"41 years after I walked into Griffin Park for the first time, we bid farewell to the stadium that has been a home to many thousands of fans down the years. It has played an important part in my life, as I am sure it has done for many of you reading this."
Brentford Owner Matthew Benham opens with a foreword dedicated to the old stadium, what he will miss and what has changed in his time overseeing the Bees.
"The way I see it is that the only question a player shouldn’t ask me is 'Why aren’t I playing?' I will help them with anything else. Whether they want to play golf, need a new washing machine, need transportation to somewhere."
Peter Gilham tells us his Brentford Story, featuring the highs and lows working for the Bees in all sorts of roles, as well as talking about what it will mean to leave Griffin Park for the final time.
Rob Jex takes us back to an 8-1 victory over Barnsley in December 1934, the win taking the Bees to the top of Division Two thanks to five goals from Billy Scott. That's the latest edition of Fixture in Focus: "Speed and remarkable ball control in heavy mud proved an irresistible combination to Barnsley, who floundered where their rivals were sure-footed. Accurate short passing looked to be impossible on the worst ground I have seen this season, but Brentford managed it, and the Yorkshire side were made to look very second rate."
Kit Manager Big Bob, Head of Medical Neil Greig and Club Secretary Lisa Skelhorn talk to us about the changes they've seen around the stadium and let us know what they will miss about our small corner of West London. "It has looked smarter every year. I’ll miss the evening games when the place is packed. That’s when the magic happens, we’ve had a lot of great results on nights like those."
Visual team Mark Burridge, Marcus Gayle, Natalie Sawyer and Stu Wakeford go over their best moments on commentary and watching The Bees. "You can’t beat a late winner. Whatever the opponent there’s always something extra special about taking the points late on. The Millwall home game this season is everything we love about football & Brentford. Those last ten minutes, the celebrations for the winner. As a fan commentating you can literally be lost for words at such a moment."
Also inside:
Brentford B Head Coach Neil MacFarlane talks to Ben Strange about the B Team season: "The process is, if they don’t quite make it here, then we can help them get clubs and it’s looking like a number of the players are going to get that. For the new signings that come in, they’ll have to emulate what we had last year and strive to get better and better."
Karleigh Osborne, Women's Head Coach, evaluates a mixed campaign for his side: "We said we would do things the right way to achieve good things and win trophies. It was good in that sense but then when we got on the pitch it was hot and cold at times. Sometimes we were unplayable, the best footballing side in the league, but then we wouldn’t take our chances and we’d concede sloppy goals."
Plus Nick Bruzon on this elongated season, Ben Burgess looks at Brentford's promotion chances, Thomas Frank and Pontus Jansson give us their pre-game notes, Jon Varney talks about the off-field progress this term and our Drawing Competition results are paired with your good luck messages.