Perspective
Living on the other side of the world and only having seen four games this season, it's probably easier or at least a bit less painful to absorb results like Barrow. However, I have been a bit surprised at the over-reaction.
Having watched Brentford regularly since the mid-70s, it's painfully true that we don't have a history as a "Cup team", as evidenced by our dismal League Cup record and the misty eyed memories of the Hull (1971) and Man City/Blackburn/Liverpool (1989) runs. The only exception to this was under MA, but that involves a phrase including red rags and bulls.
What seems particularly surprising is the very fact that people are surprised that we should lose away to a team only one division below us. More so, as there seems to be a belief out there that we're somehow operating far beneath our normal station. So what's our "normal" status?
I thought I'd put some historic perspective on all this. If my maths is right, we're currently 75th in the League pyramid. Since falling out of the old Second Division more than 50 years ago, we've finished the season between 44th and 87th (according to footy-mad). However, ignoring the one brief shining moment at Christmas 1992, the extraordinary thing is how we've basically operated in an incredibly narrow band between 50th and 60th place for over 30 years.
The good news for those wanting to see the glass half-full, like me, is that all the statistical evidence suggests it won't be that long before we're back to mid-table third tier mediocrity. But of course, that would be a bonus and, as they say, past history is no guide to....
Having watched Brentford regularly since the mid-70s, it's painfully true that we don't have a history as a "Cup team", as evidenced by our dismal League Cup record and the misty eyed memories of the Hull (1971) and Man City/Blackburn/Liverpool (1989) runs. The only exception to this was under MA, but that involves a phrase including red rags and bulls.
What seems particularly surprising is the very fact that people are surprised that we should lose away to a team only one division below us. More so, as there seems to be a belief out there that we're somehow operating far beneath our normal station. So what's our "normal" status?
I thought I'd put some historic perspective on all this. If my maths is right, we're currently 75th in the League pyramid. Since falling out of the old Second Division more than 50 years ago, we've finished the season between 44th and 87th (according to footy-mad). However, ignoring the one brief shining moment at Christmas 1992, the extraordinary thing is how we've basically operated in an incredibly narrow band between 50th and 60th place for over 30 years.
The good news for those wanting to see the glass half-full, like me, is that all the statistical evidence suggests it won't be that long before we're back to mid-table third tier mediocrity. But of course, that would be a bonus and, as they say, past history is no guide to....
and nobody is over reacting anyway. I hate these "Calm down and learn my wisdom" threads. I'd rather wave at Andy, we were crap and we are not that good but we have a good chance of doing something this season. Everybody knows that but sadly we are a bit soft.
