Forum Topic

Uwe Rosler has left Brentford for Wigan

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/25257898

Paul Scullion ● 4262d17 Comments

I've been going to see Reading by car and train since 1968.Even then it was awful parking but not as bad as the train was then.The train journey wins hands down now, but as Reading do not play Brentford anymore, there has been little need to go there.But I have seen several big games at the Madjeski while they were flying high and during the Coppell era.  Never had a problem parking the car or leaving.Busy, certainly, but not as bad as it is with other Premiership or high attendance grounds.It can't compare. There were 25.000 plus. Far more go by car and train as Reading is a large satellite and radial Town/small city.  Trains come from all over via the main line.  Brentford and Kew Bdg are on a branch line.Griffin Park could never cope with that degree of attendance and Lionel Road as designed, certainly will not.It takes just 6 mins to walk from Brentford stn to Braemar road or New road.I do it every day of the week. That's way less than it takes to walk from Hammersmith to Craven Cottage, or East Acton to Loftus road and about the same as Fulham Broadway to Stamford Bridge.But with all those other grounds it can take longer with a huge crowd.Griffin Park is amongst the shortest walks from Station to Ground in the entire league.Will fans really walk an extra half mile? - on top of the half mile they already walk from parking to Lionel road?  A total of one mile - 20 mins at normal pace? In the rain? In the cold?  Along a very busy and dangerous A road?  I know I wouldn't and my friends who still drive from afar to come and watch already moan about parking just 10 mins away.Too few come by SWT. So what will change?  It's already the best option.        If they don't do it now when it is less expensive, who is going to come that way when it is going to cost far more for a match admission?With three of the busiest 24/7 routes in London converging and Kew Bridge being gridlocked every weekend, no clear traffic design study has emerged with clear and workable details of how this will be dealt with. How can anyone vote in a planning meeting without clear and factual solutions and understand that without knowing the area?  For those Labour councillors to duck out is one thing. To do it at such a late stage dropping others right in it is utter irresponsibility of the worst kind.Not just to local residents for or against but to the club. All these concerns and problems, Not the nimbyism, but ensuring that the project is genuinely the best option for BFC and the surrounding residential area is opened up and picked over to get it right. It's sadly really flawed and the rose tinted specs need to be taken off.One of these shameless 3 wants to be an MP ?  Not even Kraft would employ someone with that kind of achievement on a C.V.I'm all for a new stadium but this just has not been thought through and I fear that this will consign Brentford Football Club to obscurity and not the success it pines for.

Anthony Waller ● 4257d

Looking at the amount of money MB has put into BFC I don't think he wouldn't stump up for a manager if MB wanted him. Warburton is well known to MB so his appointment is no surprise.

Neil Chippendale ● 4257d

Anthony, You've obviously never parked a car at a football match near the Madjeski Stadium. I can assure that the parking has the same issues as any stadium, even though it's on a good road network, but TBH there are more routes away from Griffin Park as there will be Lionel Rd than there are the Madjeski . It can take up to and over 45-60 minutes to get out of the car parks next to the ground at the Madjeski. The supporters on the Brentford fan websites don't expect to change car parking when the club moves the 1/2 mile down the road, it's really not that much further to walk. I'm looking forward to getting out of the train at Kew Bridge right next to the stadium rather than the current walk from Brentford Station to Griffin Park.

Mike Williams ● 4258d

Reading had a terrible ground and awful to get to.Griffin Park is really easy by comparison, even by car, and despite the surroundings, it is possible to park nearby .  Nobody with half a brain living here, moved here without accepting that fact.But the new stadium will be quite unlike the Madjedski Stadium. It will not have an abundance of parking, it will not be on a series of new wide roads.Lionel road stadium will be hemmed in by hi rise flats and barely enough space to park the team coaches. It has identified some 2700 parking spaces.Residents from all around would love to know where they are.If there were that many available spaces we would not be having the spectre of CPZs looming over us.Look deeper and these spaces are all nearer to....Griffin Park and quite a trek from Lionel road. Whatsmore they are identified spaces. They have not been negotiated or agreed for use on matchdays and eventdays.If they are there then why are they not already in use? Especially as they are close to Griffin Park.Will the lawyers, media execs and bankers expected to buy all these luxury apartments, still be happy when their mistresses start whining about the congestion and noise at a multi use stadium?Will they seek and get injunctions to curb activity at Lionel road?I'll wager that's exactly what will happen within a decade of the move.It just seems that the new venue will just be a modern version of Griffin Park with all the same drawbacks.  Apart from a shiny new venue, once the gloss fades the same old problems will exist, but magnified.

Anthony Waller ● 4258d

Couldn't afford Pulis, Holloway etc anyway.

Keith Iddon ● 4259d

In the short-term probably a wise move to appoint a manager already involved with the club, particularly as there's not much out there (I wouldn't wish Brian Laws on anyone ! - although then again I wouldn't inflict Tony Pulis on any team and he seems to have galvanised Palace).Although perhaps the fact it is only definite until the end of the season recognises the current dearth of managerial talent ?.Really does speak volumes about modern day football that only 3 managers in the top 4 divisions have been in place for at least 4 years.

