New home needed if Bees are to emulate City's meteoric rise (From Your Local Guardian)

New home needed if Bees are to emulate City's meteoric rise

9:43am Friday 30th May 2008

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Brentford fans, dare to dream.

When Dean Windass's spectacular volley won the Championship Play-off Final for Hull City at Wembley on Saturday, it completed a tumultuous journey throughout the Football League.

The Tigers were in League Two when I moved to what is commonly referred to as "Britain's crappest city" at the end of 2003.

But, under then-chairman Adam Pearson, they had just moved into the KC Stadium and, after the dark days of being locked out of Boothferry Park and placed in administration, the clouds were beginning to clear.

Crowds of more than 20,000 regularly flocked to their shiny new home, carrying Peter Taylor's City to automatic promotion to League One.

The rumblings of a black and amber revolution were enough to draw Hull's prodigal son, Nicky Barmby, back home in the summer of 2004, and he helped mastermind a second successive promotion.

Their first season back in the second tier for 100 years was steady, and proved enough for clubs to come sniffing around Taylor, who eventually moved to Crystal Palace. (He has since been sacked by them and Stevenage Borough - talk about contrasting fortunes!) City struggled under new boss Phil Parkinson and only just avoided relegation last season, but what a turnaround under their new boss Phil Brown in this campaign.

With another favourite son in Windass among their numbers, Hull produced a storming second half of the season, nearly stole automatic promotion and finished the job against Bristol City at Wembley on Saturday. From League Two to the Premier League in five seasons - what price Andy Scott doing the same with Brentford?

It's a monumental task and one that is surely insurmountable with a budget limited by an average home gate of 4,300.

If the Bees have any chance of emulating Hull, they need to move to a swanky new stadium, too. The wheels have been set in motion. The Lionel Road site has been secured and the club is looking into the possibility of ground-sharing with another local club to generate some much-needed income.

Relegation to League Two was the result of selling the Bees' best players to balance the books and, regardless of Scott's management skills, cash needs to be spent if promotions are to be achieved. But they also need some outside investment, and moving to a new ground would make them a far more attractive proposition.