Chairman Martin Lange Play-offs Semi-final | Third Division 6th FA Cup Third round | |
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During the 1990–91 English football season, Brentford competed in the Football League Third Division. Five wins in the final six matches of the season propelled the Bees from mid-table into the play-offs, where the club was defeated by Tranmere Rovers in the semi-finals.
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Season summary
Third Division Brentford conducted little transfer business in the summer of 1990, buying only Sheffield United goalkeeper Graham Benstead and selling full back Roger Stanislaus to Bury. Midfielder Eddie May was transfer-listed at his own request, while midfielders Keith Jones, Kevin Godfrey and forward Richard Cadette rejected new contracts and instead signed weekly deals. Ten days before the first match of the season, the club was rocked by the resignation of manager Steve Perryman, who had been in charge since February 1987. Perryman's assistant Phil Holder took over to begin his first job in football management.
Just two defeats from the opening 12 league matches of the season had Brentford flirting with automatic promotion, before successive defeats in late October and early November dropped the club into the play-off places. The Bees showed good league form through November and December, aided by the goalscoring of fit-again Gary Blissett to finish 1990 with an eight-match unbeaten run which put the club back in the automatic promotion places. After loss to Oldham Athletic in the third round of the FA Cup, attention turned to the Football League Trophy, in which the Bees went all the way to the Southern Area finals before being defeated over two legs by league rivals Birmingham City. The run in the Trophy affected Brentford's league form, with the team having won just seven of 17 matches since the turn of the year and dropped outside the play-off places. A draw and a defeat in the wake of the Trophy exit gave way to improved form for the remainder of the season, with five wins from six matches sealing a 6th-place finish and a matchup with Tranmere Rovers in the play-offs. A 3–2 defeat over two legs to Tranmere ended Brentford's season.