – and the club moved to Benn's Field, Little Ealing in October 1892. The team showed excellent form and finished the season top of the division, going undefeated and winning 10 of the 12 matches, but the board decided to against entering for the following season after failing to be awarded a trophy. By now captained by Arthur Charlton (referred to as "probably the club’s first great player"), Brentford won its first competition during the 1894–95 season, defeating 8th Hussars 4–2 in the final of the West Middlesex Cup at Fred Rouse's Field in Southall. It was also during the 1894–95 season that Brentford's original nickname of "The Bs" originated, when friends of amateur forward Joseph Gettins chanted Borough Road College's war-cry "buck up Bs" at a match. The local press interpreted the nickname as "the Bees", which stuck and came to be Brentford's nickname.
Election to the London League (1896–1898) Brentford continued to play cup and friendly matches until 1896, when the club was elected into the Second Division of the London League. Buoyed by the goalscoring of Oakey Field and playing in front of an average home attendance of 1,500 at Shotter's Field, the Bees finished second behind Bromley to secure promotion to the First Division after losing just one match all season. Brentford had its finest season yet in its short existence in 1897–98, finishing as runners-up in the London League First Division and winning the London Senior Cup and the Middlesex Senior Cup. The only sour note was that the club had still yet to find a permanent home and finished the season having again lost money due to having to play matches on neutral grounds. Brentford would later re-enter the London League for the 1900–01 season and remained until the end of 1903–04, experiencing little success, due to the club's main focus being on the Southern League competition.
Southern League
Second Division (1898–1901) Brentford's London League exploits and its establishment as one of the top amateur clubs in London led to the club's election into the Second Division (London section) of the Southern League for the 1898–99 season. Several key players from the previous season departed (including prolific forward Oakey Field and captain Arthur Charlton) and the club moved to Cross Road near South Ealing station, a ground then occupied by local club Brentford Celtic. Despite secretly paying the new amateur signings more than their travelling expenses to induce them to play (an illegal move), Brentford finished fourth in the 12-team division and made its FA Cup debut, being knocked out at the first time of asking by Clapton in the third qualifying round. A mediocre 1899–1900 season followed, during the middle of which, the club became a professional outfit.
Everything came right for Brentford in the 1900–01 season. Now playing at Boston Park Cricket Ground and under the charge of secretary/manager William Lewis, the squad was overhauled and Peter Turnbull (supported ably by Roddy McLeod, Ralph McElhaney, Joe Turner and E. Andrews) finished the season as the Southern League's top scorer and fired the Bees to the Second Division title. A 0–0 draw with Swindon Town in the promotion/relegation test match meant the Robins would retain their First Division status, but the Brentford won a place in the top-flight in July 1901 after Gravesend United dropped out of the Southern League.
First Division (1901–1913)
Changes were afoot both on and off the pitch at York Road during the 1901 off-season, with 'The Brentford Football And Sports Club' being registered as a limited liability company and virtually an entirely new team being assembled. Deprived of new captain Robert Stormont for a time due to injury and a suspension for fighting during a match, the Bs finished 1901–02 15th in the 16-team division and were spared relegation after drawing 1–1 with Grays United in a promotion/relegation test match, which Grays forfeited after refusing to play extra time. Throughout the remainder of the 1900s, a lack of financial clout meant that successive managers William Lewis, Dick Molyneux and William Brown were unable to produce better than mid-table finishes in the First Division. Manager Molyneux changed Brentford's colours in 1903 to dark blue and gold stripes, the racing colours of Walter Rothschild, a patron of the club.
Brentford moved to Griffin Park, its first permanent home, in time for the beginning of the 1904–05 season. The Bees reached the FA Cup first round proper for the first time in 1905–06, advancing to the third round before succumbing to Liverpool at Anfield. Despite 18 goals from Geordie Reid, Brentford finished bottom of the First Division in 1908–09, but were spared relegation. Winning the Southern Professional Charity Cup proved to be a scant consolation for secretary-manager Fred Halliday in his first season in charge. In April 1909, hopes about the possibility of the club being elected into the Football League were quashed, when the league's clubs voted down Queens Park Rangers' proposal that the Southern League First Division be merged with the Football League, to create a Third Division. Also in 1909, Brentford's colours were changed to gold shirts with blue sleeves. Manager Fred Halliday lasted in the job until November 1912, when he reverted to his secretarial duties and captain Dusty Rhodes was installed as player-manager. Despite an initial upturn in form, 9 defeats in the final 11 matches of 1912–13 led to Brentford's relegation after an 11-season stay in the First Division.
Back in the Second Division (1913–1915) Dusty Rhodes was reappointed as player/manager for the 1913–14 Southern League Second Division season and the majority of the professionals from the previous season were sold or released. Despite a shortage of money due to high expenses (which was offset by the club's lowest-ever professional wage bill of £1,630, equivalent to £ in ), Brentford managed a 3rd-place finish. The Bees had their travelling subsidy from the Southern League cut for the 1914–15 season, plus the future looked bleak with the prospect of reduced attendances at Griffin Park, due to many of the clubs in the Second Division being located in the Midlands, the North West and Wales.
On 4 August 1914, Britain's declaration of war on Germany threatened to derail the club's pre-season preparations and as the season got underway, the squad was weakened by the departure of players to fight or work in the munitions industry. By March 1915, only Ted Price, Dusty Rhodes and Alec Barclay remained of the XI which began the season. By utilising amateurs and guests, the Bees managed a mid-table finish. In July 1915, the Southern League cancelled its competition for the duration of the First World War.
First World War