During the 1975–76 English football season,

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...

competed in the

Football League Fourth Division The Football League Fourth Division was the fourth-highest division in the English football league system from the 1958–59 season until the creation of the Premier League prior to the 1992–93 season. Whilst the division disappeared in name ...

. A poor middle third of the season led to an 18th-place finish, just three points above the re-election zone.

Season summary

Despite a strong finish to the previous campaign, only one incoming transfer (veteran

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

Bill Glazier William James Glazier (born 2 August 1943) is an English retired professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He is best remembered for his time in the Football League with Coventry City, for whom he made over 390 appearances and is a me ...

for £4,000) did not raise the belief around

Griffin Park Griffin Park was a football ground in Brentford in the London Borough of Hounslow, England. It was the home ground of Brentford F.C. from its opening in September 1904 to August 2020. The ground is in a predominantly residential area and was ...

that

would challenge for promotion from the

Fourth Division Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music), a musical interval * ''The Fourth'' (1972 film), a Sovie ...

during the 1975–76 season.White, p. 298-300. Instead, manager John Docherty made up the numbers with members of the club's youth team, with teenagers

Gordon Sweetzer Gordon Eric Peter Sweetzer (born 27 January 1957) is a Canadian former professional soccer player who played as a forward. In a short, injury-plagued career, he played in the Football League for Brentford, Cambridge United and in the North Am ...

Danis Salman Danis Mahmut Mehmet Salman ( tr, Danış Salman; born 12 March 1960), sometimes known as Danny Salman, is a Turkish Cypriot-born English former professional footballer and coach, best remembered for his time as a defender in the Football League ...

, Paul Walker and Graham Cox all joining the club. Brentford had a strong start to the season, winning three and drawing three of the first six league matches of the season and advancing to the second round of the League Cup, where the run was brought to an end at

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,310 it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after Wemb ...

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

. With goalkeeper Bill Glazier quitting the club after just 12 appearances, Brentford would tread water in the lower reaches of mid-table throughout the season, in which a run to the third round of the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

became the focus. Having reached that stage of the competition for the first time since the 1970–71 season, the Bees took

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

club

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...

to a replay before losing 2–0 at Burnden Park. A slight upturn in form towards the end of the season was inspired by the signing of

Oxford United Oxford United Football Club is a professional football club in the city of Oxford, England. The team plays in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The chairman is Grant Ferguson, the manager is Karl Robinson and th ...

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

Andrew McCulloch Andrew McCulloch may refer to: * Andrew McCulloch (civil engineer) (1864–1945), Chief Engineer of the Kettle Valley Railway in Canada *Sir Andrew McCulloch (British Army officer) (1876–1960), commander of 52nd Lowland Division from 1934&nda ...

for a club record £25,000 fee.Croxford, Lane & Waterman, p. 114. Two club records were set during the season: * Youngest

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

debutant: Danis Salman, 15 years, 8 months, 3 days (versus

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...

, 15 November 1975) * Lowest away Football League attendance: 894 versus

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough ...

, 27 March 1976

League table

Results

:''Brentford's goal tally listed first.''

Legend

Pre-season and friendlies

Football League Fourth Division

FA Cup

Football League Cup

* Sources: 100 Years of Brentford, The Big Brentford Book of the Seventies
Statto
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Playing squad

:''Players' ages are as of the opening day of the 1975–76 season.'' * Sources: The Big Brentford Book of the Seventies, Timeless Bees

Coaching staff

Statistics

Appearances and goals

:''Substitute appearances in brackets.'' *Players listed in ''italics'' left the club mid-season. *Source: 100 Years of Brentford

Goalscorers

*Players listed in ''italics'' left the club mid-season. *Source: 100 Years of Brentford

Management

Summary

Transfers & loans

Awards

* Supporters' Player of the Year: Michael AllenCroxford, Lane & Waterman, p. 295. * Players' Player of the Year: Michael Allen

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1975-76 Brentford F.C. season Brentford F.C. seasons