Thorne In The Side can exclusively reveal that Brentford Football Club are to be sued in the region of £50,000 from the Indian National Football Association following the clubs bungled attempt to drag supporters through the Griffin Park turnstiles following the pre-season friendly against the Indian National side back in July.
At first glance, this was yet another brave bid from the highly acclaimed Bees marketing team to raise attendance’s and finances for the club, especially tapping into the so far untouched but highly lucrative ethnic market. But it wasn’t long before serious questions were being asked as to the success of the pre-season encounter when as little as five hundred Indians turned up to witness the game compared to over four thousand that attended a similar friendly against Fulham twelve months earlier.
Many Brentford fans criticised the low turnout and questioned whether the football club had marketed the event suitably in the Asian community. However TITS can now reveal, as the picture below clearly shows, that the Indian supporters were given the wrong directions to Griffin Park by bungling Brentford club staff, and that many thousands of Indian supporters turned up at the gates of Brentford’s Griffin Park home last Tuesday, only to find out that they were over four months late for the match.
Hounslow East or Hounslow West?
Would you like to buy a half-time raffle ticket?
First one to spot the floodlights
An angry fan said.... “I phoned those bas*ards at the club back in June and they clearly said it was a left at the Taj Mahul, right at the Khyber pass and then pick up the signs to Hounslow. It now turns out that it was a right at the Taj and left at the Khyber”
“Not only has this put four month’s onto the journey but it’s cost us an extra three billion rupees in gas and another half a million in Little Chef’s... Whose going to refund that then?”
Thorne In The Side, who were one of those that questioned the club on numerous occasions as to why the corresponding fixture at Fulham last season attracted in excess of fourteen thousand, contacted an embarrassed Gary Hargraves.....
“We had the shock of our lives when they all turned up banging drums. We’re used to hearing Noades blowing his own trumpet at 8.30 in the morning but those bloody drums woke up half my staff.”
Gary continued..... “It does appear that a member of my team at the club gave them the wrong directions which led to this unfortunate incident. Anyway, I don’t think they’d have made the kick-off anyway, after all, just take a look at the amount of bags they brought with ‘em....If it takes ten minutes to get past a Gold Range steward when you’re carrying a bottle of Panda Pop, what chance do you think they’d have had? There would have been some delay and the match may have had to have been put back by some days to allow them all time to get into the ground”.
Hargraves went on... “It was also bad timing that they parked up on double yellows outside Griffin Park and got themselves clamped. I did suggest that perhaps Bees United could sponsor their walk back to Delhi but for some reason they didn’t see the funny side and started to throw stones at me. I did however manage to fleece a few of them for some of those half time raffle tickets, so it wasn’t a completely wasted effort. Next time we’ll get it right!”
Journey From Hell – Paul Harris
I was interested to read your article in the last issue of TITS on the subject of the problems facing visiting supporters travelling to Ninian Park this season. After visiting the majority of the ninety two football clubs during my extensive travels with Brentford I still for some unknown reason had Cardiff City to chalk off of that list. After reading the accounts of the Bournemouth fan in TITS I was happy to leave my membership to the 92 club still short by some twelve, but having found myself stuck in Bristol on business on the day that we were due to play The Bluebirds I decided to put my concerns to one side and venture into Wales to cheer on the Bees. After all, I felt a duty to support my club for what was a very big game and not give into intimidation and the threat of mindless violence.
Now I have experienced some intimidating and nasty atmosphere’s during my time travelling the length and breadth of the country, but I have to admit that this certainly topped them all.
Luckily for Brentford it was a cold Tuesday evening and only a fool hardy hundred and fifty or so decided to take the risk by travelling to Cardiff. Many will say that we were even more fortunate that the team failed to perform that night which kept the Welsh natives somewhat subdued.
It’s sad to say but it was the first time that I have ever travelled to see my beloved Brentford and come away extremely relived that we had lost a game. You could almost smell the nasty atmosphere and I along with many others took the option to leave the stadium with about ten minutes still remaining on the clock. Another first for me.
With the way the league table seems to be panning out at the moment it would be a fair assumption to make that Cardiff will make at least the play off's at the end of this season with Brentford too not being far off. If Brentford were unfortunate enough to face Cardiff and be forced to travel to Ninian Park for a two legged affair I’d dread to think of the consequences on the back of such an important match. I just hope that if we do manage to make the top six this season we can avoid City at all costs! With their record I wouldn’t bat an eye lid if we never had to face them again in our clubs history!
One final thing. Cardiff versus Leeds United in the Third Round of the FA Cup. I’m sure the locals are rubbing their hands at the thought of taking another famous scalp. I’m sure they’re looking forward to the match as well. What ever happens on the football pitch that day I’m convinced it will be yet again overshadowed by what happens off it.
It’s a shame that nobody has the balls within the relevant authorities to stand up and do something about it. As you mentioned in your article, maybe it will take something serious like a death for them to take note and finally some action.