1990–91 Brentford F.C. season

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.

Brentford

1990–91 season
Chairman	Martin Lange
Manager	Phil Holder
Stadium	Griffin Park
Third Division	6th
Play-offs	Semi-final
FA Cup	Third round
League Cup	Second round
Football League Trophy	Southern Area final
Top goalscorer	League: Blissett (10) All: Blissett (15)
Highest home attendance	8,021
Lowest home attendance	4,812
Average home league attendance	6,144
Home colours Away colours

Season summary

Steve Perryman resigned as manager on the eve of the season.

Third Division Brentford conducted little transfer business during the 1990 off-season, buying only Sheffield United goalkeeper Graham Benstead and selling full back Roger Stanislaus to Bury.[1] 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.[2] 10 days before the first match of the season, the club was rocked by the resignation of manager Steve Perryman,[1] who had been in charge since February 1987.[3] Perryman's assistant Phil Holder took over and began his first job in football management.[2]

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.[4] Aided by the goalscoring of fit-again Gary Blissett, the Bees showed good league form through November and December and ended 1990 in the automatic promotion places.[4] 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.[4] The run in the Trophy affected Brentford's promotion-chasing form, with the team having won just seven of 17 matches since the turn of the year.[4] 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 two-legged tie with Tranmere Rovers in the play-off semi-finals.[4] A 3–2 defeat on aggregate ended Brentford's season.[4]

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
4	Bolton Wanderers	46	24	11	11	64	50	+14	83	Participated in play-offs
5	Tranmere Rovers	46	23	9	14	64	46	+18	78	Promoted through play-offs[lower-alpha 1]
6	Brentford	46	21	13	12	59	47	+12	76	Participated in play-offs
7	Bury	46	20	13	13	67	56	+11	73
8	Bradford City	46	20	10	16	62	54	+8	70

Source:
Notes:

1. Tranmere Rovers won the play-offs and were promoted.

Results

Brentford's goal tally listed first.

Legend

Win

Draw

Loss

Pre-season

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorer(s)
31 July 1990	Kingstonian	A	2–2	n/a	Smillie, May
7 August 1990	Chesham United	A	1–1	n/a	Cadette
11 August 1990	Chelsea	H	0–6	4,915
14 August 1990	Oxford United	H	1–1	5,775	Holdsworth
17 August 1990	Charlton Athletic	H	1–2	1,231	Smillie

