Day: 2 August 2020

A farewell piece for Griffin Park

Griffin Park is one of the few old-school grounds left in English football, hemmed in by housing and retaining terracing – a rarity in the Championship in the days of all-seater stadiums since the dawn of the Premier League era.

A nice piece on the BBC to commemorate the final game at GP which happened in the week.

Griffin Park: Can Brentford give ground perfect send-off by winning promotion through the play-offs?

By Rob Stevens

BBC Sport

Brentford v Barnsley
Griffin Park, with its empty Ealing Road terrace (left) hosted its final Championship game last Wednesday when Brentford were beaten by Barnsley
Sky Bet Championship play-off semi-finals, second leg: Brentford v Swansea (agg 0-1)
Date: Wednesday, 29 July Kick-off: 19:45 BST Coverage: Live text on BBC Sport website from 19:15 BST, commentary on BBC Radio London and BBC Radio Wales

The turnstiles at Griffin Park have already rattled for a final time. The Ealing Road terrace, usually a swelling mass of bodies on match days, stands empty.

However, the ground, Brentford’s home since 1904, will host one final game on Wednesday night before the west London club move into a new stadium this summer.

Brentford History

Great video

Into the play-off final

Brentford 3 – 1 Swansea

Brentford

Home team scorersOllie Watkins 11Emiliano Marcondes 15Bryan Mbeumo 46

Swansea

Away team scorersRhian Brewster 78

Aggregate 3-2 Brentford win 3-2 on aggregate

Championship

Brentford fight off Swansea to reach play-off final in Griffin Park swansong

Jonathan Liew at Griffin Park

Wed 29 Jul 2020 22.35 BSTFirst published on Wed 29 Jul 2020 22.11 BST

Bryan Mbeumo celebrates scoring Brentford’s third goal with teammate Rico Henry.
 Bryan Mbeumo celebrates scoring Brentford’s third goal against Swansea with Rico Henry. Photograph: Ben Evans/Huw Evans/Shutterstock

A night for moving on. For shedding baggage, and laying the past to rest. On the night Brentford said their farewells to Griffin Park, they came closer to top-flight football than they have done at any point since 1947. They did so with a sparkling modern brand of football quite at odds with the weathered girders and sardine seats of their old home.