During the 1981–82 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 Third Division The Football League Third Division was the third tier of the English football league system in 1920–21 and again from 1958 until 1992. When the FA Premier League was formed, the division become the fourth tier level. In 2004, following the f ...

. After losing ground in January and February 1982, just one win from the final five matches of the season ended the Bees' hopes of promotion.

Season summary

Chris Kamara - Marie Curie Cancer Care Football League Ambassador

Aside from the club record signing of £65,000

central defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

Alan Whitehead Alan Patrick Vincent Whitehead (born 15 September 1950) is a British politician who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Southampton Test since 1997. A member of the Labour Party, he has been Shadow Minister for Green New Deal and Energ ...

manager

Fred Callaghan Frederick John Callaghan (19 December 1944 – 13 September 2022) was an English professional association football, footballer, who made over 290 appearances in the Football League for Fulham F.C., Fulham as a left back. After retiring as a pla ...

presided over a quiet 1981 off-season at

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 ...

.White, p. 316-317.

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 ...

Paul Priddy Paul Joseph Priddy (born 11 July 1953) is an English retired semi-professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper in the Football League for Brentford and Wimbledon. Priddy holds the record as Aldershot Town's oldest-ever player, after he ...

returned to the club for a third spell on a part-time contract as cover for

David McKellar David Norwood McKellar (born 22 May 1956) is a Scottish retired professional footballer, best remembered for his time as a goalkeeper in the Football League with Carlisle United, for whom he made 160 appearances for the club over two spells. In ...

, but the club went into the season understaffed in the

striking Strike may refer to: People *Strike (surname) Physical confrontation or removal *Strike (attack), attack with an inanimate object or a part of the human body intended to cause harm *Airstrike, military strike by air forces on either a suspected ...

department, having lost

Gary Johnson Gary Earl Johnson (born January 1, 1953) is an American businessman, author, and politician. He served as the 29th governor of New Mexico from 1995 to 2003 as a member of the Republican Party. He was the Libertarian Party nominee for Presid ...

to injury in a car crash and a suitable replacement could not be found in time. Bids for

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

s John Beck,

Jeff Chandler Jeff Chandler (born Ira Grossel; yi, יראַ גראָססעל; December 15, 1918 – June 17, 1961) was an American actor, film producer, and singer, best remembered for playing Cochise in '' Broken Arrow'' (1950), for which he was nom ...

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 ...

David Kemp and former Brentford player

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 ...

had failed to yield any transfers. Despite going unbeaten in the first four

Third Division In sport, the Third Division, also called Division 3, Division Three, or Division III, is often the third-highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Association football *Belgian Thir ...

matches of the season, a bad run of results in September and October 1981 dropped the club to just above the relegation places. Manager Callaghan acted swiftly in the transfer market, signing midfielders

Stan Bowles Stanley Bowles (born 24 December 1948) is an English former professional footballer who as a player in the 1970s was known for his skills as a forward, and also gained a reputation as one of the game's great non-conformists and mavericks. Club ...

Chris Kamara Christopher Kamara (born 25 December 1957) is an English former professional football player and manager who worked as a presenter and football analyst at Sky Sports from 1992 to 2022. As a player, he was known as a tough-tackling midfielder. H ...

and finally bolstering the forward line with the acquisition of Keith Bowen. The upturn in form was immediate and seven wins and one draw from a 10-match spell lifted the Bees from 18th place on 17 October to 4th on 28 December. The run included five consecutive away league wins, which equalled the club record. Brentford began 1982 with a run in which the team took just two points from a possible 24, which dropped the club back into mid-table. Former player

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 ...

briefly returned to Griffin Park in January, but scored just one goal in 9 appearances before returning to his native

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. The team recovered in March and things further improved after forward David Kemp was finally signed on

loan In finance, a loan is the lending of money by one or more individuals, organizations, or other entities to other individuals, organizations, etc. The recipient (i.e., the borrower) incurs a debt and is usually liable to pay interest on that d ...

in March, but he succumbed to injury after just three appearances. A 2–1 win over

Chester Chester is a cathedral city and the county town of Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Dee, close to the English–Welsh border. With a population of 79,645 in 2011,"2011 Census results: People and Population Profile: Chester Loca ...

on 24 April put the Bees in 7th position, four points behind 3rd-place Lincoln City with five matches to play. Brentford's outside chances of promotion were killed off in the following match versus

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * ...

at Griffin Park, losing 3–2, having been leading 2–0. The Bees finished the season in 8th position.

League table

Results

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

Legend

Pre-season and friendlies

Football League Third Division

FA Cup

Football League Cup

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

:''Players' ages are as of the opening day of the 1981–82 season.'' * Sources: The Big Brentford Book of the Eighties, Timeless Bees

Coaching staff

Statistics

Appearances and goals

:''Substitute appearances in brackets.'' *Players listed in ''italics'' left the club mid-season. *Source: The Big Brentford Book of the EightiesCroxford, Lane & Waterman, p. 423.

Goalscorers

*Players listed in ''italics'' left the club mid-season. *Source: The Big Brentford Book of the Eighties