The arrival of Christian Eriksen, a scintillating second half at Stamford Bridge and historic victories over United and City - 2022 will live long in the memory.
Here, Sky Sports journalist Dan Long tells the story of a remarkable year for Brentford's first team.
January
Brentford began the year with a visit from Aston Villa.
Danny Ings gave Steven Gerrard’s men the lead before Yoane Wissa and Mads Roerslev turned the game to earn a first win in three matches, following narrow defeats to Brighton and Hove Albion and Manchester City at the tail end of 2021.
On New Year’s Day, with David Raya still missing through injury, the club acted to bring in experienced goalkeeper Jonas Lossl on loan from sister club FC Midtjylland and he made his debut in the FA Cup third round meeting with Port Vale.
Mads Bidstrup starred in midfield during the comprehensive win against the League Two outfit, but Bryan Mbeumo took the plaudits for a 21-minute hat-trick after being introduced when the Bees’ attacking play started to lack panache.
A night to forget at St Mary’s was followed by a 3-0 defeat in the first trip to Anfield since 1989. The scoreline somewhat flattered the Reds despite their 27 attempts on goal.
The tough run of fixtures continued the next week, when Brentford managed to keep Manchester United at bay for almost an hour before three goals in 22 minutes set the tone for the visitors, meaning Ivan Toney’s late strike was a personal victory and nothing more.
A fourth straight defeat followed on 22 January. It was a strange afternoon in west London, with the first half disrupted for 19 minutes when a drone flew over the stadium, forcing the players to be ordered off the pitch by referee Peter Bankes.
The game lit up in the second half, but though Toney cancelled out Joao Moutinho’s opener, a magical winner from Ruben Neves sealed the Bees’ fate.
In January, what had looked to be a relatively quiet transfer window became hectic in the final days. Lachlan Brook, Joel Valencia, Dominic Thompson, Bidstrup, Charlie Goode, Luca Racic and Marcus Forss left on loan.
There were permanent exits, too: Nathan Shepperd and Joe Adams joined Dundalk; Jan Zamburek left for Viborg FF in Denmark; and Patrik Gunnarsson joined Viking in Norway.
By far the biggest story of the window was the signing of Christian Eriksen, though. The Dane had worked his way back to fitness after suffering a cardiac arrest on the pitch at Euro 2020 and, after leaving Inter Milan due to his inability to play in Serie A with an ICD, signed a short-term deal to return to English football two years after leaving Tottenham Hotspur.
Thomas Frank had worked with his fellow Dane earlier in his career and revealed that he was looking forward to linking up with him again.
“At his best, Christian has the ability to dictate games of football,” said Frank, “he can find the right passes and is a goal threat. He also has very, very good set-piece delivery, both from corners and direct free-kicks.”
He was not wrong in his assessment.
February
David Raya made his return from injury earlier than planned as February got underway, with the Spaniard named in the starting line-up for the first time since December for the FA Cup fourth round game at Everton.
It was Frank Lampard’s first game in charge of the Toffees and the fabled new manager bounce was in full effect on Merseyside - Raya’s return was spoiled by a heavy defeat and an unconvincing performance.
Four days later, the Bees were back up north to face Manchester City.
As had been the case in the reverse fixture a few weeks earlier, they made life difficult for the reigning champions and posed a threat on the counter, but in the end, a Riyad Mahrez penalty and a strike from Kevin De Bruyne sealed a fifth straight league defeat that put Brentford into the relegation conversation, albeit perhaps unfairly.
A second successive goalless draw with Crystal Palace earned the Bees their first point since the win over Aston Villa on 2 January, but the losing feeling was back in the blink of an eye.
Arsenal dominated the game at the Emirates and got their revenge for the opening night with a 2-1 win, though Christian Norgaard did deny them a clean sheet with the last kick of the game when he kept his cool to strike past a stranded Aaron Ramsdale, with the goal confirmed after a VAR review overturned the original offside call.
To cap off a pretty disappointing start to the year results-wise, Brentford were unable to respond to first-half goals from Joelinton and Joe Willock against Newcastle, though that will be remembered as the day Christian Eriksen made his debut for the club and completed his at times unthinkable return to elite-level football following the trauma of the summer before.
