This week we are honored to as our guest Walter Zurowski, all the way from sunny Buffalo, who tells us about how he first became a Brentford fan.  Walter spurs a really, really (really) interesting conversation regarding analytics.  No wait, come back, it's quite interesting.   

Walter is the latest in a long line of incredibly insightful and engaging guests.   He's really good.   I cannot believe how consistently every American Brentford fan I meet impresses me with their knowledge and their character.   

Walter, Greville Waterman and I discuss the impending match with Arsenal.  How far have we come that we respect Arsenal, but don't fear them?!?   Along the way we discuss who we are at this point in the season, look back at a surprisingly comfortable win against Southampton, and even have time to think about the now not entirely unrealistic proposition of a place in Europe...do we even want to qualify for Europe?

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A football-less week coincides with the approximate midpoint in the season, so it was the logical time to look back at the first half of the season.  Joining me this week is the extraordinarily talented Taylor Dawson (who really should be doing this for a living). 

This week features a discussion on the first half as a whole for Brentford including the comings, and the goings (I'm not crying, you're crying) of the January transfer window.

We admire our predictions from August (see Episode 4), and look ahead to a match with Southampton that will be tougher than the table might suggest.

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Will Clarke joins us from Kansas City to discuss his discovery of Brentford back when Championship football was new and exciting, and the pain of a playoff final defeat.  

Will, Greville and Tim try to make sense of a slightly crazy, definitely frustrating day at Elland Road last Sunday.   Leeds is just infuriating - especially (topically for this pod) the Americans.

The January window is about to 'slam shut', which is what the January window does, and so we discuss the possibility of players in and players out.  

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This is a special episode, with the father and son duo of David Holmes and David Holmes.  They're relationship with Brentford stretches back to the Second World War, and is a story to hear!   For fans of horror stories, the name Trotta comes up...but we can laugh now, right?  
(If you're a new fan, definitely YouTube that name.  If you're an older fan, I do apologize!)

We look back at Bournemouth and forward to a very, very tricky match against Leeds.  
I'm always amazed by the extraordinarily colorful and diverse guests we get here.  I think you'll love this episode of the podcast.

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The Magic of the Cup!  Or, not.  It's hard to tell exactly if Thomas Frank made the right decisions regarding prioritizing the FA Cup, and so we try to make sense of a frustrating weekend. 

This week we're joined by absolutely exceptional Glenn Houlihan, direct from Iowa City (via Ealing) to discuss a game we probably wanted to win, might of tried harder to win, and possibly wanted to take to a replay.  Maybe. 

Along with Greville Waterman, the discussion expands to thinking about our dealings in the transfer window so far, and how it impacts the squad as it currently exists, and we look ahead to an important match with Bournemouth.   Doesn't every match seems to be the important one?  

We are approaching the half-way point in the season, so we look ahead to Leeds, Southampton and beyond.  Along the way we make time for Asmir Begovic, Jarred Gillett, and of course Romeo Beckham.   

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What a week it has been.  If only all of 2023 could maintain this level of joy...

The podcast is joined by Shawn Danhauser, straight out of Chicago, to discuss memorable wins firstly away at West Ham and then back home at the Gtech against the once mighty Liverpool.  This season just gets better and better and better.

Are there any fans anywhere as blessed as Brentford's?  We have our heads on our shoulders about who we are and how we got here, and we're enjoying the wild ride that we never thought we'd ever get to be on.  From ownership, to the supporters, to the management and the players there's lots of credit to go around this week.  

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Let this season's Second Half...begin!  In this week's podcast the ASFB team asks (for about the fifth time this season), "was it a point gained or two points lost?".   Nothing seems to make sense, as Brentford fans come to grips with the very notion of 'disappointment' at only getting a draw against Tottenham.   It has been a crazy decade in TW8.

The podcast is honored to welcome back John Kenkel, if only so that we can meet his son Jake.  Jake has a story to tell regarding growing up a Bee, that makes the pod worth a listen all by itself.

Greville Waterman joins for a review of a Spurs match full of incident and controversy.  We look ahead to matches with West Ham and Liverpool, that for differing reasons will test this team maximally.  We look anxiously at the remarkable league table that has us 10 points from a Champions League place and 8 points from 20th.  And we discuss if, and how, we can improve this squad in the famous 'window' that comes in January.

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We're back!  Fresh off a World Cup hangover and trying to remember where we left off the podcast finally responds to the  ASFB administration, which has been screaming for more content. 

This week the usual suspects are joined by John Kunkel, and what a story he has to tell.  Who falls in love with a football team after watching them play Crawley Town?  John does, and it's a fascinating tale!   We get information on the US branch of BIAS, we hear about his Brentford places on Twitter and Facebook, he gives us some tips on the Fanfest occurring in Orlando, and we hear about the pub outside Washington DC where you can get a good pint of London Pride.  

There are discussions of the current squad and changes that may be needed, especially as regards one naughty striker, in a wide-ranging conversation between John, Greville and Tim.  

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Relief as Across the Seas but Forever Bees gets to discuss maybe (maybe) the greatest win in Brentford's modern era.  There's been so many great days in the last few years.  Ivan and Rico show Southgate what he's missing with masterclasses, but really everyone played a part in a historic victory over Manchester City.

Pittsburgh's own Matt Rapp joins Tim and Greville to look back at an astonishing win, at 19 points and 10th place, and at the state of Brentford as we head to the break imposed by the World Cup.  

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The World Cup break comes at about the right time, but there's reasons to be cheerful:  A return of Christian Norgaard, a full run-out for Mikkel Damsgaard, KLP gets some important minutes...we pick up a point.  err...

A weekend that saw us drop two points to bottom of the table Forest, on a goal that was at best a bit questionable, is followed by a strong Brentford side crashing out of the League Cup on penalties to a Gillingham we really should have beaten.  

A lot to ruminate on this week.  I hope that you enjoy this week's podcast.

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