Football League Third Division

No.	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorer(s)
1	25 August 1990	Bournemouth	H	0–0	6,156
2	1 September 1990	Mansfield Town	A	2–0	3,518	Smilie, Godfrey
3	8 September 1990	Chester City	H	0–1	5,459
4	15 September 1990	Swansea City	A	2–2	3,660	Bates, Jones (pen)
5	18 September 1990	Rotherham United	A	2–2	5,775	Holdsworth, Smilie
6	22 September 1990	Bolton Wanderers	H	4–2	4,586	May, Brooke, Jones, Holdsworth
7	29 September 1990	Grimsby Town	H	1–0	3,900	Jones
8	2 October 1990	Preston North End	A	1–1	5,658	Godfrey
9	6 October 1990	Bradford City	A	1–0	7,710	Godfrey
10	14 October 1990	Cambridge United	H	0–3	3,139
11	20 October 1990	Huddersfield Town	H	1–0	7,705	May
12	23 October 1990	Reading	A	2–1	2,280	Gayle, Holdsworth
13	26 October 1990	Tranmere Rovers	A	1–2	8,575	Holdsworth (pen)
14	4 November 1990	Southend United	H	0–1	10,605
15	10 November 1990	Bury	H	2–2	8,798	Blissett, Cockram
16	24 November 1990	Exeter City	A	1–1	4,764	Blissett
17	2 December 1990	Leyton Orient	A	1–0	5,359	Godfrey
18	16 December 1990	Stoke City	A	2–2	2,475	Cadette, Smilie
19	23 December 1990	Wigan Athletic	H	1–0	6,675	Blissett (pen)
20	26 December 1990	Birmingham City	A	2–0	6,669	Blissett (2)
21	29 December 1990	Crewe Alexandra	A	3–3	1,447	Blissett, Cadette, Cockram
22	1 January 1991	Shrewsbury Town	H	3–0	7,226	Blissett, Gayle, Cockram
23	12 January 1991	Mansfield Town	H	0–0	3,582
24	19 January 1991	Bournemouth	A	0–2	4,421
25	26 January 1991	Swansea City	H	2–0	7,102	Blissett, Jones
26	2 February 1991	Rotherham United	H	1–2	7,333	Jones
27	5 February 1991	Bolton Wanderers	A	0–1	15,984
28	16 February 1991	Exeter City	H	1–0	9,004	Millen
29	23 February 1991	Bury	H	1–1	7,559	Cadette
30	3 March 1991	Leyton Orient	A	2–1	6,079	Cadette, Holdsworth
31	9 March 1991	Stoke City	H	0–4	6,789
32	12 March 1991	Preston North End	H	2–0	7,484	Bates, Blissett
33	16 March 1991	Grimsby Town	A	0–2	16,417
34	19 March 1991	Cambridge United	A	0–0	7,605
35	23 March 1991	Bradford City	H	6–1	6,869	og, Evans, Jones, Cadette (2), Gayle
36	30 March 1991	Birmingham City	H	2–2	5,660	Ratcliffe, Blissett
37	1 April 1991	Wigan Athletic	A	0–1	3,548
38	6 April 1991	Crewe Alexandra	H	1–0	5,561	Fleming
39	13 April 1991	Shrewsbury Town	A	1–1	13,290	Ratcliffe
40	16 April 1991	Fulham	H	1–2	6,791	Rostron
41	20 April 1991	Huddersfield Town	A	2–1	3,770	Jones, Peters
42	23 April 1991	Fulham	A	1–0	8,383	Rostron
43	27 April 1991	Reading	H	1–0	4,382	Millen
44	30 April 1991	Chester City	A	2–1	12,071	Gayle, Holdsworth
45	4 May 1991	Tranmere Rovers	H	0–2	2,371
46	11 May 1991	Southend United	A	1–0	14,539	Gayle

Football League Third Division play-offs

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorer(s)
SF (1st leg)	19 May 1991	Tranmere Rovers	H	2–2	14,160	Evans, Godfrey
SF (2nd leg)	22 May 1991	Tranmere Rovers	A	0–1 (lost 3–2 on aggregate)	11,161

FA Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorer(s)
R1	17 November 1990	Yeovil Town	H	5–0	5,830	Blissett, Holdsworth (2), May, Jones
R2	12 December 1990	Birmingham City	A	3–1	7,328	Blissett, Millen, Jones
R3	5 January 1991	Oldham Athletic	A	1–3	6,538	Holdsworth

Football League Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorer(s)
R1 (1st leg)	28 August 1990	Hereford United	H	2–0	5,583	Bates, Godfrey
R1 (2nd leg)	5 September 1990	Hereford United	A	0–1 (won 2–1 on aggregate)	4,927
R2 (1st leg)	26 September 1990	Sheffield Wednesday	A	1–2	4,502	Evans
R2 (2nd leg)	9 October 1990	Sheffield Wednesday	H	1–2 (lost 4–2 on aggregate)	7,394	Jones (pen)

Football League Trophy

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorer(s)
SPR	27 November 1990	Fulham	A	1–1	2,761	Blissett
SPR	29 January 1991	Leyton Orient	H	2–0	1,348	Blissett (2)
SR1	21 February 1991	Wrexham	H	0–0 (a.e.t.), won 3–0 on pens)	2,247
SQF	28 February 1991	Hereford United	A	2–0	2,207	Smilie, Holdsworth
SSF	5 March 1991	Southend United	A	3–0	3,937	Smilie, Jones, Cadette
SAF (1st leg)	26 March 1991	Birmingham City	A	1–2	1,871	Gayle
SAF (2nd leg)	9 April 1991	Birmingham City	H	0–1 (lost 3–1 on aggregate)	1,861

• Source: Statto, 11v11, The Big Brentford Book Of The Nineties[5]

Playing squad

Players' ages are as of the opening day of the 1990–91 season.

