FanFestLive: NYC Bees earn top billing on Premier League show

As part of the Premier League FanFest Live show running for the past few weeks, NYC Bees co-founder Charlie Corr and the NYC Bees earned top billing in the latest program on Sunday, Dec. 17.

The opening 7-plus minutes were dedicated to the Brentford FC supporters group based in Manhattan, providing potentially new viewers an opportunity to hear about the NYC Bees' formation and history since calling The Red Lion and Greenwich Village their home base.

This show was part of a 30-minute supporters feature following the Brentford-Aston Villa match and a lead-in to the day's Manchester United-Liverpool game. It marked the fourth time Corr and the NYC Bees participated with FanFest Live, who have produced multiple Premier League shows in 2023 during the regular season as well as the PL Summer Series.

For more, visit fanfest.show/premierleague.

FanFestLive: NYC Bees' Corr joins exclusive Festive Fixture series

NYC Bees Co-Founder Charlie Corr is among an exclusive Premier League super fan group as the league and FanFest Live launched its Festive Fixture podcast series in December. Corr and the panel met on Sunday, Dec. 3, as a prelude to the Manchester City-Tottenham fixture.

While part of the segment was dedicated to the Man City-Spurs match, a heavy portion focused on American footballing fandom as a whole, providing an opportunity to tout the growing Brentford support taking place in New York City and at The Red Lion. Man City's group even commended the work of the NYC Bees during the show.

This is a recurring 20- to 30-minute show throughout December, with plans to host six interactive podcast shows.

Corr previously represented Brentford for FanFest Live's preseason coverage during the Premier League Summer Series.

NYC Bees Newsletter: December, FanZone, NBC Spot, News & Notes

Hi NYC Bees, we're in for a jam-packed stretch! Here are a bunch of updates, news and more:

December Schedule
We close out the 2023 portion of our schedule with six December fixtures, starting with our first matchup against newly promoted Luton Town on Dec. 2. Unfortunately we won't have a Boxing Day match now, as three of these games had been rescheduled. The Red Lion is open for the full December itinerary, so we hope to see you there! See the graphic for dates and kickoff times.

More on NYC Bees: Instagram | Twitter | Media Hub

Joining Premier League's FanZone
In the lead-up to Brentford's victory against West Ham (our third consecutive win), I was fortunate to join the broadcast of Premier League FanZone show on Nov. 3. We had an appearance or two during our first EPL season, so it's been a while since our last spot. We'd love to get more Bees supporters involved so your voices are heard! If you submit your name, the club you support and your location via Skype, you can potentially be on their show, which runs twice a week on Mondays and Fridays. Feel free to contact me, as well, for further information and guidance.

NYC Bees on NBC for Rebecca Lowe B-Day Segment
Nov. 11 marked the birthday of NBC Sports anchor Rebecca Lowe, and the NYC Bees took part in the celebratory segment that day. Our supporters got some airtime in wishing Rebecca a Happy Birthday as part of a montage filmed at The Red Lion the week before. Lowe, of course, is married to former Bees player Paul Buckle. The NYC Bees were second on the montage, drawing a nice reaction from Rebecca who was watching her monitor. Thank you to the league and For Soccer marketing for including us: We were the only Brentford group (among eight selected fan bases) and the only NYC-based Premier League group on this segment, so it certainly says a lot about our impact in drawing this exclusive opportunity!

Brentford News & Notes
Phil Giles Interview with BIAS: The Brentford Independent Association of Supporters (BIAS) secured an exclusive interview with Brentford Director of Football Phil Giles. The conversation was released following the BIAS AGM on Nov. 15, and Giles discussed the January transfer window, Ivan Toney, VAR, the club's development and much more. Membership to BIAS is free, so visit their site or email feedback@bias.org.uk if you are interested in more information.

Ghoddos earns PL Goal Honor: Midfielder Saman Ghoddos took home the honor of Premier League Goal of the Month in October, for his long-distance strike against Burnley that secured a 3-0 Brentford victory. The Iran international, who was released by the club in the summer, eventually re-signed with the Bees in August for the 2023-24 season.

Yarmoliuk Makes First PL Start: With the bevy of injury news surrounding this club, it was nice to see a positive moment as 19-year-old Yehor Yarmoliuk garnered his first Premier League start during Brentford's match against Arsenal. Yarmoliuk was thrust into the Starting XI with the absence of Mathias Jensen. The Ukrainian joined the Bees in July of 2022, and most recently on the international side he was playing for Ukraine's U-21s earlier this month. 

