TRY telling the fans who flocked to Griffin Park, flares lit, singing the kit man’s name as he strolled out grinning after the final whistle, that lockdown football lacks excitement.

For all the headlines about a very quiet farewell, their roaring from the Brook Road gate filled their home one last time, as staff celebrated with beers and a kickabout on the turf.

If sending the place off had threatened to overshadow Brentford’s performance, the players — between a route-one smash-and-grab, two team triumphs and Pontus Jansson’s defensive howler — went some way to sum up what the club is now made of: the old second-tier simplicity and a knack for creating their own hard luck, but clinical, tenacious, scintillating football, too.
 
The roaring went on as Thomas Frank summed this ethos up himself, emerging onto a video call full of a beer or two. The inevitable Griffin Park question earned a very Frank response — calmly stating that much analysis was required after Barnsley snatched a win, and Brentford’s automatic promotion, away from the ground’s last regular-season tie.
 
But he’s not cold, just clinical.