Explorez tous les épisodes du podcast Across the Seas but Forever Bees - An American Brentford Podcast

Shades of last January come around again as a once-in-a-lifetime injury crisis is back for a second season.  We pick up a point though and look forward to Thomas Frank's 3 dimensional chess to get us past Wolves on Saturday.

Eli is here, all the way from Canada (via West London) to discuss with Greville Waterman and me a remarkable draw against West Ham and to strategize how we find 11 fit footballers hat can beat a already a bit desperate Wolverhampton.  You know, someday when everyone's back next Spring...we'll be a really, really impressive football team.

ASFB insider tip:  There's a secret extra bit hidden after the closing sting music that I think is worth finding.

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We are lucky to coax Michel Cowdrey into the studios to talk about his weekend in Chicago.  You have to listen to it to understand, but once again and for the millionth time it makes me proud to be a Brentford fan.  Class, humility and respect seem to permeate everything the club does.  

Greville Waterman is in the help with any worry you might have after a loss at Spurs.  Honestly, there's a lot to like about who we are and who we'll be if some established starters can get out of the treatment room.  The kids once again are learning and proving that they're getting minutes on merit.  There's a lot to like about this season, one I think will have far, far more highs than lows.

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New York's own Charlie Corr makes the trek to the ASFB studios to discuss life around the Red Lion and to weigh in on one of the most fun weeks of the Premier era.  Yes, we lost one of the two matches this week...but there's losing and there's losing.  We won against Man City, 1-2.  If you know what I mean.

Leyton Orient gives us a chance to play the kids, and to coin a phrase:  The Kids are Alright.

A really interesting talk, and if you listen to the end you'll know the story of The Beast.  It's a Brentford story.

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I've wanted to talk about the Brentford Woman's team for a great while, so it was a thrill and an honor to have Gary Enstone and Richard Merritt in the studio to share their experiences and their passion.  The woman are an exciting and engaging story that is appallingly underappreciated by the larger Brentford community.  

But it is my hope that people will listen to the podcast and head down to Belfont Sport to support the mighty Bees.  This is an important podcast for me, and I can only hope that it starts a conversation about how great we have it with not just one club to be proud of, but also a woman's club that should make us all proud to call ourselves Brentford.

This may well be a promotion season for the Woman - don't miss the chance to learn about and see this team on the rise!

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Martin O'Brien agrees to return to the studio for a discussion of a very satisfying Saturday down at the Gtech.  Southampton seemed determined to gift us goals and we were kind enough to accept.  

An upcoming Cup match against old friends Leyton Orient leads to a trip back to 2014 and 2006, years when we were on the steep rise...and on the steep decline, respectively.  Pivotal matches in their own ways, in Brentford history.  

I suspect they still hate us.

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Despite some headaches from the production crew, which will be dealt with internally at ASFB, we bring you the big Summer Spending Spree podcast!

Martin O'Brien joins Greville Waterman and myself for a discussion of one of the most consequential, good or bad, windows since 2019.  Youth and potential are as ever the motif, while some long-serving members of the Brentford squad have moved on.  Whatever the future holds for this cadre of new additions, it will be exciting/frustrating/inspiring/infuriating all at once.  And isn't that why we love Brentford?

Let me know what you think of our analysis.  And a sincere thanks for listening.

Tim Searls

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The season heats up fast, doesn't it?!?  From the relative calm of a first week win we're suddenly playing three matches in 7 days.  Liverpool and Colchester were lessons for Thomas Frank and warning shots for us all that there's a lot of drama coming in this 'dangerous forth season'.

Apparently Ivan Toney is still at the club...well he was when I typed this - he may be gone by the time I hit 'publish'.  Or we've got the lovable enigma for another 4 months.  It's silly season, as guest Nick Green rightly puts it.

Nick has some great memories of Griffin Park and growing up a Bee, and with Greville Waterman it's a fascinating conversation.

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What a first match.  Palace was a perfect first opponent, and evidence from a small sample size is that...we're okay.