March
Christian Eriksen was handed his first Brentford start for the trip to Norwich City and he had an immediate impact by delivering the corner that Kristoffer Ajer flicked on for Ivan Toney to finish at the far post at Carrow Road.
A high boot from Ben Gibson on Pontus Jansson then saw Brentford awarded a penalty after a VAR review – and, shock horror, Toney made no mistake by beating Tim Krul from 12 yards out.
Toney did the same thing six minutes later after drawing a foul from Gibson as he moved in on goal, completing his second hat-trick in a Bees shirt from the spot.
There was time for the Canaries’ talisman Teemu Pukki to get in on the act, though his goal in second-half stoppage-time proved to be nothing more than a consolation.
When Burnley visited west London the following week, for large periods, it did look as though the struggling Clarets would return to Turf Moor with a valuable point, but Toney popped up with the goods late on once again, scoring in the 85th and the 94th minutes – the second from the penalty spot after a Nathan Collins foul, which saw the defender sent off – to take his tally to five goals in two games and snare victory.
The final match prior to the March international break saw Brentford travel to the King Power Stadium for the first time in their history.
Unfortunately, the Bees never really looked capable of seeing off Brendan Rodgers’ Leicester, particularly after Timothy Castagne directed an unstoppable effort into the top-right corner and James Maddison doubled the lead with a beautiful free-kick.
Pontus Jansson forced a fingertip save from Kasper Schmeichel before a late thunderbolt from Yoane Wissa gave the Bees hope of a late comeback, but sadly it did not materialise.
April
To say Brentford got the rub of the green on the first weekend of April would be an understatement.
They travelled to west London neighbours Chelsea having won on just one of their eight visits to Stamford Bridge, but this was a season of re-writing history.
The Bees spurned two golden chances in the first half, before David Raya made a great stop to deny Hakim Ziyech from the edge of the box and ensure the teams went into half-time level.
When Antonio Rudiger produced a 40-yard stunner to give the hosts the lead, it seemed as though it would be one-way traffic from there on in – but Brentford had other ideas.
Vitaly Janelt crashed in an unstoppable effort to equalise two minutes later and it was 3-1 after an hour, thanks to Christian Eriksen’s first goal in red and white and Janelt’s divine dink over Edouard Mendy in the Chelsea goal.
To cap off an historic afternoon, Yoane Wissa took advantage of some suspect defending to lash in a fourth after Kai Havertz had an effort ruled out.
“Today I was a genius, next Sunday I might be an unbelievable mad man! That’s football,” quipped the ever-charismatic Thomas Frank after one of the most impressive results of the season.
The ‘genius’ tag stuck for the rest of the month, though.
Bryan Mbeumo and Ivan Toney struck as the Bees completed the double over West Ham United the following week, which was the fourth win in five games for his buoyant side, before a last-minute winner from Pontus Jansson put Watford to the sword and made it five wins from six.
On 23 April, Brentford could well have beaten Tottenham had it not been for Toney being denied by the woodwork twice.
The game ended goalless, which made sure of an unbeaten month, and was particularly notable as Antonio Conte’s men did not manage a single shot on target.
May
Brentford entered the final month of their maiden Premier League campaign 14th in the table, having already reached the magical 40-point mark that tends to all-but secure safety after a near-flawless April.
With Watford and Norwich 12 and 13 points behind Leeds in 17th, the Bees’ chances of survival were incredibly healthy, but they were not yet mathematically safe with four matches left to play.
First up was the daunting trip to Old Trafford, where they had won just twice in the history of the club.
As had been the case in the reverse fixture, Brentford had their chances but Manchester United were just too strong in the end, with goals from Bruno Fernandes, Cristiano Ronaldo and Raphael Varane securing a 3-0 victory, which quashed plans of a proposed walk-out from the home fans in protest at the club’s ownership.
That dreary Monday night was quickly put to bed with a victory over Southampton by the same scoreline, with two goals inside 15 minutes unsettling Saints, whose fans called for Ralph Hasenhuttl’s sacking well before the final whistle.
And it preceded a dramatic second trip to Goodison Park in a matter of months, which saw five goals, two red cards and three points taken back to the capital.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin set the Toffees on their way with the slightest of touches on Richarlison’s free-kick from the right, but they were reduced to 10 men when Jarrad Branthwaite was shown a straight red card for bringing down Toney as the last man.