Pos.	Name	Nat.	Date of birth (age)	Signed from	Signed in	Notes
Goalkeepers
GK	Graham Benstead		20 August 1963 (aged 27)	Sheffield United	1990
Defenders
DF	Jamie Bates		24 February 1968 (aged 22)	Youth	1986
DF	Jason Cousins		4 October 1970 (aged 19)	Youth	1989
DF	Terry Evans (c)		12 April 1965 (aged 25)	Hillingdon	1985
DF	Mark Fleming		11 August 1969 (aged 21)	Queens Park Rangers	1989
DF	Clive Goodyear		15 January 1961 (aged 29)	Wimbledon	1990
DF	Keith Millen		26 September 1966 (aged 23)	Youth	1985
Midfielders
MF	Paul Buckle		16 December 1970 (aged 19)	Youth	1988
MF	Allan Cockram		8 October 1963 (aged 26)	St Albans City	1988
MF	Kevin Godfrey		24 February 1960 (aged 30)	Leyton Orient	1988
MF	Keith Jones		14 October 1965 (aged 24)	Chelsea	1987
MF	Robbie Peters		18 May 1971 (aged 19)	Youth	1989	Loaned to St Albans City
MF	Simon Ratcliffe		8 February 1967 (aged 23)	Norwich City	1989
MF	Wilf Rostron		29 September 1956 (aged 33)	Sheffield United	1991	Assistant manager
MF	Neil Smilie		19 July 1958 (aged 32)	Reading	1988
Forwards
FW	Gary Blissett		29 June 1964 (aged 26)	Crewe Alexandra	1987
FW	Richard Cadette		21 March 1965 (aged 25)	Sheffield United	1988
FW	Marcus Gayle		27 September 1970 (aged 19)	Youth	1988	Loaned to KuPS
FW	Dean Holdsworth		8 November 1968 (aged 21)	Watford	1989
Players who left the club mid-season
GK	Tony Parks		26 January 1963 (aged 27)	Tottenham Hotspur	1988	Loaned to Queens Park Rangers and Fulham, transferred to Fulham
DF	Jim Carstairs		29 January 1971 (aged 19)	Arsenal	1991	Returned to Arsenal after loan
DF	Stuart Cash		5 September 1965 (aged 24)	Nottingham Forest	1990	Returned to Nottingham Forest after loan
MF	Garry Brooke		24 November 1960 (aged 29)	Wimbledon	1990	Released
MF	Eddie May		30 August 1967 (aged 22)	Hibernian	1989	Transferred to Falkirk

• Source: The Big Brentford Book Of The Nineties[6]

Coaching staff

Name	Role
Phil Holder	Manager
Wilf Rostron	Assistant Manager
Graham Pearce	First Team Coach
Roy Clare	Physiotherapist

Statistics

Appearances and goals

Substitute appearances in brackets.

Pos	Nat	Name	League		FA Cup		League Cup		FL Trophy		Play-offs		Total
			Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
GK		Graham Benstead	45	0	3	0	4	0	7	0	2	0	61	0
GK		Tony Parks	1	0	0	0	—		0	0	—		1	0
DF		Jamie Bates	30 (2)	2	0	0	4	1	4	0	2	0	40 (2)	3
DF		Jason Cousins	8	0	0	0	3	0	1 (1)	0	0	0	12 (1)	0
DF		Terry Evans	36	2	3	0	1 (1)	1	6	0	2	1	48 (1)	4
DF		Mark Fleming	18	1	3	0	2	0	4	0	0	0	27	1
DF		Clive Goodyear	10	0	—		—		1	0	0	0	11	0
DF		Keith Millen	31 (1)	2	3	1	4	0	3	0	2	0	41 (1)	3
MF		Garry Brooke	8 (3)	1	0 (1)	0	2	0	—		—		10 (4)	1
MF		Paul Buckle	24 (2)	0	2	0	2	0	4 (1)	0	0	0	32 (3)	0
MF		Allan Cockram	7 (13)	3	1 (2)	0	0	0	4 (2)	0	0	0	12 (17)	3
MF		Kevin Godfrey	26 (6)	4	2 (1)	0	4	1	3 (2)	0	1 (1)	1	36 (10)	6
MF		Keith Jones	45	6	3	2	4	1	6	1	2	0	60	10
MF		Eddie May	16 (1)	2	1	1	4	0	1	0	—		22 (1)	3
MF		Robbie Peters	6	1	—		0	0	—		0 (1)	0	6 (1)	1
MF		Simon Ratcliffe	34 (4)	2	3	0	0 (2)	0	6	0	2	0	45 (6)	2
MF		Wilf Rostron	18 (4)	2	—		—		2 (2)	0	2	0	22 (6)	2
MF		Neil Smilie	33 (3)	3	1	0	4	0	5	2	2	0	45 (3)	5
FW		Gary Blissett	22 (4)	10	3	2	0 (1)	0	3 (1)	3	2	0	30 (6)	15
FW		Richard Cadette	19 (9)	6	1	0	2 (2)	0	6	1	0	0	28 (11)	7
FW		Marcus Gayle	23 (10)	6	2 (1)	0	—		4 (2)	1	1 (1)	0	30 (14)	7
FW		Dean Holdsworth	27 (3)	5	2	3	2	0	4 (1)	1	2	0	37 (4)	9
Players loaned in during the season
DF		Jim Carstairs	8	0	—		—		3	0	—		11	0
DF		Stuart Cash	11	0	—		2	0	0 (1)	0	—		13 (1)	0

