I can’t remember a whole lot about them but I have a feeling that by the time they were relegated from the premier league they had one of the longest records of top flight football, having been in the top division for around 30 years? Were nicknamed ‘Sky Blues’ I think. I don’t think they had a particularly large fan base (which may explain in part how they fell so far down the footballing ladder intro non league)
Back in the 80’s they beat Spurs to win the FA Cup (87?). That might be there big trophy moment. John Silott was their manage then I think.
Steve Ogryzovic was their legendary keeper during that period, he was before that our back up keeper in the early 80’s.
Micky Gynn, Brian Kilcline, Cyrille Regis are some of the better known players probably. Stuart Pearce joined them from non league before going on to Forest. Gary Gillespie joined us from them I think as cover for Hansen and Lawro.
In the 90’s people may remember their match against Utd (may have been an FA cup tie) that was televised, where David Busst their star CB suffered a career ending injury (double fracture of the leg?). It was a pretty sickening accident that you could tell was bad by the faces on all the players around him.
Interesting (sort of) game between Brentford and Fulham. Both are trying but I can’t seem to shake the feeling that they are both in 3rd gear rather than 4th or 5th and maybe have more of an eye on summer plans rather than getting a win.
They were also a real cautionary tale about what can happen when a club doesn’t have control of the grounds - at one point they were playing their home games in Northampton due to a dispute with the ownership of the stadium of which they had originally owned 50%
I watched the first half of Brentford v. Fulham without falling asleep. I then discovered that the latest episode of HIGNFY was available on YT. Game over.
Yeah they had a sprinkling of exciting players in the 90s - mustafasa hagi (sp?) was another. Toward the end of their PL stay, I remember a 4-1 where Davie Thompson and a certain Steven Gerrard ran the show.
This is a good write up. They were never a big club but their one and only run in the top flight lasted close to 40 years, including the first ten years of the prem. There are several bigger clubs around them in the East Midlands (Birmingham) so their level of over performance over that long a period was even more notable given the struggles of the other through that period.
Their 87 FA Cup win is their only proper trophy but it’s also one of the most memorable finals for lots of people with one of the all time best goal cup final goals from Houchin’s diving header (well worth looking up).
Another notable player worth calling out is Mickey Quinn who was a big fat waste of space who still somehow went on a scoring run after signing for them that is still in the record books. It was something like 15 in his ten games and puts him alongside the likes of Halaand and Bruno in the record books
I remember a tedious 0-0 at Coventry in the mid seventies. Keegan and Toshack not firing that day.
The memorable part was the huge scrap at the bus station.
