1978–79 Brentford F.C. season


During the 1978–79 English football season, Brentford competed in the Football League Third Division. After a rude awakening to third-tier football, the Bees ended the season strongly to finish in 10th position.

Season summary

After Brentford's promotion to the Third Division at the end of the previous season, manager Bill Dodgin Jr. stated that his squad would only need one or two more new players to be able to compete during the club's first season in the third tier since 1972–73. He managed to keep prolific forwards Steve Phillips and Andrew McCulloch at Griffin Park, but aside from goalkeeping trialist Trevor Porter, Dodgin made no significant signings.
Fears that Brentford's largely-unchanged squad would be out of its depth in the Third Division were heightened after the season began with a 7–1 aggregate defeat to fellow third-tier side Watford in the first round of the League Cup. A dire start to the league season, which had seen Brentford sink into the relegation places by the end of September 1978, led manager Bill Dodgin Jr. to act in the transfer market. Potentially club-record breaking bids for Watford's Alan Mayes, Queens Park Rangers' Tony Hazell and Bristol City's John Bain were all rejected, but Dodgin did manage to sign defender Jim McNichol and forward Dean Smith, with McNichol's transfer from Luton Town setting a new club-record incoming fee of £30,000. While McNichol would instantly impress and go on to be voted the Supporters' Player of the Year, Smith would only score sporadically during the rest of the season.
Between late-October 1978 and mid-March 1979, the Bees stabilised with a run of just two defeats in 17 league matches. The run ended with the club's biggest win of the season – a 6–0 thrashing of Chester at Griffin Park, with Steve Phillips scoring a hattrick to boost his tally to six goals in four matches. A failure to win any of the following four matches dropped the Bees back to 18th position, but a strong run of 9 wins in 12 matches to close out the season elevated the club to a 10th-place finish.

League table

Results

Legend

Pre-season

Football League Third Division

FA Cup

RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendance
1R25 November 1978Exeter CityA0–13,810

Football League Cup

RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorer
1R 12 August 1978WatfordA0–49,292
1R 12 August 1978WatfordH1–3 7,414Rolph

Statistics

Appearances and goals

Summary

Transfers & loans

Awards