• Players listed in italics left the club mid-season.
• Source: The Big Brentford Book Of The Nineties[6]

Goalscorers

Pos.	Nat	Player	FL3	FAC	FLC	FLT	FLP	Total
FW		Gary Blissett	10	2	0	3	0	15
MF		Keith Jones	6	2	1	1	0	10
FW		Dean Holdsworth	5	3	0	1	0	9
FW		Marcus Gayle	6	0	—	1	0	7
FW		Richard Cadette	6	0	0	1	0	7
MF		Kevin Godfrey	4	0	1	0	1	5
MF		Neil Smilie	3	0	0	2	0	5
DF		Terry Evans	2	0	1	0	1	4
MF		Allan Cockram	3	0	0	0	0	3
MF		Eddie May	2	1	0	0	—	3
DF		Jamie Bates	2	0	1	0	0	3
DF		Keith Millen	2	1	0	0	0	3
MF		Wilf Rostron	2	—	—	0	0	2
MF		Simon Ratcliffe	2	0	0	0	0	2
MF		Garry Brooke	1	0	0	—	—	1
MF		Robbie Peters	1	—	0	—	0	1
DF		Mark Fleming	1	0	0	0	0	1
Opponents			1	0	0	0	0	1
Total			59	9	4	9	2	83

• Players listed in italics left the club mid-season.
• Source: The Big Brentford Book Of The Nineties[6]

Management

Name	Nat	From	To	Record All Comps					Record League
				P	W	D	L	W %	P	W	D	L	W %
Phil Holder		25 August 1990	22 May 1991	62	27	16	19	043.55|	46	21	13	12	045.65

Summary

Games played	62 (46 Third Division, 3 FA Cup, 4 League Cup, 7 Football League Trophy, 2 Football League play-offs)
Games won	27 (21 Third Division, 2 FA Cup, 1 League Cup, 3 Football League Trophy, 0 Football League play-offs)
Games drawn	16 (13 Third Division, 0 FA Cup, 0 League Cup, 2 Football League Trophy, 1 Football League play-offs)
Games lost	19 (12 Third Division, 1 FA Cup, 3 League Cup, 2 Football League Trophy, 1 Football League play-offs)
Goals scored	83 (59 Third Division, 9 FA Cup, 4 League Cup, 9 Football League Trophy, 2 Football League play-offs)
Goals conceded	63 (47 Third Division, 4 FA Cup, 5 League Cup, 4 Football League Trophy, 3 Football League play-offs)
Clean sheets	24 (18 Third Division, 1 FA Cup, 1 League Cup, 4 Football League Trophy, 0 Football League play-offs)
Biggest league win	6–1 versus Bradford City, 23 March 1991
Worst league defeat	4–0 versus Stoke City, 9 March 1991
Most appearances	61, Graham Benstead (45 Third Division, 3 FA Cup, 4 League Cup, 7 Football League Trophy, 2 Football League play-offs)
Top scorer (league)	10, Gary Blissett
Top scorer (all competitions)	15, Gary Blissett

