Chairman Greg Dyke Stadium Griffin Park Play-offs Semi-finals | Manager Martin Allen League One 3rd FA Cup Fifth round | |
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During the 2005–06 English football season, Brentford competed in Football League One. For the second season in succession, the club reached the FA Cup fifth round and the play-off semi-finals.
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Season summary
After defeat to Sheffield Wednesday in the 2005 League One play-off semi-finals, Brentford manager Martin Allen strengthened the squad with a number of acquisitions on free transfers, including a raid on Reading (Ricky Newman, Paul Brooker and former Bees favourite Lloyd Owusu), youngsters Ólafur Ingi Skúlason and Sam Tillen and non-league striker DJ Campbell. Still heavily in debt to former chairman Ron Noades' company Altonwood, there were ongoing budgetary concerns, with the departure of London Broncos as tenants of Griffin Park losing the club £100,000, but by mid-August 2005, Supporters' Trust Bees United (which took operational control of the club in 2003) had raised £700,000 of the £1,000,000 needed to acquire a majority shareholding. Former BBC Director-General Greg Dyke, a lifelong supporter, loaned the club money in the autumn.
Brentford began the season as one of the top teams in League One, winning five of the first eight league matches of the season and topping the table. A pre-season injury to captain Ricky Newman and a cruciate knee ligament injury to newcomer Ólafur Ingi Skúlason in the second match of the season necessitated the return of Darren Pratley, who had spent the latter period of the 2004–05 season on loan from Fulham. A 3–2 defeat to Huddersfield Town on 17 September led to a dip in form, with the Bees winning just two of the following 9 matches in all competitions to drop to 4th place. After first round exits of the League Cup and Football League Trophy, victory in the FA Cup first round over Rochdale on 5 November began a resurgence in form, with Brentford losing just twice in 20 matches and returning to the top of the table for the first time in over three months after victory over previous leaders Swansea City at Griffin Park on Boxing Day. Brentford also advanced to the fifth round of the FA Cup for the second consecutive season, defeating Oldham Athletic and Stockport County in the second and third rounds before completing a giant-killing of Premier League strugglers Sunderland in the fourth round at Griffin Park. Brentford's form owed much to the goalscoring of Lloyd Owusu and DJ Campbell, with Campbell scoring eight goals six matches in January 2006, including both the Bees' goals in the victory over Sunderland. Campbell's performance versus the Black Cats won national attention and three days later, on transfer deadline day, he was sold to Premier League club Birmingham City for £500,000. Despite the sale of then-top scorer Campbell, January was a good month for the Bees, with Bees United acquiring the majority shareholding of the club and the appointment of Greg Dyke as non-executive chairman.
Two defeats and two draws in a four-match spell at the turn of the year had dropped Brentford to 5th place, but three consecutive wins at the beginning of February put the club in 3rd in advance of the visit to Charlton Athletic for the FA Cup fifth round match. A 3–1 defeat ended a memorable cup run and the Bees' form began to suffer, losing four of the next seven league matches, but two consecutive wins in early March elevated the club into 2nd place. DJ Campbell's replacement Calum Willock failed to materialise as a goal threat, a lean spell from Lloyd Owusu and injury to set-piece taker Kevin O'Connor led to the team's goals drying up. Beginning with a win over Milton Keynes Dons on 28 March, Brentford remained unbeaten for the rest of the season, but six draws from the eight matches dropped the club out of the automatic promotion places. The Bees' goalscoring problems were further compounded after Lloyd Owusu suffered a torn groin muscle while on international duty with Ghana on 26 April, ruling him out for the rest of the season and contention for a place in Ghana's 2006 World Cup squad.
3rd-place Brentford met 6th-place Swansea City in the play-off semi-finals and despite taking the lead at the Liberty Stadium and largely controlling the first leg, the Bees were pegged back after goalkeeper Stuart Nelson was sent off and Sam Ricketts salvaged a 1–1 draw with a deflected shot in the dying minutes. Two quick-fire goals from Leon Knight in the first 15 minutes of the second leg at Griffin Park killed the tie and Brentford exited the play-offs 3–1 on aggregate.