Letter from the Brentford FC boardroom, 9th April 2007
Dear Supporters,
With relegation today it is a very bad day for the Club; in truth it has been a very poor season. It is not only relegation that hurts; it is the manner of it. We have ceased to fight and merely surrendered our League 1 status. That is not the Brentford way.
As a Club board member I must take my share of the responsibility for what has happened on the pitch. I do apologise for my part in this. The Board do realise that next season will be a critical one and one that has to be properly managed.
At last Thursday’s board meeting we took some important decisions. Having benchmarked various teams’ expenditure in League 2, we have agreed a player budget which should enable us to be pushing for promotion next season. There is nothing guaranteed in football but if we are not in the promotion mix at the end of the season, it won’t be through having a non-competitive playing budget.
Although we have decided to have a competitive playing budget we will not jeopardise the Club’s future financial security. The Board believe the current off-pitch financial performance can be improved upon. The Managing Director has been asked to revisit the budget he presented and asked to find ways to improve financial performance on some revenue sources and non-playing costs. He will do this in time for the next board meeting.
There have been some positives off the pitch this season but in truth, with the on-pitch performance so poor, these seem very hollow at the moment.
There is one aspect of the season that has remained positive and that is your support of the team. You have consistently backed them even when things were going horribly wrong on the pitch. Both Scott Fitzgerald and Alan Reeves have said to me on different occasions how impressed they are with the way you backed the team through these difficult times. You do not deserve this relegation.
The board needs to learn from this relegation and put it right in the future. We need to give you the confidence that there is a positive future for next season. So after this fall into League 2 we all can get up, dust ourselves down and prepare for the fight to regain our League 1 status.
Let's work together!
Jon Gosling
Comments can either be sent to me on or directly via comments page.
10th April 2007