Chairman-manager Ron Noades Third Division 1st (promoted) League Cup Second round | Stadium Griffin Park FA Cup Second round Football League Trophy Quarter-final | |
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During the 1998–99 English football season, Brentford competed in the Football League Third Division. The club finished the season as champions after victory over runners-up Cambridge United on the final day.
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Season summary
After relegation to the Third Division at the end of the previous season, the ownership of Brentford changed hands for the second time in two summers, with Ron Noades taking over the club as owner and chairman. Noades installed himself as manager and appointed a three-man coaching team of Ray Lewington, Terry Bullivant and Brian Sparrow. Nearly £1.5 million was spent on new players to assemble almost an entirely new starting lineup, with goalkeeper Jason Pearcey, defenders Danny Boxall, Darren Powell, Rob Quinn and Hermann Hreiðarsson (the club's then-record £750,000 signing), midfielders Martin Rowlands and Tony Folan and forwards Lloyd Owusu and Darren Freeman added to the ranks.
9 wins in the opening 13 league matches put the Bees firmly in control at the top of the table, though three successive defeats in the midst of the run temporarily dropped the club back to 7th. There was some early-season excitement in the League Cup, with First Division West Bromwich Albion being demolished 3–0 in the first round second leg to set up a two-legged tie with Premier League Tottenham Hotspur in the second round. Two 3–2 defeats (in both of which Brentford took the lead) ended the cup run, with memorable goals being scored by Andy Scott, Darren Freeman and Lloyd Owusu.
Three league defeats in a four-match spell in November and injuries and suspensions to Andy Scott, Darren Powell, Danny Boxall, Jamie Bates and Martin Rowlands led Noades to further strengthen the squad, bringing in forward Leo Fortune-West and midfielder Gavin Mahon. Though Fortune-West would be sold on a matter of months later, Mahon replaced Warren Aspinall in midfield and remained an ever-present until the end of the season. Five wins in the following six league matches saw the club begin 1999 firmly placed in the automatic promotion places. A spell of just one win from a spell of seven league matches in January and February saw Noades reach for the chequebook again, signing forward Scott Partridge from Torquay United for £100,000.
Following the blip and buoyed by the goalscoring of Partridge and Owusu, plus the purchase of new captain Paul Evans, the Bees went undefeated for the rest of the season, winning 10 of the 16 matches and securing automatic promotion back to the Second Division with two matches to spare after a 3–0 victory over Exeter City. A resounding 4–1 win over Swansea City in the following match returned Brentford to the top of the table for the first time since 20 October and set up a "winner takes all" match for the title versus nearest challengers Cambridge United at the Abbey Stadium. Lloyd Owusu's 25th goal of the season was enough for victory and the Third Division title on the final day.