Quick Hits: In big Premier League news on Nov. 17, Everton was deducted 10 points for a breach of the Premier League's Profitability and Sustainability Rules (PSRs). At the time of the independent commission's decision, Everton fell to 19th place in the league table. Brentford lost 3-1 to Everton back in September. ... Brentford reopened Wheatsheaf Park on Oct. 31 as the home grounds for the club's B Team and U-18 fixtures, and there is potential for the women's teams to play there down the road. ... A total of 16 Brentford players (11 senior teamers) were called up for their respective nations during the November international window.

Suggestions, Comments, Feedback
If you ever have any thoughts, feel free to email (brentfordnyc@gmail.com) or chat with me anytime! #COYB!

Charlie

NYC Bees Send Rebecca Lowe Birthday Wishes on NBC

The NYC Brentford supporters, and a select group of other fan supporters within The Premier League, were on NBC to wish NBC Sports anchor Rebecca Lowe a Happy Birthday on Nov. 11. The highly touted host received the surprise toward the end of the day's Premier League coverage on their Goal Zone program.

The NYC Bees were the second fan group highlighted, drawing a nice moment from Lowe who was watching the monitor to soak in the supporters' reactions.

Thank you to the league and For Soccer marketing for coordinating with us and including our fan group. We were the only Brentford supporters and the only New York City-based group to be part of this, so that certainly speaks some volumes, considering how many other Premier League club supporters groups call NYC home.

NYC Bees Make Appearance on Premier League FanZone

In the lead-up to Brentford's match against West Ham, NYC Bees Co-Founder Charlie Corr joined the broadcast of the Premier League FanZone show on Nov. 3. It was the NYC group's first appearance since the club's opening Premier League season.

We would love to get more USA-based Bees supporters involved so your voices are heard. If you submit your name, the club you support and your location via Skype, you can potentially be on their show, which runs twice a week on Mondays and Fridays.

Contact the NYC Bees for further information, as well.

NYC Bees Newsletter: November, Newlyweds, News & Notes

Hello again fellow NYC Bees! Here are a few updates, notes and more:

November Schedule
The NYC Bees are gearing up for three November matches at The Red Lion. We start with a home game against West Ham on Saturday, Nov. 4 (11 a.m. ET), followed by Liverpool on Sunday, Nov. 12 (9 a.m. ET). The Brentford-Arsenal match on Saturday, Nov. 25 (12:30 p.m. ET) will be on our docket, but we also realize that this takes place during Thanksgiving Weekend. Even if folks will be out of town, we'll still try and get a good group together for this; Red Lion's hours remain the same during the holiday stretch.

Our daylight savings time takes place the day after the Brentford-West Ham matchup, so we'll be 4 hours behind the UK for that one and then back to 5 hours behind for the other two matches. Additionally, Brentford announced four schedule updates in December and January.

More on NYC Bees: Instagram | Twitter | Media Hub

Newlywed NYC Bees
Shoutout to Abhi Goyal and Alison Roberts who just got married on Oct. 14! The ceremony took place on a weekend that didn't feature a Brentford match, so clearly they put some thoughtful planning into this! We enjoy having you as part of our NYC Bees fam, and we wish you many happy times and memories! CONGRATULATIONS!

Brentford News & Notes
Historic Feat Against Chelsea: With Brentford coming off a 2-0 victory at Chelsea this past Saturday, the Bees also made some significant history. Brentford is the first Premier League team to win each of its first three matches against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in league play. Since April, Brentford has earned two wins on Chelsea's home ground, versus the Blues' ONE.

Pinnock, Defensive Group Stepping Up: Brentford has garnered back-to-back shutout victories, with center back Ethan Pinnock making his presence felt on both sides of the pitch, including the winning header against Chelsea. It shouldn't come as a surprise that this success has coincided with some returnees. Goalkeeper Mark Flekken has two clean sheets after an appendicitis injury kept him out against Manchester United. Outside back Aaron Hickey returned after missing Burnley due to a yellow card accumulation suspension. Center back Ben Mee (muscle strain) has been an available bench option the past two games. Nothing will fully overcome the season-long absence of Rico Henry, but with the increased defensive depth and important contributions from Nathan Collins and Kristoffer Ajer, things are on an upward trajectory.

Toney Working Back With B Team: Forever Ivan Toney, serving his suspension for betting rules violations, has been back in training with the club since mid-September. Toney is not allowed in first-team match activity until mid-January, but he is getting some valuable minutes through the Brentford B Team. Toney's first match action took place on Oct. 3, when he scored a goal during the B Team's 2-2 draw against Italian club Como. If Brentford is still in Toney's and the club's plans come the new year, the striker could be first available on Jan. 20 against Nottingham Forest.

Thomas Frank: 5 Years and Counting: Mid-October marked the first-year anniversary of the appointment of Thomas Frank as Brentford's manager. Interestingly, among this season's Premier League club managers, only two others have served longer consecutive tenures with their respective clubs: Liverpool's Jurgen Klopp and Manchester City's Pep Guardiola.

