There was one more pre-season game to play in August before the real business of the Sky Bet Championship got underway: Premier League new-boys Norwich City inflicting defeat on The Bees at Carrow Road despite Andre Gray getting on the scoresheet again. The build up to the opening game of the season was dominated by the news that Stuart Dallas was to join fellow Championship side Leeds United with Jonathan Douglas also leaving for pastures new, although he would soon be back at Griffin Park as his new side Ipswich Town were The Bees opening day opponents. Also on the move was Moses Odubajo who made the trip up to Humberside to sign for Steve Bruce’s Hull City. Following Moses’ move to Hull City, The Bees acted quickly to replace the young defender, French right-back Maxime Colin joining from RSC Anderlecht on a four year deal a week later.
When it came, the opening match of the season didn’t disappoint in terms of drama: Andre Gray and James Tarkowski scoring in injury time to rescue a point in a 2-2 draw against Ipswich Town. A much changed Brentford side was on the end of a cup shock four days later as League Two side Oxford United romped to a 4-0 Capital One Cup victory at Griffin Park. A bad night got even worse for The Bees after it was confirmed defender Andreas Bjelland would likely miss the rest of the season following a knee injury picked up in the defeat. The defeat and injury to Bjelland looked to have little immediate effect on Brentford’s squad as they picked up three points at newly promoted Bristol City the following weekend. Alan Judge scored twice and there were also goals for Andre Gray and Philipp Hofmann in the 4-2 win.
The Youth Team also had opening day drama as a last minute Nottingham Forest penalty denied them victory in a 1-1 draw in the East Midlands. Jan Holldack marked his Brentford debut with a brace as the Development Squad got their season up and running after a 3-1 win at St Andrews over Birmingham City. Jon De Souza’s Under-18s then continued their unbeaten start to the season with a 3-1 win at home against Sheffield United before goals from Sam Saunders and Zain Westbrooke ensured a share of the spoils for the Under-21s against Nottingham Forest, meaning all three Brentford teams had taken four points from their opening two matches.
Elsewhere former defender Ken Horne, who made 239 appearances in 11 years at Griffin Park, was inducted into the club's Hall of Fame and it was confirmed that the fixture against Birmingham City scheduled for later in the month would be postponed to allow a resurfacing of the Griffin Park pitch.