50 Fun Facts About Brentford

Brentford Football Club was formed in October 1889 by members of which existing sports club?

The rowers voted to play association football rather than rugby on the town's new recreation ground.

Brentford's nickname 'The Bees' came about in 1894-95 when the media misheard which chant?

Students from Borough Road College were cheering their friend Joseph Gettins with the college chant.

Brentford won a place in the Southern League's top flight in July 1901 after which club dropped out?

The club had turned professional in 1899-1900 after rising through the London League.

Griffin Park, Brentford's home from 1904 to 2020, was built on what?

Local volunteers cut the trees down and were allowed to keep the wood; the name came from the griffin in the brewery's logo.

Griffin Park was famous as the only English league ground to have what?

The ground was named after The Griffin, one of those pubs, owned by the Griffin Brewery.

Which rival club chairman and estate agent helped negotiate Brentford's 1903 Griffin Park lease?

Norris was an estate agent who later became notorious as Arsenal's chairman.

Brentford's first ever Football League match, in August 1920, was a 3-0 defeat at which club?

They finished 21st in the new Third Division and were re-elected without a poll despite Harry King's 18 goals.

In 1929-30 Brentford set a still-standing English record by winning how many of their 21 home league games?

Remarkably they still finished only second to Plymouth and missed promotion.

Which manager, appointed in 1926, took Brentford from the Third Division South to fifth in the First Division?

He stayed nearly 23 years and kept his promotion squad intact for the 1935-36 top-flight debut.

Jack Holliday set Brentford's single-season club record in the 1932-33 Third Division South title season with how many goals?

Two years later the club went up to the First Division for the first time and also won the London Challenge Cup.

Brentford's highest ever league finish, fifth in the First Division in 1935-36, followed what?

They lost just two of the last 23 games; sixth-place finishes followed in 1937 and 1938.

Brentford held top spot in the First Division for how many consecutive matches in 1937–38?

The club's peak faded quickly, and they were relegated in the first post-war season.

Brentford's 1942 London War Cup final win at Wembley, 2-0, was against which club?

Wartime honours count separately, but it remains the club's only Wembley cup final win.

Griffin Park's record crowd of 38,678 watched a 1949 FA Cup tie against which club?

Curtis announced his retirement that season; a defeat to the same club relegated Brentford in 1954.

A January 1967 deal would have seen Brentford cease to exist and its ground become home to which rivals?

Fan protests and a takeover by Ron Blindell's syndicate saved the club; a later plan would have moved it to Hillingdon as 'Brentford Borough'.

Which former director saved Brentford at the eleventh hour in 1967 with a £69,000 interest-free loan?

QPR's Jim Gregory had offered £250,000 for the ground if Brentford moved to Hillingdon.

Which Brentford player and his wife rescued the groundsman during the 1983 Braemar Road Stand fire at Griffin Park?

The blaze caused about £150,000 of damage and the players' tunnel was moved to a corner after rebuilding.

Brentford lost their first major final, the 1985 Football League Trophy final, 3-1 to which club?

They also lost the 2001 and 2011 finals, to Port Vale and Carlisle.

The two-tier Brook Road Stand at Griffin Park, built in the mid-1980s, was affectionately known as what?

It replaced the Royal Oak Stand, the ground's old 'kop'; the 1920s Braemar Road stand had been the 'cow shed'.

Which former Crystal Palace chairman bought Brentford in 1998 and made himself chairman-manager?

The title was clinched with a winner-takes-all 1-0 win at Cambridge United on the final day.

When the chairman-manager quit in 2002 he handed control of Brentford to which supporters' trust?

The trust still keeps a place on the board after selling to Matthew Benham in 2012.

In 2006 an anonymous benefactor donated £500,000 to Brentford and became known by what name?

It was Matthew Benham, who went on to take over the club's debts in 2007.

The 2009 deal that put Matthew Benham on course to own Brentford by 2014 went by which codename?

He pledged £1 million a year for five years in return for a 35% stake and an option to buy.

Matthew Benham graduated from Oxford in which subject before making his fortune in betting?

His company Smartodds sells statistical research to professional gamblers; he also owns the Matchbook exchange.

Which future Brighton owner hired Benham into the gambling industry in 2001, before the pair fell out?