Seamus Coleman then scored an own goal to level the game, but Richarlison netted from the spot to restore the hosts’ lead.
Yoane Wissa levelled the game for a second time with a brilliant header from the tightest of angles and Rico Henry then turned the match on its head with an exquisite header of his own within 120 seconds of the equaliser, which sealed the victory, before Salomon Rondon was dismissed for a nasty tackle on the left-back two minutes from time.
There were theatrics to follow on the final day as well, with Leeds needing a rare victory in TW8 to secure their own survival.
Raphinha scored a penalty 10 minutes after the restart to boost the visitors’ hopes, who had earlier seen a Joe Gelhardt effort ruled out for offside by VAR, though those hopes were dampened when Sergi Canos equalised with 12 minutes to play.
The Spaniard was booked for taking his shirt off as he celebrated and then picked up another card within two minutes, leaving the Bees to end the game with nine men after Kristoffer Ajer had been taken off injured with all three substitutions having been made.
Jack Harrison seized on the advantage in personnel to fire in a 94th-minute winner to secure Leeds’ top-flight status at the death.
Though disappointing, it meant little in the grand scheme of things for Brentford, who finished 13th in the table with 46 points from their 38 league matches; 11 above the relegation zone, five off a top-half finish and having earned an average of 1.2 per game.
June
As expected, June was a quiet month in west London.
The most significant news came when the club announced the retained list at the end of the 2021/22 season and, given the club’s proactive stance in terms of contract extensions, it was not extensive.
First up, Julian Jeanvier departed after four years on the club’s books. The Guinea international made 58 appearances in the 2018/19 and 2019/20 seasons, before spending the 2020/21 campaign on loan at Kasimpasa in Turkey, though he only made four appearances there due to an ACL injury. He returned to the bench last season, but did not play any further part.
Zanka was also released after making 10 appearances during an injury-hit season, while the loan deals of goalkeepers Alvaro Fernandez and Jonas Lossl expired, and they returned to Huesca and FC Midtjylland respectively, having made 16 and three appearances respectively.
At the same time, the club announced that three players – goalkeeper Matt Cox, defender Fin Stevens and midfielder Paris Maghoma - would be making the step up from the B team to the first team when the players returned to training after their summer break.
On 16 June, the Premier League released its fixtures for the 2022/23 season, with Brentford starting their second campaign in the division with a trip to the King Power Stadium to face Leicester, followed by the visit of Manchester United and a west London derby against Fulham at Craven Cottage.
July
Having returned to pre-season training in early July, Brentford got the ball rolling on their preparations for the new season with the annual trip to Hertfordshire to take on Boreham Wood, with goals from Bryan Mbeumo and Josh Dasilva ensuring they got off to a winning start.
A few days later, the squad jetted off to Germany for a week-long training camp, joined by several new recruits.
Scottish defender Aaron Hickey had signed from Bologna, with Keane Lewis-Potter having joined from Hull and goalkeeper Thomas Strakosha brought in on a free from Lazio.
While they were on the continent, the Bees played two friendlies. Two late goals saw Stuttgart come away with a 2-1 win in the first, before Yoane Wissa and Keane Lewis-Potter scored as they twice came from behind to draw 2-2 with Strasbourg.
They flew home with decent levels of match fitness, but were back in Germany within a matter of days to face Wolfsburg, who ran out 4-0 winners at the AOK Stadion, where the Bundesliga club’s women’s and youth teams are based.
Back in the UK, Ben Mee had signed a two-year deal with the club after leaving Burnley and Dominic Thompson had joined Blackpool for an undisclosed fee.
Several youngsters – Paris Maghoma, Lachlan Brook, Daniel Oyegoke, Nathan Young-Coombes and Ellery Balcombe - would head out on loan in search of regular first-team football around that time, too.
Brentford came out on top in behind-closed-doors friendlies with Brighton and Arsenal as the curtain raiser against Leicester City drew closer.
The Bees finished with a final friendly in front of their own fans, with Mbeumo scoring after 29 minutes to earn a 1-0 win against Real Betis, who had finished fifth in LaLiga in 2021/22 and won the Copa del Rey just three months earlier.
