During the 2008–09 English football season,

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West (London sub region), West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the River Thames, Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has dive ...

competed in

Football League Two The English Football League Two, simply known as League Two and for sponsorship purposes as Sky Bet League Two, is a professional association football league in England. EFL League Two is the fourth division of the English Football League (EFL ...

. The club finished the season as champions to win promotion to

Football League One The English Football League One, known as Sky Bet League One for sponsorship reasons, or simply League One, is a professional association football league in England. EFL League One is the second-highest division of the English Football League an ...

Season summary

The 2008–09 season was

's second consecutive campaign in League Two, after relegation to the fourth tier for the first time in 9 years at the end of the 2006–07 season. Manager Andy Scott, who was beginning his first full season in the job, had signed a new five-year contract in April 2008. Despite working with a "mediocre budget", he brought in 12 new players – 8 on permanent transfers and four on

loan In finance, a loan is the tender of money by one party to another with an agreement to pay it back. The recipient, or borrower, incurs a debt and is usually required to pay interest for the use of the money. The document evidencing the deb ...

. The pick of the signings were new

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) ** Smal ...

Charlie MacDonald Charles Lea MacDonald (born 13 February 1981) is an English Association football, footballer who last played for Barking F.C., Barking. Football career Early career MacDonald played for the Millwall F.C., Millwall youth team before joining ...

for an undisclosed fee from

Southend United Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England, which competes in the National League, the fifth level of English football. The team are known as "The Shrimpers", a reference ...

central midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

Marcus Bean Marcus Tristam Bean (born 2 January 1984) is a retired professional footballer who played as a midfielder in the English Football League, most notably for Brentford and Wycombe Wanderers. Born in England, he represented Jamaica at full internat ...

from

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside town in Lancashire, England. It is located on the Irish Sea coast of the Fylde peninsula, approximately north of Liverpool and west of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. It is the main settlement in the Borough of Blackpool ...

on a free transfer and the re-signing on loan of

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), 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 i ...

Ben Hamer Benjamin John Hamer (; born 20 November 1987) is an English professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for club Sheffield Wednesday. He will become a free agent on 30 June 2025. Career Early career Hamer was born in Chard, Somerset, and ...

and

central defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

Alan Bennett Alan Bennett (born 9 May 1934) is an English actor, author, playwright and screenwriter. He has received numerous awards and honours including four BAFTA Awards, four Laurence Olivier Awards, and two Tony Awards. In 2005 he received the Socie ...

from

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

until the end of the season. Signed from

non-League football Non-League football describes association football, football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is ...

, left-sided full back and winger

Sam Wood Samuel Grosvenor Wood (July 10, 1883 – September 22, 1949) was an American film director and producer who is best known for having directed such Hollywood hits as ''A Night at the Opera (film), A Night at the Opera'', ''A Day at the Races (fi ...

proved to be a hit and went on to win the Brentford Supporters'

Player of the Year Several sports leagues honour their best player with an award called Player of the Year. In the United States, this type of award is usually called a Most Valuable Player award. Association football In association football, this award is held on b ...

award. The season began with consecutive defeats in the league and League Cup to Bury and

Swansea City Swansea City Association Football Club ( ; ) is a Welsh professional football club based in Swansea, Wales. It competes in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Swansea have played their home matches at ...

respectively, before an unbeaten run of 12 league matches put Brentford in the automatic promotion places. Midfielder Glenn Poole continued his good form from the previous season by scoring seven goals during the run. Two defeats in a row dropped the Bees to 9th in early November, before another unbeaten run put the club back in the automatic promotion places by 20 December. Brentford moved into second position after a 2–0 victory over

Bournemouth Bournemouth ( ) is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole unitary authority area, in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. At the 2021 census, the built-up area had a population of 196,455, making it the largest ...

Boxing Day Boxing Day, also called as Offering Day is a holiday celebrated after Christmas Day, occurring on the second day of Christmastide (26 December). Boxing Day was once a day to donate gifts to those in need, but it has evolved to become a part ...

and consistently good results kept the club on the tail of leaders

Wycombe Wanderers Wycombe Wanderers Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 188 ...

through January and early February 2009. A 1–1 draw with

Accrington Stanley Accrington Stanley Football Club is a professional association football club based in Accrington, Lancashire, England, that compete in the , the fourth level of the English football league system. They have spent their entire history playing a ...

on 10 February moved the Bees moved into top spot and consistently good results, aided by the goalscoring of January loan acquisition

Jordan Rhodes Jordan Luke Rhodes (born 5 February 1990) is a professional footballer who plays as a striker. He will become a free agent when his contract with Blackpool expires on 30 June 2025. Born in England, he represented the Scotland national team. ...

