Since promotion to the Premier League Brentford FC have turned their fan facing content up a notch, keeping us entertained with beautifully curated match highlights, giving us glimpses into the gruelling Jersey Road training sessions, getting players to take on daft games for our amusement and torturing us with Ivan Toney’s Dad jokes.
The new website promises a better fan interface with club information and the away shirt has generated a frenzy of social media delight by bringing back the castle badge for two seasons. Dave Flanagan’s stunning match day programme covers have taken on cult status, and whose heart doesn’t beat that bit faster when The Streets blares out at the GTech Community Stadium and the stirring film on the big screen shows the very best of what the town, fans and club can achieve together?
And fans are stepping up to the mark as well, creating high quality content, analysis and insights that meet a whole range of needs and interests. Below we’ve highlighted just some of the fan offerings from books to podcasts, vlogs to tactical analysis.
But what is the future of fan led content, how do Brentford fans compare with those of other Premier League clubs, and how do creators balance their labours of love against the cost of providing quality outputs that will keep fans coming back for more?
Join us for a Bees United Zoom from 7-8pm on 12 September where we’ll be hearing from Dave Lane from The Beesotted Brentford Pride of West London Podcast, David Anderson from Brentford FC Tactical and Greville Waterman author of the new book Just a Bus Stop in Hounslow: Brentford FC’s 2021/22 Season in The Premier League about what they’re currently doing and their future plans, discussing the appetite for fan led content and likely innovations, and looking at the balance between free content and subscription services.
There will be lots of time for questions so do come ready to share your thoughts. We’re limited to 50 places on the night, but the session will also be recorded and available on our YouTube channel afterwards. Register here : https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/fan-made-content-tickets-406188850787 You will need your Bees United Membership Number which you can find at the top of the Newsletter.
Here’s our quick run through of some of the things we’re reading, watching and listening to but let us know if there are other favourites we’ve missed at admin@beesunited.org.uk and we’ll update with your suggestions after the Zoom session.
What we’re watching and listening to :
The Beesotted Brentford Pride of West London Podcast https://audioboom.com/channel/beesotted Dave Lane, Billy Grant and their guest presenters produce two podcasts a week providing emotional fan reactions from the stands the minute the final whistle blows, and looking ahead to the next fixture with insights from opposition fans as well as statistical analysis, gossip and occasional impromptu pub interviews with Brentford staff. With a thriving Twitter community @Beesotted, recent innovations include Beesotted Global, a subscription based private messaging community on Telegram for fans who also want additional content and a positive space to talk all things Brentford.
David Anderson’s Brentford FC Tactical on Twitter @BeesTactical covers all things Tactics, Data and Youth Bees. As well as regular Twitter Live Space events with guests including Jay Harris, the Brentford correspondent for The Athletic, Bees Tactical have a Patreon page https://www.patreon.com/BeesTactical with two membership levels that give access to all of the podcasts, ad-free, as well as all of the videos and occasional written content for less than the price of a pint a month.
On YouTube, BeesTV produces matchday Vlogs for their 750 subscribers where you can relive the experience from the stands and hear fan reactions to the result. https://www.youtube.com/c/BeesTV
What we’re reading :
Griffin Park Grapevine, the independent Brentford FC message board, curate a weekly news update on Twitter @bfcgpg for their 9000 followers. A mix of information and opinion it captures some of the main interests from the lively message board that GPG says since around 1990 has ‘been the home of the most active Brentford FC community…in the world!’.
Just a Bus Stop in Hounslow: Brentford FC’s 2021/22 Season in The Premier League (Greville Waterman, 2022) Written with the full co-operation of the club and including exclusive interviews with players and officials, Just a Bus Stop in Hounslow follows Brentford’s debut season at home – in their beautiful Brentford Community Stadium – and away, as they took on the 2021/22 season. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Just-Bus-Stop-Hounslow-Brentford/dp/1914066162/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=bus+stop+in+hounslow+book&qid=1660813515&sprefix=bus+stop+in+%2Caps%2C99&sr=8-1
Due for publication later in 2022, The Brentford Revolution – The Bees’ Rise From The Basement To The Premier League (Tim Street & Dave Lane). Scorned for daring to do things differently, The Bees’ steady rise has made the footballing world eventually sit up, take note, then try and replicate their cutting edge blend of statistical analysis, a left-field recruitment strategy, a perfectly executed business rebrand and new stadium model. This hard-back talks to the players, head coaches, directors of football and the owner, who have made Brentford’s rise possible and feature the experiences of Bees supporters who have shared in the journey and how they had to learn along the way.
https://www.legendspublishing.net/product/the-brentford-revolution/
A Pub on Each Corner (Jonathan Burchill 2022). From 1904 to 2020, Griffin Park was the iconic, idiosyncratic, and much-loved home of Brentford FC. For 116 years, and deriving its name from the symbol of a brewery that owned the orchard before the stadium, Griffin Park witnessed highs and lows and much in-between, hosting over 2,800 football matches and numerous other occasions. One of a kind, it was the only English football stadium that had a pub on each corner. In this fascinating book, lifelong Bees fan Jonathan Burchill draws from contemporaneous resources to present a unique history of Brentford through season-by-season reviews of the events at Griffin Park.
Where Did All The Noise Come From?: Brentford FC Season Review 2020/21 (Nick Burzon 2021). A look back at the strangest of Championship seasons. One played out in mostly silence (barring the ‘200’ we smuggled in for the QPR game) from that opening fixture against Birmingham City in September through to the play-off final at Wembley and beyond. An e-book, any and all monies received from this / previous volumes will be going to Rob Rowan’s memorial fund. https://nickbruzonslastword.wordpress.com/2021/06/20/where-did-all-the-noise-come-from/