The chance is there for Brentford – now they must take it

If you had told Brentford fans in August that just over halfway through the season they would have only lost three league games, would be in the third round of the FA Cup and that several key personnel would pledge their futures to the club, they would have been delighted.

All that and more has been achieved in a whirlwind five months which could have set up one of the most memorable seasons in recent memory.

In Brentford’s last promotion season, 2008/09, they were also only beaten in three of their first 24 League matches. They went on to lose just six of the final 20 games to finish six points clear as champions.

As good as that squad was, you get the feeling that if this group of players could make the bigger step up by winning promotion to the Championship, they are good enough to achieve a whole lot more.

The squad is so strong that a talented player like Leon Legge, under contract until next year and a firm favourite among the fans, has been allowed to move to Gillingham because he cannot be promised regular games.

One of the most important things to have happened this season took place at the start of December, when the club’s sporting director Mark Warburton committed his future to Brentford.

Warburton has played a key role in player recruitment under Uwe Rosler and had been linked with a similar role at Premier League West Brom.

But the fact that he was prepared to stay sent out a crucial message to all the players – but especially those who were nearing the end of their contracts.

Since he made his decision, star winger Harry Forrester, who worked with Warburton at Watford, has said he will not be going anywhere during the transfer window and will definitely stay at the club until the end of the season.

In addition, both goalkeeper Richard Lee and right-back Shaleum Logan have signed new contracts keeping them at Griffin Park until the summer of 2014, and Rosler himself made it clear he plans to be with the club for the long term.

If Jonathan Douglas and Toumani Diagouraga, the final two players whose contracts run out in the summer, can be persuaded to extend their stays in TW8, then keeping the whole squad intact would be a real coup for Brentford.

Warburton’s Watford connections have also allowed the club to bring in former and current Hornets Rob Kiernan and Lee Hodson on loan and the situation with the temporary signings is one the club need to resolve.

Kiernan has returned to Wigan and left-back Jake Bidwell’s three-month stay from Everton is also about to come to an end.

Hodson, Marcello Trotta and Tom Adeyemi are all on deals which finish in January and losing too many of them would leave the squad quite light.

League One is more open than it has been for years and promotion is there for the taking for any club that can show some consistency in their results.

Four wins in a row took the Bees into second in the table in December and their unbeaten League run of 12 games has left them firmly embedded in the top four.

January promises to be another difficult month with the FA Cup tie at Southend the start of a hard run of fixtures.

However, at least it should be easier on the nerves of Brentford supporters fearing the exit of one or two star players, as hopefully the current mood at the club will ensure that nobody leaves.

Brentford have only spent one season outside the bottom two divisions since they were relegated to Division Three (South) in 1954.

They have the perfect opportunity to end that miserable record and finally establish themselves as a second tier side once again – they must ensure that they take it.

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