Founded in 1889, Brentford Football Club returned to the Premier League after 74 years of playing in the lower divisions, and their return was marked by triumph against one of the league’s top clubs, Arsenal.
Sergi Canós and Christian Norgaard were the players who broke the nets of the rivals and made their fans explode in joy at the great result. Of all the fans, a senior man named Derek Burridge, 88, stood out.
Burridge was in the stadium in the last game they played in the first division, and now 74 years later he attended the return of his team. In an interview he gave to the Indy100 medium, he recounted: “I was 14 years old at the time and in those days, just after the war, there was nothing on television; anyone who wanted to see a soccer game had to go. Today this it’s great for everyone. “
At the end of the game, television cameras caught Derek Burridge clapping, singing and crying.
And it is that the fan of the bees, nickname of the Brentford because in his shield is that insect, has high hopes about his performance on the pitch: “this team has a lot of history and many people behind that I am sure will defend each this season’s game. “
The man behind Brentford’s success is Matthew Benham, a former professional poker player, betting house owner and data analytics firm who has always been a fan of the team.
Their appearance in the history of the bees was in 2007, when they were playing in the fourth division and were about to descend to the semi-professional leagues, so Benham invested in them 3 million pounds, about 4 million dollars.
With that investment he managed to rise to the third division. In 2012 he bought all the shares of the club and two years later managed to promote them to the Championship, the second division of England.
Matthew’s success is due to applying all the knowledge gained with his data analytics company. In a report by El País, they point out that the former poker player began to sign underrated players, but with great potential. In this way, he made footballers grow and then sold them at high prices.
A great example of this was the purchase of fourth division player Ollie Watkins for 7 million, then sold him to Aston Villa for 34 million.
Now that they are back in the Premier League their aspirations are to reach a good place in the general table and continue to climb, as they have done without stopping since 2007.
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