Brentford supporters are given grounds for optimism

Brentford’s announcement of the purchase of the long- sought after Lionel Road site has produced a mixture of emotions among the club’s supporters.

It has to be seen as very good news that new stadium now seems to be a reality – a place where the Bees can grow and hopefully become established as at the very least a Championship club.

But that comes tinged with a huge sadness at the thought of leaving Griffin Park, Brentford’s home of 108 years.

All fans have a lifelong association with the ground, best known among away supporters for having a pub on every corner, and to watch the Bees play elsewhere will feel very strange and not like home for quite a while.

I am the third of four generations of my family to turn up regularly at Griffin Park.

But as one of my Brentford friends keeps telling me, the club needs facilities like executive boxes, which can bring in significant extra income on matchdays and can also be used seven days a week.

A new ground can also be a good tool in attracting new players and even though I personally am a traditionalist and can be sentimental at the best of times, I have to say that this is probably the way forward.

This move has a lot of things going for it, not least its location.

Gone are the dark days of possible moves into Surrey and round the corner is the prospect of a shiny new home within walking distance of the club’s current base and still in the TW8 postcode area.

Fans will still be able to make more or less the same matchday journeys as they do now and travel for the same length of time, which is another important factor.

And maybe those aforementioned pubs, who risk losing their trade around every home game, can come up with some inventive ideas such as providing transport to the new ground in the half-hour before kick-off to keep supporters drinking in their establishments.

I had some interesting reactions from friends and strangers when I posted the link to the club’s announcement on Twitter late on Thursday evening.

A Swindon-supporting friend said: “With four new pubs I trust” illustrating the first thing opposition fans think of when you mention the words Griffin Park to them.

While a disappointed Preston fan said: “Griffin Park is one of the few grounds left that I like. Think it might be time to find a new pastime.”

And a friend of mine who follows Brighton jokily commented: “Hope they stick with the original idea of a monorail!” which was in the plans when the idea of moving to Lionel Road was first announced nearly 10 years ago.

Moving to a new ground did wonders for a club like Reading, as Brentford found out to their cost in 2002.

Crowds at the Madejski Stadium went up significantly from those at Elm Park and the Royals, who were an established Fourth Division club when I first started watching football, reached the Premier League.

So if it is all systems go for a new ground, the next questions are what should it be like, what will it be named and how will the club manage the move of supporters from Griffin Park?

I hope fans will have a say in the design of the stadium, which will initially hold a sensible figure of 15,000 people, but can be expanded to 20,000.

Some fans on the Griffin Park Grapevine messageboard have posted to say they want a ‘safe standing’ area, so let’s hope the club take that into consideration.

In fact it would be good if, given the four-year timescale, Brentford make a start soon on canvassing the views of all supporters.

Do fans want an identikit ground so that it looks like all the other recently-built arenas around the country, or is there something that can be put into the design which makes it uniquely Brentford?

For example everyone recognises Huddersfield’s Galpharm Stadium which looks like no other ground in the land so it would be great if the Bees’ new home could end up with a similar reputation.

Secondly the name – will a sponsor be given naming rights as another source of income for the club or will the stadium be called simply Lionel Road or named in memory of a famous player from the past?

What about each side of the ground – if the stadium did have a sponsor’s title, then could each stand or terrace bear the name of a club legend?

And finally, what about supporters who have sat together for years?

Will the club help blocks of fans who are together now to move to similar seats with each other in the new ground when the time comes?

All in all, exciting times lie ahead for Brentford – and we haven’t even started thinking about next season on the pitch yet!

Follow me on Twitter at @ianwestbrook