There was to be one more outgoing, too, with fans’ favourite Marcus Forss departing for Championship side Middlesbrough after struggling for game time.
August
Owing to the mid-season break required to factor in the World Cup in Qatar, the 2022/23 Premier League season started a week earlier than usual - though six days in Brentford’s case after their opener at Leicester was pushed back 24 hours due to a Caribbean festival taking place in the city.
The previous season had begun with the famous win over Arsenal, but the trip to the King Power could not have been more contrasting – initially, that was.
Timothy Castagne and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall put the Foxes deservedly in control at the break, but Thomas Frank’s second-half substitutions breathed new life into the Bees and changed the game.
Just after the hour, Ivan Toney outmuscled Daniel Amartey, controlled Rico Henry’s smart ball forward and finished on the turn. The striker had the chance to double his tally soon after, but could only plant his header past the left upright after Bryan Mbeumo had located him with a teasing ball to the far post.
But the story was far from over. On 86 minutes, Josh Dasilva was left unchallenged and allowed to advance to the edge of the box to curl home a beauty – his first goal since February 2021 - as he had done so many times before, to secure an unlikely point.
Three days later, Mikkel Damsgaard signed a five-year deal after a fee was agreed with Serie A side Sampdoria.
The positive week got even better when Manchester United made the trip to west London. United had won both the meetings between the two teams in 2021/22, so it would only be more of the same when Erik ten Hag arrived to turn the club’s fortunes around, wouldn’t it? Wrong. Amazingly, the game was all over within 30 minutes.
Dasilva made it two in two when his relatively tame effort from range squirmed from David De Gea’s clutches into the back of the net.
Mathias Jensen then added a second after the visitors were caught playing out from the back.
Ben Mee nodded in a third after a corner and Mbeumo added the gloss with a composed finish after a scintillating counter. The Bees were in dreamland after their first win against United since February 1938.
Fulham were then fortunate to claim their only west London derby victory in the league since 1998, when Aleksandar Mitrovic bailed them out in the 90th minute after Brentford had fought back from 2-0 down to level the game at 2-2, courtesy of Christian Norgaard and Toney.
Zanka signed a new deal at the club on 22 August after his initial release in the summer and he made his second debut the following night in the comprehensive win against Colchester in the Carabao Cup.
The Fulham defeat proved to be the only one of the opening month, as Brentford avoided further losses against Everton and Crystal Palace, with late equalisers from Vitaly Janelt and Yoane Wissa helping them close August with two draws.
September
The month started with deadline day, which saw Halil Dervisoglu, Mads Bech and Fin Stevens leave on loan for Burnley, Nice and Swansea respectively, while Luca Racic’s four-year association with the club came to an end when he signed a permanent deal with Danish club Sonderjyske.
Meanwhile, on the pitch, Leeds had nicked arguably their most important win in years on the final day of the 2021/22 season and, given the bad blood that has built up between the teams, Brentford had to set the record straight the next time around. And that’s exactly what they did.
Ivan Toney won and converted a penalty after Luis Sinisterra’s heavy tackle in the box, which was only awarded after a VAR review, and then doubled his tally with a simply sublime free-kick from 25 yards that left Illan Meslier with absolutely no chance of saving it.
Sinisterra, however, scored before the break to ensure the hosts did not get carried away with themselves.
After the break, though, they could begin to get carried away.
With ice coursing through his veins, Toney seized possession after Meslier had questionably left his box to attempt a clearance and completed his hat-trick with an audacious 30-yard chip few others would even have the bravery to attempt.
Jesse Marsch was sent to the stands for his fury that a penalty was not given in his side’s favour, but after Marc Roca did pull one back for Leeds, Bryan Mbeumo and Yoann Wissa killed off any remnants of hope that the Yorkshire side could mount a comeback of epic proportions.
The world was rocked five days later, on 8 September, when Queen Elizabeth II passed away at the age of 96 after a 70-year reign on the throne.
Discussions about whether or not sport should be postponed that weekend were hastily arranged and it was decided that football, at any level, would not be played on Saturday 10 December, as a mark of respect to the late monarch. As a result, Brentford’s trip to Southampton was cancelled.
The Bees returned to action the following Sunday, when runaway leaders Arsenal visited west London for the first time since the opening night of the 2021/22 campaign. But this time, there was to be no fairytale end.
