On Saturday 22nd September 2001 40 Brentford fans gathered in the Princess Royal, one of the legendary pubs on every corner of Griffin Park, before the home game against Oldham. (We drew 2-2, goals from Lloyd Owusu and Terry Evans).They were there for the inaugural Annual General Meeting of what was formally called the Brentford Football Community Society Ltd, but everybody knew as Bees United. It had been formed the previous April.
The autumn of 2001 was a turbulent time in the history of Brentford Football Club, then in the third tier of English football : the ‘No to Woking’ campaign, formed to resist owner Ron Noades’s plan to move west, had morphed into ‘Save Brentford FC’ and was planning a march the following Saturday, a survey of fans showed a majority wanted to move to a new stadium but one in the Brentford area and fans launched the ‘the ABeeC’ political party which fought and won a seat on Hounslow Council.
Nearly 21 years later many of those pioneers were in what had become Brentford’s Gtech Community Stadium as the football world watched in astonishment at Brentford’s ‘demolition’ and ‘humiliation’ of the club that likes to think of itself as the biggest in the world. Among them was Brian Burgess, who by 2002 had become a Board member of Bees United and later its Chairman. “I would certainly not have envisaged a 4-0 drubbing of Man Utd 21 years ago! We never believed at that stage that we (BU and the Club) would have the resources to get into the EPL”.In 2001 the ambition was survival and that meant raising money.
Brian Burgess (right) with BU Board member Jon Gosling (left) fund-raising at Griffin Park in the early days of Bees United.
The papers for the 2001 AGM, safety in the custody of current BU Secretary Don Tanswell, record that the plan of the Steering Committee was to get enough money to buy a place on the board of Brentford FC as a first stage in making change happen.
The initial board was John McGlashan (Chair), Alan Bird, Stephen Callen(Finance Officer), Nick Marriner, Andrew Wainwright, Geoff Buckingham, Craig Clements, David Roe, Jim Walsh and Bruce Powell (Secretary).
By the time Bees United submitted its fIrst formal documentation in May 2002, the board had changed and was recorded as;
“Looking back at the journey we have travelled it is amazing that we have come so far and personally very rewarding to have been part of the history of the club. We became involved almost full time when Ron Noades took control and some supporters could see the warning signs for the future of the club. From attending games with crowds of 4,000 to what is happening at present is amazing (although not all that goes on is good). I was part of the team that handed over the £2 that got the club out of Ron Noades hands that allowed the club to start to slowly build again. Obviously it would not have happened without Matthew’s considerable generosity but what a great decision.The result against Manchester United seemed to complete the journey given the memorable games against Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool,West Ham and the fact that we held our own in the top division. We have got some great memories given to us through following Brentford and gives us a great feeling of pride to have been part of the journey`’.
Pete Johnston is living in Norfolk but I believe still attends
Andrew Wainwright is a solicitor who I do see sometimes
David Heath is I believe living in France
Alan Bird was Finance Director at BFC for a time not sure he still attends
Joe Bourke has his own accountancy firm
Alan Fowler used to work at BFC in the shop and I think still attends
John Huggins still attends with his sons I see him quite regularly at games
Edmund Paton Walsh is now living in Australia
Pete Smith is living in France.
Jim Walsh was a member of that first committee and is still involved today as BU’s Treasurer.
Jim confirms: “As BU was being formed, Championship football (and a decent Cup run) were my dream. Realistically, it was more about ensuring there was a Brentford Football Club – and one that was in the area – for future generations. Watching our Club dismantling possibly the most famous name in World football was completely exhilarating but also more than a bit surreal.”
Another former BU board member we contacted is Stephen Callen who was the first Treasurer. He was also at the Man Utd game and happened to bump into former Chairman Eddie Rogers at half-time. “We were over the moon at the scoreline, and would not have believed it possible twenty years ago (although I suppose most people considered it unlikely half an hour before kick-off).
“Looking back, the first BU AGM was some nine months after the initial meeting about setting up a Supporters’ Trust. Establishing BU as a legal entity took about three months, and we had launched a relatively successful Loan Note scheme which enabled us to fund John McGlashan’s appointment to the BFC board in February 2002. Whilst recognising that the Club needed a new stadium with modern facilities, our main short term concern was the survival of Griffin Park until such a stadium became available.”
Stephen remembers the numbers: “Ron Noades had entered into ground-share option arrangements with both Woking and Kingstonian, and his plan appeared to be to sell GP for about £14m (he had written offers from developers for around this amount at that time), clear the the Club debts of around £4m (which would have released his company from the guarantees he had given to Barclays) and let the Club start anew somewhere with £10m in the bank.
“I think it was the following year that Lionel Road became an option – Ron Noades rejected this because he was not able to fit a scale model of Reading’s stadium, The Madjeski, on the site, but BU director Matt Dolman realised a more imaginative design could fit.
“So did we believe in September 2021 that playing MU in the PL was a possibility? No anymore than we could have believed that just eighteen months later Ron Noades would grant BU an option to buy the Club for £2, subject to refinancing the (by then) £4.5m owed to Barclays.”
And what about the man who was the first Chairman of Bees United, John McGlashan (left at the launch of BU)
“When the inaugural BU AGM was held, I thought the limit of our expectations had to be the Championship, so to be playing at the top level, and watch us comprehensively beat the Premier League’s most successful club never even entered my head. At the time I also knew Ron Noades intended handing the club over to the supporters, so a properly organized group with professional people involved was a priority. We were assisted by the government’s willingness to help set up supporters groups as co-operatives, and the grant we received financed the launch of Bees United. Noades told me he was intent on clearing the huge debt he’d run up, after which he’d hand over the club along with around £4M from the sale of Griffin Park. If he’d succeeded with that plan I’m not sure we’d have survived.”