Every sports fan loves an underdog. In the world of Premier League Football, to call certain clubs underdogs is an understatement. Turning a Tier 4 club into a Premier League participant is nearly impossible. However, thanks to some inspiration from an American baseball team, Brentford F.C. did just that. After spending almost 70 years in the lowest English Football League divisions, they reached the Premier League. Here's how it happened.
How It All Started: A Quick Rise
The Brentford F.C. comeback was a slow burn. Before Premier League fans looked for live betting lines at BetMGM to bet on the club, they were a small start-up in London. Founded in 1889, the club mainly played friendly matches until joining the Second Division of the London League, soon getting promoted to the first division. When the English Football League was established in 1920, Brentford had a place and quickly ascended the ranks.
After topping the Second Division table for a third time in 1934–35, they were promoted to the First Division for the first time in club history. In its opening season, Brentford sat in the relegation places before catching fire after Christmas Day, finishing 5th in the First Division. That stands as the club's best all-time finish in what is now the Premier League. Brentford finished 3rd in the Football Association Challenge Cup and were runners-up in the London Challenge Cup. Attendance for the season got as high as 33,486, and it appeared that they were in for a long run in the First Division.
Between October 1937 and February 1938, the club peaked, holding the top spot of the First Division for 17 straight matches. However, after just avoiding relegation in 1938–39 and World War Two ending competitive football for over five years, the club began to move backward.
A Long Descent Towards Fourth Division Football
After the war, Brentford continued to play as a First Division club. However, they lasted just one season before relegation. After near relegation to the Third Division in 1946–47, manager Harry Curtis made the 1948-49 season his last and ended in 18th place. By 1953–54, the club had been relegated to Third Division and were about to enter the wilderness.
The club performed reasonably well in the Third Division before financial difficulties began. By 1960–61, the club's performance was dropping alongside the wake of £50,000 of debts, the equivalent of £1,184,100 in today's value. By 1962–63, the club had been relegated to the Fourth Division, the fall from grace nearly as quick as their rise to prominence.
Languishing Brentford squads marked the 1970s, teetering between the Third and Fourth Divisions, primarily competing in the Fourth. 1973 was the only year between 1966 and 1978 that the club didn't participate in the Fourth Division.
They returned to the Third Division in the late 1970s before spending nearly 30 years in the Third, peaking in 1991–92 when the team won the championship and secured a season in the Second Division for the first time in nearly 40 years. However, the run bottomed out just over 15 years later when the club plummeted back into the Fourth Division in 2008. That plummet, however, was the start of their comeback.
Moneyball: The Makings of a Premier League Club
Brentford F.C. spent nearly 60 years languishing between the Third and Fourth Divisions. During that time, they dealt with team debt and almost went into administration. The club was relegated to Fourth Division and paid £3,000,000 in debts in 2008. They recovered, but as of 2014, the club was still a Third Division squad. Six seasons later, they would be playing in the Premier League.
Claiming that the rise of Brentford F.C. is meteoric may be an understatement. It is not uncommon for Fourth Division teams to make it to First Division Premier League play. However, Brentford had played just one season in the Second Division since 1955, let alone the First Division.
It is rare to see a club that lagged between Third and Fourth Division for as long as Brentford did leap into the Premier League, let alone as quickly as they did. The comeback started with inspiration from the United States’ west coast. The Oakland Athletics baseball team of the early 2000s used a strategy coined “Moneyball” to help them compete in Major League Baseball on a smaller budget. Brentford F.C. owner Matthew Benham took that strategy and sifted through over 85,000 players using data to build a roster.
A mere six years after being a Third Division team, the 2021 squad Brentford defeated Swansea City in the Championship to secure promotion to the Premier League after nearly 80 years without First Division play. Frank led the Bees to a 13th-place finish in their first campaign, improving to 9th in 2023. They did so with a team worth less than half of many of the teams they compete with.
Can Brentford F.C. Be Long-Term Premier League Competitors?
The rise of Brentford F.C. is legendary, but now the mission is to stay. Moneyball worked in Oakland, and the football version has started its first Premier League tenure as well as any fan could have imagined. The team features players like Denmark National Team defensive midfielder Christian Nørgaard and Frenchman Neal Maupay, on loan from Everton. The club is ready to keep growing and has every opportunity to stay in the First Division.
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