Mikel Arteta’s men had stormed their way to the top of the division in the opening month of the season and looked a class apart from the word go. William Saliba set the Gunners on their way, Gabriel Jesus added a second before the half-hour and by the time Fabio Vieira struck a thunderbolt early in the second half, it was game over. A reality check, yes, but only the first comprehensive defeat of the season.
October
Following the September international break, Brentford travelled to the South Coast to face newly promoted Bournemouth for the first time since that play-off semi-final second leg in May 2021.
There was to be no dramatic finale this time around, though, as Ivan Toney missed the best chance in an otherwise insipid affair.
What followed a week later was the harshest of wake-up calls. Brentford’s 4-1 defeat to Southampton in January was the only true humbling they had endured in their maiden Premier League campaign, but Newcastle’s 5-1 win at St James’ Park topped that.
It was the first time the Bees had conceded five in a game since the 5-0 defeat to Norwich City in December 2016, made worse by the fact they were creators of their own downfall. Toney’s second-half penalty was the only high point on a day to forget.
Thomas Frank expressed his frustration after the match. He said: “Newcastle won fair and square. It’s very difficult to win a football match if you make four big mistakes – two huge build-up mistakes, an own goal and a mistake on the set-piece. Fair play to Newcastle, but it’s a relatively simple thing to do, to follow a man. We live by the philosophy that we win or learn, so we definitely learned a lot today.”
Brentford certainly did learn – and they put it into practice six days later when Brighton and Hove Albion visited the Gtech.
Bryan Mbeumo hit the woodwork after two excellent early saves by David Raya and then played a crucial role in the build-up to Toney’s outrageous flick, which give Brentford the lead on the striker’s 100th appearance for the club.
Toney then tucked away a penalty in trademark fashion to round off another memorable night under the lights.
That was followed up by a goalless draw at home to Chelsea. The Blues were largely restricted to shots from outside the box and could not find a way past Raya, while Toney was denied three times by Kepa. It showed just how far Brentford have come that fans left disappointed their team had not come away with a very plausible victory.
That night, the front of the Bees’ home shirts featured a heart-shaped CPQR code, added to encourage millions watching around the world to take two minutes to learn the basics of CPR and highlight the Heart of West London initiative, which is the club’s commitment to changing the game for cardiac health.
A trip to Aston Villa the following week dropped everyone back down to Earth with an almighty thud. The fixture came just three days after Steven Gerrard had been relieved of his duties after a dismal start to the season and somehow caretaker Aaron Danks managed to conjure up a masterclass, with Villa 3-0 up after 14 minutes and eventual 4-0 winners after a further strike in the second half from ex-Bee Ollie Watkins.
October ended in frustration, too, as Ruben Neves swept home an equaliser to earn struggling Wolverhampton Wanderers a 1-1 draw away from home after Ben Mee had given Brentford the lead with a stunning scissor kick he had been unexpectedly hiding in his locker.
The visitors ended the game with 10 men after Diego Costa was shown a straight red card after a VAR review, following his bizarre late headbutt on Mee.
November
As November rolled around, there were just a handful of games left to be played before club football was paused for six weeks due to the winter World Cup in Qatar.
The month started in disappointing fashion as, against Nottingham Forest, for the second time in two games, the Bees took the lead but were pegged back. Zanka’s unfortunate 96th-minute own goal at the City Ground meant four valuable points had been dropped in the space of a week.
Things got worse, too, when Gillingham – whose goals for column in the League Two table was in single digits at the time – came to the Gtech as underdogs, mustered one shot on target throughout the tie and left with a place in the fourth round of the Carabao Cup following a penalty shootout victory.
But, if anything, it made what would eventually happen at the Etihad Stadium later that week all the sweeter.
Brentford had not disgraced themselves in either of their meetings with Man City during the 2021/22 season. They certainly had less of the ball than their esteemed counterparts, but City’s 1-0 and 2-0 wins showed how hard Thomas Frank’s men had made it for the Premier League champions.
Returning to the Etihad on Saturday 12 November, not once did Brentford look overawed in front of the BT Sport cameras.
After testing Ederson on two occasions as the Bees took the game to their hosts, Ivan Toney looped a header over the Brazilian to help establish a lead that was no less than they deserved.