Glenn Houlihan visits the ASFB Towers all the way from Ames, Iowa to look back and to look forward to a difficult match at Liverpool.

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I know it's the 4th time at this level, but I still get lightheaded looking at the schedule and seeing who we play on a regular basis.  Lincoln City wasn't that long ago that it doesn't still feel like I'm in a dream.

It starts again!  The terrifying thrill ride that is being a minnow (but a smart minnow) in this big pond starts Sunday against Crystal Palace.  Surely it's about time we got something from a match against Palace, right?

Greville Waterman joins the pod as we talk about the squad for the 2024/25 season.  A lot of departures and a few additions make this a tightrope walk of a start.  Thanks goodness we have the best manager in the league.  

Thanks sincerely for listening and for all the feedback.

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Football, bloody hell.  

Greville Waterman and I look back at a tumultuous season.  It promised so much in the heat and humidity of Washington DC in July, and in the end we hung on.  16th at Christmas and 16th at the end, Brentford Football Club were never boring but you did watch some of the matches through your fingers.  Admit it.

We look forward as well.  There are big decisions to make and there will be new faces to bring in.  An important off-season to be sure.  

Thank you all for listening and commenting and supporting all the people that have taken part.  If you'd like to be a part of this podcast's glorious forth campaign, please don't hesitate to write to me so I can get you on the schedule.

Let's all take a well-earned break now...see you in August!

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Glenn Houlihan joins me as we look back at Fulham, and specifically...well, you know who we discussed.  And we look ahead to Bournemouth.  

What a season it has been, but I'm proud of who Brentford is and how they've conducted themselves throughout this often insanely challenging year.  Top to bottom, the club has made me proud this season.   Even that one player we discussed so much in the podcast!

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Old friend Lev Riley joins Tim and Greville this week in the ASFB studios for a really fascinating conversation.   Lev tells us of his first trip to the Gtech, with side-trips to The Griffin pub and to the spot of old Griffin Park.  It's (rightly) a bit of a sacred pilgrimage now for a visiting American Bees fan.   The Gtech is great n'all...but I miss the old girl.

It is the 10th year anniversary of promotion out of League One and fifteenth anniversary of our promotion from League Two, so we celebrate what a long, strange trip it's been with some memories from those campaigns.   We look back a bit to the Everton match and look forward to the visit of our own noisy neighbours from Putney.  

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What a season.   The Luton victory says as much about this lost season of such high expectations as any match could.   Now that we are back to a near first team (ok...without Rico, Norgaard, Toney and DaSilva!!) we are rampant against a Luton side that really couldn't afford to be beaten.  

What could have been...

This week Adam Harder and Greville Waterman join me in the ASFB studios.  Adam is a  fascinating and insightful guest that I've been eager for weeks to have on.   He is here to discuss his experience as a Brentford fan, be it a walk down Braemar Road past Griffin Park to The Griffin pub or a Saturday morning pint of Guinness in the Red Lion with the lively crew that has grown there.   We look back at the Luton match, and on to our effectively guaranteed future in the Premier League.  

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Tempting fate, I'm declaring us 'safe' for another glorious season in the rarified air of the Premier League after a professional defeat of Sheffield United.  Greville Waterman is along to tell me that Luton remains a 'must win' and if not it's 'squeeky bum time'.   But, really?

The free-flowing conversation includes a review of the match (it was never a foul by Collins!!!), and then some actual looking ahead to a Summer that will require big decisions for so many of the squad.

I appreciate the comments, and of course the time that you give us.

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Could any three matches have such competing stories as the draws against ManU, Brighton and Villa?   Each tell a different version of the season:  So much ability and potential in the first, so much exhaustion in the second, so much chaos in the third.

Michel Cowdry was at the Gtech for the first two, and was at Fan Fest in Nashville for the third.  He's just one of the best guests ever (we've had so many extraordinary people on though!).   He has so many great experiences and stories to tell, all representing different facets of Brentford fandom from an American perspective.  He rightfully steals the show again for us.  :)

Oh...and Greville is here too.  Listen for Greville eventually!

