What a week at Griffin Park

This time last week I was in a state of panic about the Bees’ prospects for the rest of the season but after two excellent victories we are only four points off the play-off places and things suddenly look a lot brighter.

Yet, if you think peace and tranquillity reign over TW8, you’d be mistaken.

Over the past few months, Scotty has had to put up with plenty of stick and he used his post-match press conferences after the Plymouth and Colchester games to give it to his critics with both barrels.

Things have been far from perfect so far this season – when we’ve been good, we’ve been very good, and when we’ve been bad, we’ve been more horrid than Mark Stimson’s face.

As readers of this column will know, I’ve had some sympathy with some of the criticism that has been flying around and have also flung a bit myself.

I’ve got no problem with Scotty firing back – if people have a pop at him, he is more than entitled to have a pop back. Hopefully, a line can now be drawn under the bickering, the team can continue playing the kind of good football they’ve been exhibiting in the past couple of games and everyone on the terraces can get behind the team and manager.

I have a feeling that many of the complaints have arisen from the fact that some of the Bees’ worst performances this season – and I’m thinking the games against Bournemouth, Hartlepool and Oldham – have taken place at Griffin Park, where the majority of supporters get their Bees fix.

I don’t want to go over old ground about the team and tactics, and instead raise a point that has been bugging me for a while about the atmosphere at Griffin Park or, to be more precise, the lack of it.

The odd stellar occasion aside, ever since we switched ends from the Brook Road to the Ealing Road things just haven’t been the same.

The views from Brook Road may be more appalling than the ones you get from members of the public on Question Time but when the supporters were packed under that low roof we made one hell of racket.

Annoyingly, the size of the Ealing Road terrace has made replicating this kind of atmosphere very difficult.

If we could somehow find a way of recreating the Griffin Park buzz of old, perhaps we could get a bit closer to achieving this ‘one club’ Brentford thing the gaffer has been banging on about.

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