2010–11 Brentford F.C. season

Season summary

After an impressive 9th-place finish at the end of the Brentford's first season in League One since 2006–07, manager Andy Scott signed almost an entirely new team. Released were centre back Mark Phillips and forward Steve Kabba and six players were transferred out during the off-season, with the most notable departures being left back Ryan Dickson to Championship club Southampton and captain Alan Bennett to League Two Wycombe Wanderers. 11 players were transferred in before the end of the summer transfer window, including two goalkeepers (Richard Lee, Simon Royce), four defenders (Pim Balkestein, David McCracken, Michael Spillane, Craig Woodman), two midfielders (Nicky Adams, Toumani Diagouraga) and forwards Gary Alexander and Kirk Hudson, with Nicky Forster returning to Griffin Park for the first time since his departure in 1997. Huddersfield Town forward Robbie Simpson was signed on a season-long loan.

Brentford opened the league season with a run of just two wins from the opening 11 matches, which left the club bottom of the table by late September 2010. However, some cheer was had in the League Cup, with the Bees progressing to the fourth round to equal the club record for its furthest progression in the competition. After seeing off League Two club Cheltenham Town in the first round, the Bees beat Championship side Hull City 2–1 at Griffin Park in the second round, clinching victory with an 88th-minute diving header from Marcus Bean. The victory set up a third round tie at with Premier League club Everton at Griffin Park. Gary Alexander cancelled out Séamus Coleman's early goal and the teams were locked together until full-time and through the extra time period. Goalkeeper Richard Lee was Brentford's hero in the penalty shootout, helping the club win the first of the four shootouts it would compete in during the season. The Bees took Premier League club Birmingham City to a shootout at St Andrew's in the fourth round after a 1–1 draw, but were knocked out.

Brentford recovered its form in League One between 2 October 2010 and 1 January 2011, winning 8 and losing just two matches of an 11-match spell, but manager Andy Scott was moved to complain to the press of the "negativity" surrounding the club, despite the run being achieved with players missing through injury and including a club-record equalling five consecutive away league wins. By early January the Bees had also progressed to the Southern Area finals of the Football League Trophy, but a draw in the first leg versus Exeter City was one of only two draws secured during an 8-match winless run which kicked off 2011. A 4–1 away defeat to bottom-place club Dagenham & Redbridge on 1 February led to calls from the Brentford supporters for the removal of Andy Scott as manager. Two days after the match, Scott and assistant manager Terry Bullivant were sacked. Captain Kevin O'Connor remarked that the blame led with the players, for "making far too many individual mistakes".

Forward Nicky Forster was named as caretaker manager on 3 February 2011 and Brentford owner Matthew Benham brought in Mark Warburton as first team coach. An unbeaten run in his first six matches in all competitions led to Forster being named as manager until the end of the season. The run included a 2–1 away victory over Exeter City in the Football League Trophy Southern Area final second leg, which set up a Wembley final versus Carlisle United on 3 April. The Bees won four and lost three of the seven league matches preceding the final, which included a 2–1 victory over Carlisle United at Griffin Park. Brentford's third Football League Trophy final appearance ended with a 1–0 defeat, in which the Bees' "domination failed to yield a single shot on target" and midfielder Toumani Diagouraga was sent off for two bookable offences. In the aftermath of the defeat, Brentford meandered through the remainder of the league season to finish in 11th place.

League table

Main article: 2010–11 Football League One

Results

Pre-season

Elm Duff Johnson Davies Ifura Griffiths Saunders Spillane Weston Weston

League One

Results by round

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Results summary

League position graph

Matches

Harte |

Bean Gray

Brain

Prutton Douglas

Simpson O'Grady
Kennedy

Kennedy Holness Kennedy

Purse Lines Sawyer Sawyer

Omozusi Spring Dawson

Spillane

El-Abd

Bean Osborne Diagouraga

Spillane

Legge Taylor Stephens

Alessandra Lee Taylor Evina Tounkara

Darville O'Connor Bean

MacDonald Alexander Alexander

Spillane

Mackail-Smith Zakuani

Duffy Alexander Wood MacDonald

Bean Spillane Hamer

Legge

Bradbury Wiggins

Woodman Osborne Balkestein Balkestein Balanta

Leven Guy MacDonald MacDonald

Woodman

Seaborne Hammond MacDonald

Diagouraga Alexander

Wood

Antwi Bartley Fletcher

Smith A.Williams

S.Williams Smith

Woodman Forster Wright Obika

Laird Osborne

Duffy Nardiello Noble Morais

Alexander
Spillane
Woodman
Lee Wotton

Johnson
Kalala
Wooton Osborne
Vincelot

Osborne

Arnason

Bean
Saunders
Alexander Legge

Simpson

Labadie Akins Kay

Lines Logan Sawyer

Bean Byrne

Harley Harley Regan Edwards Gobern Edwards Pearce Monkhouse Liddle

Murray Brown

Reed Legge

Legge Reed

Bridcutt Elphick Dicker

Dailly

Weston Alexander

Legge

Arter

Osbourne Schlupp

Legge

Jean-François Andrew Cook Grabban

Jones

Reed

Izzet Wilson

Chilvers Bishop Craig Westcarr

Bean Simpson O'Connor Saunders Moore Wood Connolly Gobern

Fonte Novak Afobe

Naysmith Grabban

Grabban Neilson

FA Cup

Main article: 2010–11 FA Cup

Weston Diagouraga

Harding

Legge

Football League Cup

Main article: 2010–11 Football League Cup

Woodman | Bean

Bean

Cullen Devitt

Coleman Fellaini Forster
Spillane
MacDonald Neville Arteta Beckford Jagielka

MacDonald Lee Osborne (3123 Brentford Fans) Gardner Dann
Bowyer
Carr Hunt Spillane Grabban Woodman

Football League Trophy

Main article: 2010–11 Football League Trophy

Omozusi Chorley Daniels Spring Hunt Saunders Alexander Woodman

Legge Ball Timlin Rose MacDonald Spillane Woodman Simpson Bean O'Connor MacDonald Spillane Alexander Racon Reid Doherty

Alexander Diagouraga

Noble Alexander

Alexander
Bignall

Reed Legge Diagouraga Diagouraga

Michalík Robson

Playing squad

:Players' ages are as of the opening day of the 2010–11 season.

• Source: Soccerbase

Coaching staff

Andy Scott (7 August 2010 – 3 February 2011)

Nicky Forster (3 February – 7 May 2011)

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

The 2010–11 Brentford kit designs were chosen by the club's supporters and launched on 9 July 2010.

|{{Football kit |{{Football kit |{{Football kit |{{Football kit |{{Football kit

Awards

• Supporters' Player of the Year: Richard Lee
• Community Player of the Year: Leon Legge
• Football League One Manager of the Month: Andy Scott (October 2010)
• Football League Family Excellence Award

References

References

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9. {{Fchd
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60. (31 December 2010). "Hudson Out On Loan".
61. (30 December 2010). "Hunt Makes Crawley Switch".
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68. "Defender Departs".
69. (28 June 2011). "Chris Bush Departs".
70. "Players' Contracts".
71. Murtagh, Jacob. (14 June 2011). "Former Millwall frontman shown Brentford exit". getwestlondon.
72. "Goalkeeper Coaching staff changes".
73. "Dover Athletic complete signings of Agustin Battipiedi and Kyle Vassell". Kent Online.
74. (23 November 2009). "Bees Fans Choose The 2010 Kit".
75. (21 June 2010). "New Kit Launch".
76. "Awards Presented At Big Red Ball".
77. "Scott Named Manager Of The Month".
78. "Bees Win Family Excellence Award".