During the last couple of weeks there has been plenty to smile about in the wide world of football.

Jamie Redknapp’s incisive punditry in Sky’s Champions League coverage never ceases to amaze and delight.

After his old man’s team, Tottenham, lost to Real Madrid in the Bernabeu, for example, Redknapp Jnr wowed viewers with the following revelatory piece of analysis: “I know my Dad well and he’ll be disappointed.”

Former Bees gaffer Martin Allen also made me chuckle as he proved that there is still plenty of madness in the old dog yet by ditching Barnet after two games and moving to Notts County.

And it would be remiss of me not to the mention ‘that statue’ which has been erected at the ground of our beloved friends and near-neighbours Fulham.

It’s stating the obvious to say that Mohammed Al Fayed has been like a soap opera star in search of a plot for a while now, but his weird tribute to Michael Jackson (a Fulham fan whose favourite all-time player was Alan Mullery, apparently) not only takes the biscuit, but the whole barrel.

As much as these little incidents have brought a little joy to my heart, it pains me to say that they have been mere diversions in what has been an excruciating fortnight for Brentford.

The defeat to Carlisle United in the final of the Paint Pot Trophy was about as depressing as the news that Channel Five are resurrecting Big Brother, and the defeats to League One no-marks Swindon and Walsall have effectively brought the curtain down on what has been one of the most frustrating seasons for Brentford supporters in recent memory.

Unbelievably, before the two latest league defeats, we were still in with a chance of gatecrashing the play-offs.

To say this season has been like a rollercoaster is the kind of old-fashioned football cliché that I am usually more than happy to embrace.

But while most people revel in the high-speed ups and downs that a rollercoaster provides, these rides have always just left me feeling physically sick. Come to think of it, it might not be so inappropriate a cliché after all.

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