Cliff Crown, Brentford chair: I'm proud of our progress in 2024 | OneFootball

I want to start by thanking all of our fans for their incredible support throughout the season so far.

Our progress to date is largely because of the people who work at and support the club. The club and I are grateful for you being with us through the difficult times, as well as our moments of success.

As we head into 2025, it’s a good time to look ahead with hope and enthusiasm. And, with that, I want to reflect on how we’ve been building our club over the last year, while staying true to our roots.

Through diligent planning, we had active transfer windows this year bringing in exciting new talent including Yunus Emre Konak, Igor Thiago, Fábio Carvalho and Gustavo Nunes, to name a few. We also said farewell to one of the most iconic players in the club’s history, Ivan Toney, whose goals were instrumental in getting us to the Premier League. We now look to the future with our current squad, as we continue our progress in the top flight.

We’re proud of our contribution to the Premier League so far, which has meant we’ve earned praise for our home form performances and the entertainment we have provided. I can safely say these compliments are a direct result of the tremendous hard work by our football department and players who seek to improve themselves day in, day out.

Across the club, we have continued to see steady progress with our women’s teams who have been a joy to watch. Just a few weeks ago, Brentford Women made history by making it to the third round of the Adobe FA Cup. The team have been no stranger to hat-tricks and big scorelines this season, with their biggest result being a 15-0 win against Richmond Park. Brentford Women B have also had a great year, earning promotion from the Greater London Division One North League. We continue to invest in our women’s teams, and I look forward to seeing their developments next year.

In May, we also began constructing our new academy facilities at Jersey Road alongside the Robert Rowan Performance Centre. This expansion is to help progress our youth development plans and support the next generation of talent in west London. This has been an exciting opportunity for us, and it’s been fantastic to see how our academy is developing, now that we have achieved Category 2 status.

While we have made positive developments on the field, we must also remember those we’ve lost this year. In April, we sadly lost Paul Bence, who spent almost seven seasons with us for most of the 1970s. After being inducted into our Hall of Fame only last month, former Scottish winger John Docherty died just a couple of weeks ago. John was instrumental in our Fourth Division promotion in the 1971/72 season. Former midfielder and manager Barry Lloyd also passed away this year. The club and I will be thinking of them all and their families during the festive period.

Off the field, we have continued to put affordable football, innovation, sustainability, equity, diversity and inclusion at the centre of the club. Most recently, we introduced Gen10, where travelling junior fans will pay no more than £10 to watch Brentford in the Premier League. We want to ensure football is kept affordable, especially for our young fans so they can enjoy watching the team they love. Initiatives such as Gen10 are a part of our vision where Brentford isn’t just a football club, but a force for good. These are building blocks and investments for the future.

This year we also teamed up with Trainline and the I Came By Train campaign to give Brentford fans travelling to away matches 20 per cent off train fares. At our recent Fans Forum, CEO Jon Varney also announced that our season ticket prices for 2025/26 will be frozen. At a time where we’re still feeling the effects of high living costs, we know the importance of keeping football affordable for our supporters.

We hope Bees fans have felt the impact of improved ticketing policies through Every Seat Counts and measures introduced to tackle ticket touting. We’re committed to ensuring that we keep our stadium full of Brentford fans, showing their support for our team. We recognise access to football tickets and the related expense can be a barrier for some, and we want to help build solutions to this.

This season we’ve also put a lot of effort into elevating our work in sustainability. We recently launched our first-ever sustainability report covering the 2023/24 season. This document lays out how we will approach sustainability and our plans ahead to protect our planet and help our partners and fans to do the same.

We’re also immensely proud of our Heart of West London partnership. We held an event in August to mark its two-year anniversary, bringing together partners of the initiative and fans who have played a crucial part in fundraising.

We’ve been fortunate to have some of our hard work at the club recognised in the industry. Last month, our Thousands of Stories film series was awarded a Broadcast Sport Award for Short Form Content of the Year. Our equity, diversity and inclusion department won a Sports Business Award this month, after picking up a gold Football Business Award in May. This shows the huge strides we’ve made in this area thanks to our team.

As we bring in the new year, there is a lot to look forward to at Brentford in 2025. We’re excited about the challenges ahead as we look to build on our performances to date. We can’t wait to see our fans at a rocking Gtech for the rest of the journey ahead.

Wishing you and your family a very Merry Christmas and a happy, healthy New Year.