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What a joy it was to speak with Marcus Gayle and with Megan Bespolka, who is the International Marketing Manger for Brentford Football Club.  We talk the Nashville Fan Fest as well as about international membership for American fans - and how to plan your journey to the GTech.  

Along with Greville Waterman I get a chance to ask Marcus about some of the memories he has of his two spells at Brentford.  Some simply great stories that are alone really worth a listen.   Marcus is truly the definition of an Ambassador for the club.

This is a great podcast, if I do say so myself, and I hope you enjoy it as much as we did putting it together.

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...unless you're a "Big" club obviously.   The rules aren't 'different', just malleable apparently.

Brent James and Bill Ireland drop into the ASFB studios all the way from Boone, North Carolina to talk Arsenal and Burnley.   I really cannot believe how nice all the Brentford people I meet are.  Honestly.  And I'm also amazed at the passion this little West London club inspires.   From meetups each week in the local pubs in so many cities, to backyard parties in towns like Boone, North Carolina.

Along with Greville Waterman we have a really interesting discussion of the opportunities that our season-long injury crisis has provided.  Who has make a case for themselves, who might be moving on?  

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Brentford plays a wonderfully topsy turvy match against Chelsea, a match we could have, and maybe should have, won.  A match that Chelsea could have, and maybe should have, won.  Yah, that sort of match.  

Greville Waterman and I discuss this and look ahead to the daunting task of taking on an in-form Arsenal.  We disagree on the use of the term 'free hit', but agree it'll take a mighty effort to get anything from the match.  Still, we're modern Brentford and 'mighty effort' is what we do.  

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Brian O'Connell joins the podcast this week as we look forward to a tough West London derby against Chelsea.  We're trying to stay positive and progressive, but some West Ham discussion was inevitable.  Painful though it was.

This week's memory lane moments feature Telford and the end of the 2002 season.  We specialize in grim memories, here at ASFB Towers.

How do you play Chelsea at home, with all that this plucky club has been through health-wise?  4-3-3?  3-5-2?  Who plays.  I'm sure Thomas Frank will surprise us all and provide another master class in "why we're not football managers".   But we take a crack at it anyway.

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Don't panic.  We're okay.  We've just come through a stretch of Spurs, Man City, Wolves, Liverpool, Man City...and we're fine.  Lots of reason to be happy even!

Glenn Houlihan visits the studios of ASFB from his Iowa location and, along with Greville Waterman, inspires a wonderful conversation about where we've been and where we're going.  Where else to you get to hear the names Sam Tillen and/or Thomas Pinault?  Right here, is where!   

I hope it's as fun to listen to as it was to be part of.

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Steve D'Amico was a sensational contributor last season and is back this time, being once again sensational.  Along with Greville Waterman, we look back at a refreshing and encouraging three points away.   So many talking points from a truly entertaining match.

The reason you always wanted to be in the Premier League (but never imagined it actually occurring) is to say things like, "...and now we look forward to Liverpool at home, and then Manchester City three days later."  So you have to be balanced and calm about this daunting week to come.

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What a mad season.  We get beat up at home and I'm...pretty pleased.  We discover we might have a first-rate keeper, we have a team of character and grit, we gave an assembled all-world team a real battle.  I do love supporting this club.

Charlie Corr, of the New York Church of the Red Lion, joins Greville Waterman and me for a really fun discussion of the match, of where we are, and of the daunting month before us.

Thanks for listening, and for the comments I get through social media and through email (timsearls@hotmail.com).

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We here at Across the Seas but Forever Bees have met so many fascinating people, all drawn to the Brentford story and to the ethos of the club.  It just is a club that good people find naturally.   This episode of the pod features the engaging Mike Sacco who, like so many Bees fans, is finding the club and the culture just for them.  

Along with the returning Greville Waterman we dive into the strange Spurs match from Wednesday, which leads to a wide-ranging conversation on the slightly perilous state of Brentford on this end of January Deadline Day.  All of it is good (it really is) but stay to the end to hear about The Chase!

