ICE-COLD EDDIE

DAVID OHL LOOKS BACK AT THE CAREER OF A TRUE BRENTFORD STALWART...

- David Ohl

The Bees were the only side promoted in 2020-21 not to be relegated the following season. Runaway champions Norwich City finished bottom of the Premier League with just 22 points and runners-up Watford ended up just one point and a single place above them.

However, Brentford seem to have had more than their fair share of medium and long-term injury problems since reaching the top flight. The club looked at a number of ways to evaluate and prevent these from happening.

They even changed most of the medical team, after a review revealed that something wasn't quite right at the Gtech Community Stadium.

A number of high profile and costly signings, like Aaron Hickey, Igor Thiago, Gustavo Nunes and Fabio Carvalho, were all out with long-term injuries missing all or most of last season.

You can always tell who are the older, legacy supporters in the crowd. You hear them shouting from the stands 'We didn't have these problems when Eddie Lyons was here' to the bemusement of some of the newer fans, who have only known the Bees play in the Championship and Premier League.

So, who was Eddie Lyons? At Brentford, he has become a positive symbol of 'old-school' football.

Albert Edward Lyons was born in Rochdale in 1920 and retained a very strong Lancashire accent all his life. When my brothers and I met him once on a club stadium tour at the old Griffin Park ground, we found him really friendly but so difficult to understand.

We did get the feeling his heart was in the right place and could sense his passion for the team and for the club.

His footballing career was pretty undistinguished as a fullback in the lower divisions of the Football League. His career started in the Second World War days at Stockport County, when the League was suspended, before moving on to Bury, where he made a couple of official appearances.