Brentford have taken the Championship by storm.
But how has a team of largely unheralded players established themselves in the play-off places?
To find out the secret of the Bees’ success, The Gazette's Boro editor Philip Tallentire spoke to new boy Adam Forshaw about his time at Griffin Park.
There's no doubt about it, Brentford are this season’s surprise package in the Championship.
Leaders Bournemouth have also done incredibly well, but the Cherries showed last season they had to be respected and manager Eddie Howe has benefited from significant investment in players.
The Bees have come from nowhere – well, League One – to compete for a top six finish.
Ahead of their televised fixture against Boro, they trail the leaders by just two points.
It’s a remarkable achievement by manager Mark Warburton, who took charge at Griffin Park little more than a year ago, and his players.
Adam Forshaw enjoyed two extremely successful seasons at Griffin Park, though the first ended in heartbreak when the Bees blew automatic promotion on the final day of the 2012/13 season when Uwe Rosler was in charge.
Forshaw was on the bench when his team-mate Marcello Trotta hit the crossbar with a stoppage time penalty.
Had he converted it, Brentford would have won the game and sealed promotion. Instead, Doncaster broke away and scored the winner clinch the League One title.
To compound their misery, the Bees went on to lose the League One play-off final at Wembley.
However, a year later, the club won promotion under Warburton, who replace Rosler six months earlier when the German took charge of Wigan.
Forshaw didn’t play for Brentford in the Championship. He was injured at the start of the season and, on transfer deadline day, followed Rosler to Wigan.
He’s now a Boro player and could make his debut at Griffin Park tomorrow.
The 23-year-old says there’s no secret to his former club’s success, just togetherness and hardwork.
“When I was there the changing room, the squad’s togetherness was brilliant, as good as you are going to get,” he explained.
“Everyone is fighting for each other and it’s a team game at the end of the day. The belief that was installed into them from the staff was brilliant.
“They’ve got a great set of players, players that maybe aren’t as big names as other players in the Championship but they are really good footballers and they’ve got a massive togetherness in the dressing room.
“They had great support from the fans so a lot of things were going well for them at the time and they have continued that momentum.
“The fact that they did so well last year, maybe momentum has carried them through this year, it’s just installing belief in players and when players are confident there are no limits most of the time.
“I think everyone is looking at it and thinking they’ve got to fall off eventually,” he added, “but it hasn’t happened so far.
“The owners is putting towards a news stadium so they are definitely heading in the right direction, so who knows what they can do come the end of the season, let’s wait and see.
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Griffin Park
Brentford have only lost twice at home this season and Forshaw believes the atmosphere at Griffin Park is a major asset.
“I think they thrive on that, it’s a bit of a fortress for them, the fans are really close to the pitch, it’s a proper family feel club so I think they do rely on that, the home form is important for them,” he said.
“It will be the first time I’ve been back there and I don’t know what sort of reception I’ll get.
“I would like to say I gave my all in the three years I was there and the fans were brilliant to me, everything there was really good and they are on the up so it will be a really good game on Saturday.”
While Forshaw is happy to praise his former club, he’s made it crystal clear that he’s absolutely delighted to now be a Boro player following his move from Wigan earlier this week.
“It came as a bit of a surprise,” he admitted. “I was in the middle of a relegation battle at Wigan and I got a call from my agent saying that Middlesbrough were really interested so I was over the moon with that and I’m just happy to be here now.
“It was a tough six months for me and the team, the choice I made to go to Wigan in the summer was to try make the next step in my career but unfortunately it was a bit stop-start with the manager being sacked and a lot of players coming in and going out.
“It was a bit of a turbulent time and I didn’t have a great time but I’m now looking forward to my time with Middlesbrough.
“It’s lovely, I’m really happy that I’m here and I’ve got the chance to play for a good club like this with great players, great fans and a really good manager and staff as well. I’m just relishing the opportunity and hopefully we can play in the Premier League next year.
“Everyone you speak to say Middlesbrough are one of the best sides in this league without a doubt.
“They have the best players and have a good manager and a good fanbase, everything is set up for them to go to the next level and go to the Premier League.”
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