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Beating Forest, and drinking from the cup of their salty tears, was amazing.  The rising panic of no wins in what seemed like months has subsided.  To have Ivan Toney back, along with a host of others, has cheered the Gtech right up.

Today we talk with Trevor Inns, who runs the Griffin Park Grapevine website and is such a insightful and interesting guest.  To new fans of Brentford FC:  If you've not logged onto the GPG...I'll wait while you create an account...

A special shout-out to Greville Waterman.  He's had to take a week off, and we sure missed his knowledge and his general passion.   The staff at ASFB looks forward to getting back to discussing all things Spursy in the next week.

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We're back!

The staff at Across the Seas but Forever Bees takes their winter holidays and it all goes south on the pitch.  Brentford have lost five straight, and has spent what seems like hours on the pitch not getting out of the 3rd round of the FA Cup. 

But a bright Ivan Toney-shaped light is starting to come on with the new year, some new faces are joining the club (one arriving pre-crocked unfortunately but predictably!), and some important pieces of our team are getting fit again.  There are reasons to be cheerful.  AND I can report on my first trip to the Gtech - it's a wonderful, special place.  

Excited for the second half of the season!  

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Three wonderfully won points against Luton are drown out by the loss at Brighton on Wednesday.  The hits keep coming, as another unreplaceable player heads to the list of long-term injuries.  We give thanks that we're managed by such a master, that we have players coming back, and that we have accumulated enough points to hopefully ride out the lean weeks to come. 

It's not at all doom-and-gloom in the ASFB studios when Glenn Houlihan and Greville Waterman come in to go over an interesting couple of days around West London.

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Remember when we used to dream of one-off Cup matches against 'teams like Arsenal'.  Now we play them with the remnants of a squad decimated by injury...and we're unlucky not to get something from the match.  A free-hit that didn't work out is the worst you can say about last Saturday.  

Nolan and Greville Waterman are in the studios to discuss this and so much more, including a look ahead to teams looking up the table at us, for once.  There's opportunity there no doubt, but pressure as well.  There are no easy ones at this level.

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...there's no real reason to discuss Liverpool at all.  Instead we talk his experiences around Griffin Park in the 1950s and 1960s.  Really.  What stories he has from a golden era of Brentford.  Players I've heard of, he saw live!  Greville Waterman and I sit at Malcolm's feet to hear stories of Tower, Cakebread, McDonald and many, many others.

Whether you're a long-time Bee or just come to the club, this is a podcast worth your time. 

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If the designers of football dreamed up the perfect match for spectators, it would probably follow the script from last weekend:  Returning favorite scores, the home team falls behind, only to gloriously triumph in the end.  What a match we had with West Ham.

Ben Clowney joins from Michigan (he's not originally from there) to talk about West Ham and to look ahead at the exciting Sunday fixture against Liverpool.  Great days to be a Bee.

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Honestly, a decade ago if I told you we'd be sitting there looking down on the other three West London clubs (I can't bring myself to name them, not at Holloween)....

A third win in a row at Stamford Bridge and once again the sun is out and the birds are singing.  Who was that on the ledge a few weeks ago talking panic and gloom???

Thank you for listening, thank you for the comments.  This is a labor of love but it means a lot that people are enjoying it with us.

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What's not to love? 

 Maupay reminds us why we were so in love with him a few years ago, VAR provides the talking points, crazy weather, 19 year old wonderkinds getting their debuts, three absolutely cracking goals, pirouetting midfield geniuses, a red card even.  It was a great day last Saturday down the olde Gtech.

Michel Cowdrey checks in from Atlanta, and he has an AMAZING Brentford story to tell, spanning generations.   Along with our friend from the North, Greville Waterman we look back at a brilliant win against Burnley and forward to a daunting challenge at Stamford Bridge.

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There are so many reasons I'm proud to support Brentford Football Club, and Saturday was another reason.  The heart and resilience and guts shown by the (remaining) squad was quite something.  Last minute winners are a part of sport - great when you get one, dreadful when it happens to you.