New Academy Director: Brentford recently hired Steve Torpey as the club's new Academy Director and will begin this role starting in January. Torpey is the head of coaching at Manchester City, and he introduced a "Barcelona style" coaching system into City's academy. Torpey previously was an academy coach at Liverpool, where he also was a youth player for six years in the late 1990s/early 2000s. Some pretty impressive credentials!

Quick Hits: A nice surprise this past week: We received a Brentford-USA flag from some Red Lion visitors on Thursday. ... At halftime on Saturday, one of our recent meet-up photos made the USA Network broadcast. As always, keep tagging those photos with #MyPLMorning for the possibility of making the NBC or USA broadcasts throughout the season!

Suggestions, Comments, Feedback
If you ever have any thoughts, feel free to email (brentfordnyc@gmail.com) or chat with my anytime! #COYB!

Charlie

Forever Bees Podcast: Red Lion, USA Supporters Promo

Tim Searls of the Brentford FC podcast "Across the Seas But Forever Bees," provided a nice shoutout regarding USA-based supporters groups at the start of his latest episode on Oct. 5.

Searls has been a strong advocate of promoting the growing number of American Bees supporters, particularly the NYC Bees and The Red Lion, which he mentioned again here. The opening of this pod just serves as a reminder to reach out to him as we collectively promote our fandom and respective watch events in the various markets stateside.

The full episode is available here:

NYC Bees Newsletter: October Slate, NYC on NBC, News & Notes

Greetings NYC Bees! Here are some updates for you:

Meeting for Three of Four October Matches

The October slate kicks off this Sunday, and we will be getting together for three of the four Brentford matches this upcoming month. The Red Lion will open early for us on Sunday, Oct. 1, for the 9 a.m. ET match against Nottingham Forest. Manchester United (Oct. 7) and Burnley (Oct. 21) are at normal 10 a.m. ET kickoff times. However, we will NOT be meeting for the 7:30 a.m. ET match against Chelsea on Oct. 28 as that kickoff time was bumped up.

Further down the road, the Brentford-Liverpool match for November is now set for 9 a.m. ET on Sunday, Nov. 12 (which we will meet up for at The Red Lion). That was previously scheduled for Nov. 11.

More on NYC Bees: Instagram | Twitter | Media Hub

NYC Bees on NBC

We landed some impressive fan representation during our back-to-back September matches on NBC! The NYC Bees and our visiting supporters were shown at halftime of both the Sept. 16 match against Newcastle and the Sept. 23 game against Everton!

For all Brentford matches on NBC or USA Network, you can potentially land on the respective broadcasts by donning your Bees gear and posting on social media with the #MyPLMorning hashtag. The Peacock broadcasts do not have pregame and halftime segments where this imagery is utilized, only NBC and USA.

The NYC Bees also found their way to the Premier League's USA social media on Thursday!

Biggest Red Lion Support

We don't exactly tabulate like we're walking through turnstiles, but it is safe to say that the final two league matches of our September meet-ups combined for the largest two-game turnout of supporters at The Red Lion! So thank you for the continued support week in and week out, we really appreciate it!

The Sept. 23 Brentford-Everton watch party was likely our largest to date, as I estimated more than 40 Bees supporters at the pub. We've had some amazing turnouts, but to be able to encourage The Red Lion staff to swap out multiple Rugby World Cup screens mid-match, in favor of Brentford on back-to-back weekends, that speaks volumes!

Brentford News & Notes

Schade 'Out For Months': Manager Thomas Frank and the club announced that Kevin Schade "will be out for months" as he requires surgery for a groin injury he suffered during warm-ups leading into the Everton match. Defender Ben Mee is also out several weeks for a muscle injury, and Mikkel Damsgaard is dealing with knee issues, which requires him seeing a specialist.

Mbeumo Sitting on 4 Goals: Despite back-to-back matches without a goal, Bryan Mbeumo enters the weekend tied for third in the Premier League with 4 goals this season -- a total that already equals his entire output in 2021-22, and is on pace to easily surpass last season's 9-goal tally.

Brentford Bows Out of Carabao Cup: The Bees fell 1-0 to Arsenal on Wednesday in the third round of the Carabao Cup, conceding an early first-half goal. Considering the mounting injuries and significant absences -- Ivan Toney (suspension), Rico Henry (likely out for season), Kevin Schade, Ben Mee, etc. -- the elimination from this competition might be for the best!

Suggestions, Comments, Feedback

If you ever have any thoughts, free to email (brentfordnyc@gmail.com) or chat with me anytime! #COYB!

Charlie