Categories: Features & comment

The Bees are flying high – but fans could face an anxious month

It is certainly a happy new year for all Brentford supporters with the team sitting proudly and deservedly at the top of the League One table at the start of 2014.

But will those fans still be happy when the season ends at the start of May?

What happens over the next month could well decide their mood and the club’s fate.

The January transfer window will signal the start of 31 days of worrying for Bees supporters.

Will Rosler come calling?

Worrying that former manager Uwe Rosler may try to raid Griffin Park for one or two of the stars he brought to the club in the first place, for his new side Wigan.

Worrying that the on-loan players, who have played such a crucial part in the successful first half of the season, may return to their parent clubs or be off to pastures new when their current deals expire early in the month.

New manager Mark Warburton has certainly tried to nip those concerns in the bud.

In his programme notes for Sunday’s game against MK Dons, he wrote: “Rest assured that none of our permanent players are leaving the club unless we receive what we deem to be appropriate transfer fees.

“If any supporter honestly believes we are at the mercy of so-called bigger clubs and will stand aside whilst our most valuable assets are spirited away, then I would suggest they have a little more faith in the management at Griffin Park.”

These words, coupled with the obvious determination of owner Matthew Benham to see the club in the Championship as quickly as possible – and certainly by the time of the move to the new stadium at Lionel Road in 2016 – should encourage fans to believe that when 1 February arrives on the calendar the stars will still be Brentford players.

Supporters should also believe in the players, who seem to have a terrific team spirit and confidence throughout the side.

The grass is not always greener elsewhere and if any offers are made, then it could well be that they decide to stay where they are and finish the job of getting the Bees promoted.

As always at this time of year, rumours are flooding messageboards about who the club are looking to sign and who, if anyone, may be leaving.

The names of Blackburn midfielder Alan Judge and young Arsenal striker Chuba Akpom have already been linked with Brentford, for example.

Warburton will obviously be keen to boost his ranks but could be wary of signing too many players as playing a settled side has been key to the Bees’ winning run and rise up the table.

He needs cover at centre-half but other than that, there are few areas which need improving.

On the field, the run of 12 victories in 13 league matches is almost unprecedented in the club’s history and Warburton is the first Brentford manager win his first four matches in charge.

The team look like they don’t believe they can lose at the moment, and seem to be playing more attacking football under his leadership, with one immediate change being the leaving up of two or three players when Brentford are defending a corner.