But under the circumstances, this was a great performance.

To make sense of the chaos this week was Jay Altair from Boston (the one in the States) and Greville Waterman from a spot just north of London.  

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If we spend all my life in the top tier of English football (soccer for us Yanks), I'll never get used to the idea that we're playing at Old Trafford in a league match.   I hope you know enough about our history to wonder at that idea as well.  It's important that part of our club's DNA remains a humble acknowledgement of how far we've come.

After a dreadful two weeks, we right the ship a bit against Forest and are able to look forward to ManU with some renewed optimism.  

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Look.  Everything is going to be okay.  And as they say, it helps if you talk about your problems.

After a tumultuous 10 days or so, Glenn Houlihan and Greville Waterman help me and all of us come to terms with all that has occurred to our club.  It has been incredible how many blows the club has taken in September. 

Welcome October!

I certainly felt better after the podcast, and I hope it helps you as well.

As always, thank you for the comments and for downloading Across the Seas but Forever Bees.

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This week we are lucky to get to talk to Oscar Thompson all the way from Hollywood about his long, painful journey as a Brentford fan.  I just love hosting this podcast because you meet people such as Oscar and hear their stories.  Honestly, if you don't enjoy the stories he and Greville have to tell, then...are you really a Brentford fan?  Yah, I said it.

Eventually we get to the imminent clash with Newcastle, and it's the best time possible to play them!  Or it's the worst time possible to play them!  We don't really resolve which extreme it is.

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The podcast is lucky this week to have Daniel Jennings in from Denver.   Daniel talks about his early, early morning rituals around Brentford Football Club...and something tells me that he could use some backup at the Bulldog Pub!  

I think if you're a glass-half-full person you're looking at an unbeaten start, quality at every position, a genius manager and a frighteningly talented, young squad and B team.  And you're thinking Neal Maupay is getting 15 goals for us!  

If you're half-full...well, what if we lose a midfielder from our starting three?   What if a late goal that saves us a point against Bournemouth is who we are?  What is our best 11??  What if Toney never plays for us again?   

An especially interesting conversation that I completely enjoyed.  I hope you do as well.

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Cris Hellerstein is our guest, in to talk about her route to Brentford (hint:  Not Christian Ericksen's favourite match!), traveling to Atlanta to see the Bees live...and her remarkable impulse decision.  You'll have to listen to find out what that is.

We discuss the Fulham match, which was almost (say it carefully) too easy, and we look forward to a chance to finally beat Crystal Palace on Saturday.

Thanks for those that listen and for those that write in to comment.  I'm sincerely grateful.
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Finally, after three years as the smarter, more knowledgeable of the pair of hosts, we get to know why Greville is on an American Brentford podcast.  It's an interesting discussion of where the club has been, who it is at heart...and then the payoff conversation about Greville's New York adventures.

We discuss Spurs and look forward to old friends Fulham, including (or not) old friend Mitrovic.  

Thanks to all of you that have downloaded the podcast, and to those that have had responses - good or bad.  

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Taylor Dawson and Greville Waterman put on their prognosticator hats and we discuss the season, as we stand here just before the first weekend of matches.  

I love this time of year...and can't wait for it all to begin again.  

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We are blessed to have Paul Buckle and Gary Blissett on the Brentford American podcast to discuss the wonderful preseason tour of the East Coast by the Bees. 

I'm joined by John Kenkel and by Greville Waterman in this really quite wonderful conversation.

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What a time to be a Brentford fan.  

After two matches that have been about the performance and not about the result, we meet again to discuss 'how it's been for you'.  I'm really honored to have in Charlie Corr, who has played such a huge role in the Red Lion watch-parties and NYC Bees in general.  Also here is the always super-interesting Glenn Houlihan who gives some perspective on how the rest of the country is experiencing Brentford.

John Kenkel is also here, slipping away from his preparations for the party  in the DC area to tell us about how the Washington fans are gearing up for the last match of the Summer Series.  