Transfers & loans

Players transferred in
Date	Pos.	Name	Previous Club	Fee	Ref.
July 1990	GK	Graham Benstead	Sheffield United	£70,000	[7]
August 1990	MF	Garry Brooke	Wimbledon	Free	[2]
January 1991	MF	Wilf Rostron	Sheffield United	Free	[8]
March 1991	DF	Clive Goodyear	Wimbledon	Free	[9]
April 1991	GK	Laurence Batty	Fulham	Free	[9]
Players loaned in
Date from	Pos.	Name	From	Date to	Ref.
September 1990	DF	Stuart Cash	Nottingham Forest	December 1990	[2]
February 1991	DF	Jim Carstairs	Arsenal	April 1991	[8]
February 1991	GK	Laurence Batty	Fulham	April 1991	[8]
Players transferred out
Date	Pos.	Name	Subsequent club	Fee	Ref.
30 July 1990	DF	Roger Stanislaus	Bury	£90,000	[10]
15 March 1991	MF	Eddie May	Falkirk	£75,000	[9]
April 1991	GK	Tony Parks	Fulham	Free	[9]
Players loaned out
Date from	Pos.	Name	To	Date to	Ref.
March 1990	FW	Marcus Gayle	KuPS	October 1990	[2]
August 1990	GK	Tony Parks	Queens Park Rangers	September 1990	[10]
September 1990	DF	John Buttigieg	Swindon Town	October 1990	[2]
November 1990	MF	Khotso Moabi	St Albans City	January 1991	[11]
November 1990	DF	Fergus Moore	Yeading	December 1990	[11]
November 1990	MF	Robbie Peters	St Albans City	April 1991	[11]
February 1991	GK	Tony Parks	Fulham	April 1991	[8]
Players released
Date	Pos.	Name	Subsequent club	Join date	Ref.
December 1990	MF	Garry Brooke	Baldock Town	1990	[11]
January 1991	MF	Khotso Moabi	St Albans City	January 1991	[8]
February 1991	DF	Fergus Moore	Staines Town	n/a	[8]
30 June 1991	GK	Laurence Batty	Woking	1991	[12]
30 June 1991	DF	John Buttigieg	Floriana	1991	[12]
30 June 1991	MF	Allan Cockram	Woking	1991	[12]
30 June 1991	DF	Clive Goodyear	Ernest Borel	1991	[12]

Kit

Supplier: Chad
Sponsor(s): KLM

Home

Away

Source: Brentford F.C.

Awards

• Supporters' Player of the Year: Graham Benstead[13]
• Players' Player of the Year: Graham Benstead[13]
• Football League Third Division PFA Team of the Year: Keith Jones[9]
• Football League Third Division Manager of the Month: Phil Holder (December 1990)[14]

References

1. Croxford, Mark; Lane, David; Waterman, Greville (2013). The Big Brentford Book Of The Nineties. Sunbury, Middlesex: Legends Publishing. p. 40. ISBN 9781906796723.
2. Croxford, Lane & Waterman 2013, p. 41.
3. Haynes, Graham; Coumbe, Frank (2006). Timeless Bees: Brentford F.C. Who's Who 1920–2006. Yore Publications. p. 182. ISBN 978-0955294914.
4. "Brentford results for the 1990-1991 season - Statto.com". Statto.com. Archived from the original on 1 June 2016. Retrieved 6 May 2016.
5. Croxford, Lane & Waterman 2013, p. 22-39.
6. Croxford, Lane & Waterman 2013, p. 476.
7. "Graham Benstead". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 2 January 2019.
8. Croxford, Lane & Waterman 2013, p. 44.
9. Croxford, Lane & Waterman 2013, p. 45.
10. Croxford, Lane & Waterman 2013, p. 40.
11. Croxford, Lane & Waterman 2013, p. 42.
12. Croxford, Lane & Waterman 2013, p. 46.
13. Croxford, Lane & Waterman 2013, p. 445.
14. Croxford, Lane & Waterman 2013, p. 43.