2009–10 Brentford F.C. season

Season summary

After promotion back to League One as League Two champions at the end of the 2008–09 season, Brentford manager Andy Scott immediately cleared all the bit-part and injury-prone players out of his squad, releasing 13. In came goalkeepers Lewis Price on a season-long loan and Nikki Bull on a one-year contract, three defenders (Alan Bennett, Danny Foster and Leon Legge), midfielder Sam Saunders, left winger Myles Weston and three forwards (Carl Cort, Steve Kabba and Ben Strevens). Popular forward Nathan Elder departed Griffin Park in early August 2009 and dropped back down to League Two to sign for Shrewsbury Town for an undisclosed fee. Scott would sign three more players between the beginning of the season and the end of the summer transfer window – teenager Simon Moore as third-choice goalkeeper, centre back James Wilson on a one-month loan and winger Cleveland Taylor for an undisclosed fee from Carlisle United.

Manager Andy Scott revealed that Brentford's target for the season was "to get to 52 points" and "to do the double over as many teams as possible and make sure no-one does the double over us". Despite being knocked out of the League Cup in the first round, Brentford started the league season strongly, going third after an opening-day victory over Carlisle United and then going undefeated in the following four matches to consolidate a position in the playoff zone. A 2–1 victory over promotion hopefuls Norwich City at Griffin Park on 18 August was a notable early-season highlight. As injuries mounted and some players found it difficult to replicate their League Two form in League One, manager Scott would search for a winning formula by signing 9 players on loan between November 2009 and March 2010, the most notable of whom being Arsenal goalkeeper Wojciech Szczęsny, centre back Pim Balkestein and central midfielder Toumani Diagouraga, the latter two of whom would sign permanently for the club after the season. Out of form attackers Steve Kabba and Cleveland Taylor were sent out on loan to League Two club Burton Albion, while captain Alan Bennett, who had been out of favour for most of the season, ended the campaign with two spells on loan with Wycombe Wanderers.

Aside from dropping to a season-low placing of 18th in late November and early December, Brentford trod water in mid-table for much of the season and a run of just one defeat in the final 13 matches of the season elevated the club to a credible 9th-place finish. The Bees reached the third round of the FA Cup, seeing off Conference Premier strugglers Gateshead in a replay and League One Walsall in the first two rounds, before falling to 1–0 to Championship club Doncaster Rovers in the third round at Griffin Park. There was some cheer late in the season, when supporter Matthew Benham agreed to invest £1m a year into the club, until the end of the 2013–14 season, in return for preference shares and without increasing the club's debt.

League table

Main article: 2009–10 Football League One

Results

Pre-season

Wickham Rhodes Derry Elder Legge Lucas

Football League One

Results by round

League position graph

Matches

Hunt

Sam

Lescott

Welsh

MacDonald Hutchinson

Weston

Tully Noone

Henry

Dickson

Weston

Deeney

Strevens Cort Easter

Forster Virgo

Wordsworth Prutton Legge MacDonald

Abbott Balkestein

Grabban

Cort

Strevens

Ward Strevens

FA Cup

Main article: 2009–10 FA Cup

Winn O'Connor

MacDonald Weston

Football League Cup

Main article: 2009–10 Football League Cup

Football League Trophy

Main article: 2009–10 Football League Trophy

• Source: brentfordfc.co.uk

Playing squad

:Players' ages are as of the opening day of the 2009–10 season.

• Source: Soccerbase

Coaching staff

Statistics

Appearances and goals

:Substitute appearances in brackets.

• Players listed in italics left the club mid-season.
• Source: Soccerbase

Goalscorers

• Players listed in italics left the club mid-season.
• Source: Soccerbase

Discipline

• Players listed in italics left the club mid-season.
• Source: ESPN FC

Management

Summary

Transfers & loans

Kit

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Awards

• Supporters' Player of the Year: Leon Legge
• Community Player of the Year: Karleigh Osborne
• FA Cup Player of the Round: Leon Legge (second round)
• Football League Family Excellence Award

References

References

1. (3 September 2010). "Szczesny earns Scott plaudits".
2. "Brentford League Table 2008-2009".
3. (6 May 2009). "Scotty Releases Nine".
4. "Scott Looking Up".
5. "Brentford results for the 2009–2010 season".
6. "Latest Match Report {{!}} 18 August 2009, Brentford 2 – 1 Norwich".
7. (5 August 2010). "Bees Welcome Back Pim".
8. (16 July 2010). "Toumani Returns".
9. "Burton Albion sign Brentford forwards Kabba and Taylor". BBC Sport.
10. "Bees United And Matthew Benham Finalise Their Partnership".
11. (17 June 2009). "Bees Sign Dagenham Trio".
12. (1 July 2009). "Scotty Lands Central Defender".
13. (2 July 2009). "Scotty Secures Second New Signing In 24 Hours".
14. (30 July 2009). "Bees Boosted By New Signing".
15. (3 August 2009). "Bees Sign Keeper".
16. (4 August 2009). "Bees Make Signing".
17. (6 August 2009). "Bees Make It Ten".
18. (11 August 2009). "Bees Make It Eleven".
19. (13 August 2009). "Bees Sign Cleveland Taylor".
20. "Bees Secure International".
21. (20 August 2009). "Bees Land Wilson".
22. (13 November 2009). "Bees Sign Spurs Young Star".
23. "Pims Number 20".
24. "Bees Sign International".
25. (24 November 2009). "Another Gunner Signs For The Bees".
26. (7 January 2010). "Bees Signing".
27. (21 January 2010). "Bees Sign Midfielder".
28. (28 January 2010). "Bees Secure Loan Signing".
29. (1 February 2010). "Bees Sign Akinde".
30. "Premier and Football League transfers".
31. "Bees Sign Striker".
32. (4 August 2009). "Nathan On The Move".
33. (29 January 2010). "Moses Signs For Woking".
34. (30 July 2009). "Loan Deal On The Cards!".
35. (19 September 2009). "Fraser Out On Loan".
36. (23 December 2009). "Kabba Loan Extended".
37. "Bees Pair Out On Loan".
38. "Salisbury sign Ryan Pryce, Ronnie Bull and Chris Bush".
39. "Benno Goes Out On Loan".
40. "Wycombe sign Brentford defender Alan Bennett on loan". BBC Sport.
41. "Bees Scholars Head For The Ryman League".
42. "Marvin Departs".
43. "Bees Retained List".
44. "Brentford".
45. "Player Of The Year".
46. "Leon Wins It".
47. "Bees Win Award".