AND Greville Waterman is here to give us some sense of how this all is going over back in the UK, from his location in North London.  

A fascinating discussion of "Toney shaped holes" and the "Norgaard shaped holes" follows, as we chew over the first two matches and look ahead to the season right around the corner.

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What an honor to talk with two true legends of Brentford football Club.  Gary Blissett and Marcus Gayle, both in the Brentford Hall of Fame, serve as Ambassadors for the three matches in America.  And they were kind enough to join us for a discussion of their careers and their experiences here in the States this week.  They're great players and great people.

I want to thank Brentford Football Club for making them available, and to thank John Kenkel and Greville Waterman for their invaluable experiences and insights on this most wonderful of conversations.  

If you're a Bees fan, new or old, you'll love hearing from these two fantastic members of the Brentford community. 

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Brentford have landed on the shores (and specifically in Washington DC)!  We talk with club legend and Club Ambassador Marcus Gayle about the first impressions as the squad prepares for a match Sunday with old friends Fulham.

We're honored to also have Steve Watts, the Marketing Services Director, as well as Marketing Executive Megan Bespolka on to talk about the off-the-field activities around this exciting three match series. 

AND we have John Kenkel, who has done so much to organize the American Brentford supporters clubs and meet-ups. 

AND AND club legend Greville Waterman joins us from North London, to round out an incredible pod.

We talk about the club ethos, about what being a Brentford fan has meant and will mean, and what the club is doing to reach out to fans, new and old.

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Hello again!  The podcast Across the Seas but Forever Bees is back for its third season!!

Greville and I get re-acquainted and discuss the ins and outs of a busy (but obviously not finished) summer of ins-and-outs.   Greville gives his reaction to the first pre-season game at Boreham Wood. 

And we of course look forward to the imminent visit to the States of Brentford!!

We here at the offices of ASFB welcome feedback so any and all comments are appreciated. 

HEY!  We're now on Instagram!    https://www.instagram.com/acrosstheseasbutforeverbees/

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This week we get a two-fer, as our wonderful guest is Marc Melfi who represents Bees fans both in South Carolina and in Colorado.  Marc tells us about his experiences as a Brentford supporter, including a discussion of the supporters group forming in Colorado and his trip to the Gtech to see Brentford v Newcastle back in April.  

In a season of high highs and even higher highs, last weekend versus Spurs was another incredible moment.  A lot of the possible answers to 'that' news from the week were at least partially answered by an inspired display by so many that will need to step up next season in the absence of Ivan Toney.   There is so much to discuss as we look towards the final game of the 2022-2023 season.

What a season, huh?

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Finally.  Finally we get to speak with Charlie Corr, he of the famed Red Lion watch parties.  Turns out he's a really good guy, and a really informed and interesting guest.  

This week we discuss all things Bees, including but not exclusively Liverpool and West Ham, and the conversation takes us to all sorts of unexpected topics.  All my favourite podcasts do this, and I think this is amongst my favourite ever podcasts.

Thank you for listening and for the comments I've received!

Tim

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We beat Chelsea away at Stamford Bridge, beat Forest at home,  and have a league match at Anfield coming up.  Still can't believe I'm writing sentences like that.  

The always brilliant Glenn Houlihan, all the way from Iowa, and the always brilliant Greville Waterman join the pod to talk not just about Forest but where we go from here.   

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A lot about the last decade has changed around West London.   I promise you, if you asked any fan on 27 April 2013 if we'd be casually brushing aside Chelsea in 10 years time they'd...well, they'd be in no condition to answer frankly.

Hope you enjoy the podcast!

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We're grateful to have Dustin Senor here in the studio all the way from New Hampshire, who relates his story about being part of the increasingly famous watch-along parties at the Red Lion in New York City.

An anniversary, of sorts, is 'celebrated'...before we discuss the Wolves loss in the context of a 5th place baseball team playing out the string in September.   Should we be full-throttle going for it or is it time to 'play the kids'?

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