, kept the club at the summit into mid-March. Brentford and Wycombe Wanderers faced off at

Griffin Park Griffin Park was a association football, 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 was in a predominantly resi ...

on 14 March in front of a season-high crowd of 10,642 and the match yielded a 3–3 draw, with

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club (commonly referred to as simply Villa) is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club, founded in 1874, compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The team have p ...

loanee Sam Williams "smashing in" late in proceedings to salvage a point for the Bees. Three days later, a home defeat to Chesterfield was Brentford's first loss for six weeks, but the club remained at the top of the table. Despite season-ending injuries to Jordan Rhodes, Nathan Elder, top scorer Charlie MacDonald and

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

Kevin O'Connor, manager Andy Scott strengthened the squad with a new front line of loanees Billy Clarke and Damian Spencer. Central defender Darren Powell, who had played alongside Scott in Brentford's previous fourth-tier championship triumph a decade earlier, returned to the club on a short-term contract. Three draws in a row in late March and early April kept Brentford top, before a first win for over a month was achieved in "The Battle of Bournemouth" on 13 April, during which Darren Powell was

sent off In sports, an ejection (also known as dismissal, sending-off, disqualification, or early shower) is the removal of a participant from a contest due to a violation of the sport's rules. The exact violations that lead to an ejection vary depending ...

for fighting with teammate Karleigh Osborne. Despite missing the chance to clinch promotion after a comprehensive defeat to

play-off The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eith ...

challengers

Dagenham & Redbridge Dagenham & Redbridge Football Club (), often known simply as Dagenham and abbreviated when written to Dag & Red, is a professional association football club based in Dagenham, Greater London, England that play in the , the sixth level of the En ...

on 21 April, promotion and the League Two title were sealed with a 3–1 away win over

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. It lies on the River Skerne, west of Middlesbrough and south of Durham. Darlington had a population of 107,800 at the 2021 Census, making it a "large town" ...

in the penultimate match of the season. Captain Kevin O'Connor and stand-in skipper Alan Bennett held the League Two championship trophy aloft after a 2–0 win over

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club is a professional association football, football club from Luton, Bedfordshire, England. The club currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. Nicknamed "The Hatters", L ...

at Griffin Park on the final day.

League table

Results

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

Legend

Pre-season

Football League Two

FA Cup

Football League Cup

Football League Trophy

* Sources
Soccerbase11v11
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Playing squad

:''Players' ages are as of the opening day of the 2008–09 season.'' * Source
Soccerbase
/small>

Coaching staff

Statistics

Appearances and goals

:''Substitute appearances in brackets.'' * Players listed in ''italics'' left the club mid-season. * Source
Soccerbase
/small>

Goalscorers

* Players listed in ''italics'' left the club mid-season. * Source
Soccerbase
/small>

Discipline

* Players listed in ''italics'' left the club mid-season. * Source
ESPN FC
/small>

Management

Summary

Transfers & loans

Kit

, ,

Awards

* Supporters' Player of the Year:

* Community Player of the Year: Kevin O'Connor * PFA Fans' League Two Player of the Year:

Football League Two Player of the Month The EFL League Two Player of the Month is an association football award that recognises the player adjudged the best for each month of the season in EFL League Two, the English football league system, fourth tier of English football. Originally na ...

(December 2008),

(February 2009) * PFA Fans' League Two Player of the Month: Jordan Rhodes (March 2009) * Puma League Two Golden Glove:

Football League Two Manager of the Month Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

: Andy Scott (April 2009) * Football League Two Community Club of the Year *

BBC London BBC London is the BBC English Region producing local radio, television, teletext and online services in London, Surrey and parts of the surrounding areas of the Home Counties. Its output includes the daily '' BBC London'' news bulletin and w ...

Manager of the Year 2008: Andy Scott *

League Managers Association The League Managers Association (LMA) is the trade union for Premier League, EFL and national team managers in English association football. The LMA awards the LMA Manager of the Year award annually. History The union was founded in 1919 as ...

Performance of the Week: Andy Scott (

1–3 Brentford, League Two, 25 April 2009)

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2008-09 Brentford F.C. season Brentford F.C. seasons