Adam Beamish ● 4259d

I went last year for the North Ed game and paid £20.

Keith Iddon ● 4259d

Keith, If that's on the day price it's a rise of £6. Can see that happening when / if the Bees get into the Championship, not before though. I currently have a season ticket which are best value and costs £255. Two great appointments today at the club.

Mike Williams ● 4259d

Players at that level go for where the money is Mike and Brentford are not the best payers. The rumour I heard, possibly a false one, is that admission will be at least £30.

Keith Iddon ● 4259d

Keith, what proposed huge increase in admission costs. Where did that one come from ? Undoubtably they will go up when the club gets promotion. Until the club progresses to the next level it is not an attractive proposition for some better players. The training facility at Osterley has been revamped and a new state of the art covered 3/4 pitch size training arena opened at Uxbridge High School only last month. The Medical facilities and team are as good as some Premier sides as is the youth development. There was only one item to sort................. Lionel Road.

Mike Williams ● 4260d

I would think that the proposed huge increase in admission costs may have a bit effect on crowd numbers. I would also think that for every cub that has experienced promotion or success at a new ground there is one that hasn't or the success has been temporary. Wouldn't it be wise to plough some more money into better players,training and medical facilities etc.? That might be the way to get promotion.

Keith Iddon ● 4260d

Good Point Adam. But I feel that is the exception. Clubs have far more success when they move to a new stadium. As for Uwe hope it goes well for him a good guy.

Mike Williams ● 4260d

But to give a contradictory example Darlington got a new ground through funding by an individual and look what happened to them - nothing to do with any planning argument (as in Darlington's case the development was purely a stadium) but purely from a football perspective there's no definitive link between a new stadium and on-field success.Generally in sport it scares me (in terms of the club's long-term future) when one individual is basically bankrolling a club, when for whatever reason the plug is pulled where does that leave the club ? - e.g. Gretna and Brooks Mileson.  Nothing against Rosler, but has he really done that much as a manager (in England) ?.

Adam Beamish ● 4260d

Ian. For a similar scenario look at Reading FC just a few  years ago. Crowds much the same as Brentford FC currently, with an old worn out stadium and no room to expand. After the move to the Mad Stad, crowds increased and they went from the 3rd to the Premiership within a few years. In the Championship Brentford only need to double the size of the crowd to around 14 -15K. Most championship teams will bring a few thousand so it wont be far off 20K and for some games a sell out. Brentford  have proved with certain events this and last year they can pull in 12K. Crowds there have been steadily increasing for the last two years. However it's just not about football the club, as any modern football club,need extra revenue. Which cannot be generated in the current location.

Mike Williams ● 4260d

Some of Anthony's ponits are valid but the amount of money Matthew Benham has put into the club clearly shows that the club/owner is not obsessed with it's new role as a property developer. Also regards the new stadium, the club has been looking at relocating for many years and if it wants to move up the leagues it needs a new ground.

Neil Chippendale ● 4260d

Anthony touches on an good issue regarding the new stadium - why on earth should this be built when the support isn't there - this isn't like Southampton desperately needing St Mary's to replace the Dell and then filling it.

Ian Speed ● 4261d

A really big loss, but you can hardly blame him. He has probably seen, like Arsene Wenger and Arsenal's team has experienced, what will happen over the next 6 years.The club is obsessed with it's new role as a property developer and the impetus of getting a team and a solid position in the championship league is now as far away as it ever was.Uwe will be a very hard act to follow, he has made a few tactical gaffes in his time at Brentford, but his ability to turn knock backs into positive come backs has been remarkable.So hardly a surprise that a club like Wigan has taken a chance with him.Let's not forget that Wigan were not so long ago regular opponents for Brentford here in the lower leagues.So good luck Uwe and farewell.The new ground is a distraction from what all fans want. Success and consolidated success at that...but on the pitch.Griffin Park is not a bad ground compared to a lot of clubs even a league up.It's popular with away fans. And one of the easiest to get to in London.Griffin Park is not the reason that Brentford are languishing in League one or two for far too long.If attendances are still not at capacity when it costs just a couple of quid to get in, how will they ever fill a 20,000 seater stadium? It will be like watching Middlesex County under 15s at Twickenham.If BFC think that they will be able to charge £30 - £45  to watch their team at Lionel Road - as was suggested at the exhibition when pressed, then they are in cuckooland.  The fans will vapourise.It's a winning, achieving team and management that will bring in the fans and new ones, and for once, that was starting to emerge albeit still to slowly.Losing Uwe and Greg Dyke is a massive blow putting the planning issues into cold perspective.Getting a winning manager who can take the team onwards and upwards is far, far more important than an otherwise white elephant which may well be the straw that breaks Brentford's back for good.

Anthony Waller ● 4261d