Two penalty appeals for City were reviewed and subsequently waved away by VAR, but they did level when an untracked Phil Foden rifled an unstoppable effort past David Raya following a corner.
Still their heads did not drop. Brentford earned their reward eight minutes into second-half stoppage-time when Yoann Wissa led a rapid counter down the left and located Josh Dasilva, whose instinctive square ball was rolled home by Toney to the delight of the travelling support located to the left side of the goal.
"Speaking to some people from the club, this is probably the single biggest-ever result, against one of the richest clubs in the world and we have one of the lowest budgets in the division. We're just a bus stop in Hounslow,” Frank said, rightfully beaming after the final whistle.
The result – Brentford’s first away win of the season – meant they would sit comfortably in midtable during the World Cup break, six points above the bottom three and 10 points behind the top four, with 19 points from 15 games.
As the squad disappeared over the course of the next few days, a new journey was about to start for Saman Ghoddos, David Raya, Bryan Mbeumo, Christian Norgaard, Mathias Jensen and Mikkel Damsgaard, who were all selected for the World Cup.
Meanwhile on 30 November, as those not involved in Qatar returned to training, they were welcomed to the Robert Rowan Performance Centre.
The new training facility is of a much higher standard and represents a significant improvement, enabling the club to continue to develop its plans for a state-of-the-art new permanent performance centre in the future.
December
The focus for most in December was the World Cup. So how did Brentford’s six participants fare on the world stage?
Saman Ghoddos played the second half of Iran’s Group B USA game as a replacement for Sardar Azmoun, while Christian Norgaard was afforded just the final five minutes of Denmark’s 2-1 defeat to France.
David Raya was unable to dislodge Unai Simon as Spain’s No 1 for the tournament, and so was an unused substitute in four matches in Qatar, as La Roja crashed out at the last 16 stage.
Meanwhile, Mikkel Damsgaard featured in all three of the Danes’ Group D matches, with Mathias Jensen playing twice.
Bryan Mbeumo started every one of Cameroon’s three matches and managed to hit the first shot on target Brazil faced in the tournament in the Indomitable Lions’ famous win on the final Group G matchday.
Away from the playing side of things, on Friday 2 December, following four years as Thomas Frank’s assistant, Brian Riemer left to take up the head coach role at Belgian club Anderlecht. He replaced Felice Mazzu, who was sacked in late October after replacing Vincent Kompany when he returned to England to join Burnley.
In true Brentford style, Riemer was replaced rapidly for a smooth transition. Claus Norgaard – a former colleague of Frank’s at the Danish FA and Brondby – was confirmed as Riemer’s successor on 5 December, with three weeks to prepare for domestic football’s return.
That same day, Brentford jetted off for a warm-weather training camp in Girona, northern Spain. After four days training, the Bees returned to action with a friendly against French Ligue 2 side Bordeaux, captained by Yoann Barbet, who spent four years in TW8.
A total of 17 players were given game time, including Alex Gilbert, Ryan Trevitt, Tristan Crama, Yehor Yarmoliuk and Michael Olakigbe. Gilbert gave Brentford the lead with a great header, but goals from Zuriki Davitashvili and Josh Maja saw their French counterparts edge the affair.
And so they returned to freezing London. On Tuesday 13 December, Celta Vigo of LaLiga visited the Robert Rowan Performance Centre for a friendly.
Once again, Brentford took the lead, but this time after just 20 seconds, when Yoane Wissa finished well, though it was 1-1 at the break after a leveller from Iago Aspas.
Jorgen Larsen added a second after half-time, before Aspas’ 35-yard stunner made it 3-1, which is how it finished.
Two superb goals from Bryan Mbeumo and Ivan Toney then saw Brentford draw with Bundesliga side Wolfsburg at the Gtech Community Stadium.
The Premier League then returned with a bang as Brentford and Tottenham Hotspur shared four goals on Boxing Day.
After 47 days without a match in TW8, it looked like the perfect homecoming for Brentford fans as Vitaly Janelt and Ivan Toney fired the home side into a two-goal lead with 55 minutes on the clock.
However, Harry Kane pulled one back just before the midway point of the second half and, six minutes later, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg completed the comeback with a side-footed finish.