In the Famous Bees Supporters thread, a "My Club" from last week's Sunday Times featured Rick Wakeman talking about Brentford. In that article Rick revealed that was once dispatched by Atlantic Records to offer £1m (sic) for an advisement on the roof of Griffin Park saying "Atlantic Records Welcomes You to London"
It's here for easy reference:
griffinpark.org
This was new news for a lot of us. I actually had Rick's email address, so I thought I would drop him a line. He replied very quickly and comprehensively with the email below. Note that it says "in confidence" but he has since said that I can share it with you.
I replied to him including the fact that we all considered he had defected to the club at Maine Road. Here's his reply to that
It's here for easy reference:
Famous Bees Supporters
Margot Robbie (yum yum) In 2008 she played a policewoman named Caitlin Brentford in City Homicide........does that count??? Oh! @@@@ me sideways. Just when you thought it couldn’t get any more desperate. :cry:
This was new news for a lot of us. I actually had Rick's email address, so I thought I would drop him a line. He replied very quickly and comprehensively with the email below. Note that it says "in confidence" but he has since said that I can share it with you.
Hi Trevor.................thanks so much for the e-mail...and of course , I don't mind a bit you asking about the roof offer !!!
I really don't want to open a can of worms as that would be totally the wrong thing to do ...but absolutely in confidence , it was Dennis Piggott , the then "general secretary", who was not liked as stated by Frank Blunstone !!...I remember going to the meeting , (was not on the board then and so made an appointment through Dennis as that was the only possible way of talking to anybody . Dennis considered it his club and considered himself as the man who ran it ......
I had this genuine offer on the table , which was actually $ not £ but would be worth about £4,000,000 today which was big money in football back then . I did my pitch and Dennis stood up and said "Do you think we're some kind of cheap advertising hoarding board" , and said that my USA new fangled ways , (I was one of the owners of Philadelphia Fury) with sponsorship and all the razzmatazz that went with it , did not fit with Brentford or football in England.....and I was summarily dismissed !!!
A couple of years later , Dan Tan who was a good friend , suggested that I became a vice president as that could be a first step to becoming a director . (Things were different back then) ! and indeed I did a year later I got a call at my home in Switzerland from Dan to tell me I had been voted onto the board , but it was a very close thing as my ideas were not considered suitable !!!
Truth is I should have turned it down. My marriage was collapsing and the impending divorce was costing me everything I had and so both financially and mentally , I should have said NO !!!...but my love of my boyhood club and my father's, made me say ....Thanks Dan ...that's wonderful" !!!......Huge mistake . I was living abroad , in the middle of a costly divorce and touring a lot so was not around much . When the divorce happened I was left penniless and with considerable debt , (which I paid off over the next few years) , but the damage was done , and I resigned .
I was told that Dennis Piggott was in his gloating element , but who knows !
Shortly afterwards in 1981 , Martin Lange was voted on to the board and became chairman . I met Martin on a few occasions and liked him as he certainly brought some stability and promotion as well but for me 2 things rankled ....one was the downsizing of the ground to almost a third of what it used to be , and the the other one was that the roof was leased out to KLM !!!!....for a fraction of what I had offered 4 years earlier ....but that's life I guess !!!
I moved to the Isle of Man in the mid '80s and so mainly got to away games up north like Carlisle ...........I remember being blanked by Radley Smith who was in the same camp as Dennis Piggott, but Dan as always was pleased to see me and I think was genuinely sorry that my short tenure as a director had not gone well !!!
I still have an astonishing collection of programmes from the 50s, 60s and 70s and am good friends with ex players such as Andy McCulloch who is an uncle to my son in law and who's father is Ernie Howe (ex Fulham / QPR) .
Matthew Benham is the best thing that has ever happened to Brentford ...and I do mean EVER too. Griffin Park was a lower league ground with so many problems and a move was the only answer , but achieving that was seemingly impossible as available land in the area was a fortune and indeed how Matthew achieved what he did with the new stadium is beyond me ...quite remarkable and having a series of great managers and never being frightened to make decisions ......this season being a classic example ....off go Benrahma and Watkins , (but personally I think Benrahma won't fit in at West Ham ...not free flowing enough and I think Ollie's hat-trick against Liverpool my come back to haunt him...but I wish them well...)...in comes Toney and all the players suddenly step up to the mark ......but the wisest thing Matthew did in my book was supporting Thomas Franks after his initial run of losses when he took over from Dean Smith.
I was gutted when they didn't win promotion . It does seem that all the premiership clubs and all the pundits , really thought they would be a breath of fresh air ...and I still believe that ...so here's to this season ......looking good at the moment !!!
Please keep all the above confidential although by all means share it with Matthew.
I now live in Suffolk ...just a couple of miles from Portman Road and have watched a few games there where , between you and me , it is a sad situation and at the moment , I see no answer, unless Ed Sheeran buys it ...(he's a fanatical supporter) .
Well there you go sir ..........so many memories .......
all best wishes............................Rick
I replied to him including the fact that we all considered he had defected to the club at Maine Road. Here's his reply to that
Hi Trevor.................................interesting comment re Maine Road .......a typical situation where people assume without asking !!!.........Simple fact is that I was living on the Isle of Man and played celebrity golf with Howard Kendall who invited my youngest boy Oscar to a game so we came over on the ferry and went . Oscar became hooked ...and still is ...and I was invited as a regular guest in order to take Oscar . I did build up an affiliation for the club and Oscar stuck with them even after the humiliating 2-1 defeat at York City when they were in the 3rd division.
Brentford have always been my club and have always said so , but as I love football , I always went to as many matches as I could ......so Man City were close to the Isle of Man and with Howard being a friend and Oscar being fanatical , I saw many games there and made friends with many people there. When I moved to East Anglia and initially closest to Norwich , I have seen a few games there and now I'm in Suffolk , trot along to Ipswich when I can too . ...... and if supporters are allowed I will be at the Norwich v Brentford game on the 3rd of March ........;which will be a massive top of the table clash
I still have a soft spot for some other clubs such as Ipswich , Man City (although never quite the same since leaving Maine Road) , Mansfield Town (that was where my wife was born) , and Plymouth (where she was brought up) and Portsmouth (where the Wakeman family come from) , but there's only one Brentford , and always will be ......
cheers...............Rick
ps ....please feel free to share anything .....although I would never want to open up a can of worms !
So there you have it, we apparently do actually have a famous fan after all....
How long was the deal for??!!