Benham founded Smartodds in 2004 using a scoring model developed at Lancaster University.

Which club, needing only a draw, beat Brentford 1-0 on the final day of 2012-13 to deny them automatic promotion?

A late penalty was missed; the Bees then lost the play-off final to Yeovil.

Which manager, a former City trader like Benham, took Brentford up to the Championship in 2014?

Promotion was clinched at home to Preston on 18 April 2014; the club then finished fifth in the Championship.

Benham bought a majority stake in which Danish club in 2014, a Brentford sister club until 2023?

In 2025 the club's holding company bought Spanish side Mérida AD outright.

Before succeeding in 2021, how many play-off campaigns had Brentford lost, then a national record?

The tally included four lost finals: 1997, 2002, 2013 and 2020.

Brentford lost the 2020 Championship play-off final 2-1 to which west London rivals?

A year later Thomas Frank's side beat Swansea 2-0 to reach the top flight for the first time since 1947.

Ivan Toney set a Championship record in 2020-21 with how many league goals?

The record-setter came against Bristol City; he also scored in the play-off final win over Swansea.

Ivan Toney's eight-month 2023 ban followed how many breaches of FA betting rules?

He had scored 20 goals that season; the ban ran until 17 January 2024.

Brentford signed Toney in 2020 from which club, for a fee that was their record sale?

He had been League One top scorer and Player of the Season; Tottenham wanted him only as back-up to Harry Kane.

How many seasons had passed since Brentford's last top-flight campaign when they reached the Premier League in 2021?

Their last First Division season had been 1946-47.

Thomas Frank left Brentford in June 2025 to manage which club?

He had delivered finishes of 13th, 9th, 16th and 10th; Keith Andrews succeeded him.

Which British film director doubled his investment in Brentford in 2026 with an extra £40 million?

The stated aim was to strengthen the club as it targets European qualification.

What is the capacity of the Brentford Community Stadium, opened in 2020?

It hosted matches at the Women's Euro 2022 and is also designed for rugby union.

Who played the first match at Brentford's stadium, a 2-2 friendly in September 2020?

Sergi Canós scored both Bees goals; the first competitive game was an EFL Cup tie against Wycombe won on penalties.

The stadium became the Gtech Community Stadium in 2022 in a deal with what kind of company?

Grey Technology took the naming rights; that summer the West Stand was converted to rail seating for safe standing.

The wavy blue line on Brentford's first badge in 1893 is thought to represent what?

A 1970s badge showed a hive and bees plus three seaxes from the Middlesex arms.

The 1973 competition-winning badge was scrapped in 1975 because it got what wrong?

Graham Haynes pointed out the club was formed in 1889; a new badge reputedly designed by chairman Dan Tana followed.

Which TV astrologer wrongly claimed in a 2011 BBC interview to have designed Brentford's 1994 badge?

It was actually designed in 1993 by supporter Andrew Henning in exchange for two season tickets.

Which Status Quo bass player is a Brentford supporter who wrote a song for striker Lloyd Owusu?

Owusu was a Bees favourite around the turn of the millennium.

In 1954 Brentford spent over £5,000 on perimeter lights, but the Football League banned what until 1956?

The club made over £10,000 from floodlit friendlies in the meantime, one drawing 21,600.

Which Icelandic club did Brentford partner with in 2013 to give young players experience?

The same year staff forged links with Ugandan club Gulu United under the 'United for United' project.

In which single season did Brentford abandon red and white stripes for yellow and blue?

The experiment was unsuccessful; the stripes have otherwise been the home colours since 1925–26.

Which TV quiz host was a professional at Brentford in the late 1970s without making the first team?

The Chase presenter is one of several showbiz names tied to the club, alongside chairman Dan Tana of Hollywood restaurant fame.

In Ted Lasso, Brentford is named as the biggest rival of which fictional club?

The club also crops up regularly on the BBC comedy People Just Do Nothing.

In April 2025, Brentford's holding company announced it was buying 100% of which Spanish club?

The move followed the end of the FC Midtjylland sister-club link, sold in 2023 to Anders Holch Povlsen.

Which prog-rock keyboardist became a Brentford director for a year in 1979?

Radiohead's Ed O'Brien is another musician among the club's supporters and season-ticket holders.