Paul Merson has given an interview with the Official web site in which he says he quite understands the frustration the fans are feeling over his tenure as manager.

He said: “We were simply not good enough at Swindon. The two biggest attributes in football are heart and enthusiasm and the players did not show of this on Tuesday evening.

I blame myself for that. The fans were right to criticise me; they’re not silly, they can see things and I totally understand and accept their frustration. They want to see passion and hard work but this has been lacking all too often.

The players that we have here now are good enough to get us away from danger and we are working hard to put things right. I accept that players can’t play well every week, but in our case too many of them seem to have an off-day at the same time.

The most interesting part of the interview was the last statement: “I have had a long meeting with the Chairman and know exactly what is expected of me in these forthcoming games, so we will all pull together and look to move away from danger.”

There are many ways this might be interpreted, but the most likely is that he has been told that we must pull away from the relegation zone quickly or else. Dare I say it, but this sounds like the dreaded “vote of confidence” from the Chairman.

We shouldn’t really be encouraging fans to drink in the present circumstances, should we? Still, here goes:-

Here we go again, the grass will be two feet long at Bescot by now.

Rising like a mirage at the end of the joyless desert of five successive away games is Griffin Park, a stadium named after a brewery, with a pub at each of its corners, the legendary Brentford Four.

It’s best to start with the Royal Oak on New Road (to the right of the home end as you approach from the away end or to the left from Brentford station). This Courage House is the smallest of the four and tends not to let anyone in after about 2pm and is a mighty fine hostelry, although a little small for a pre-match pub and somewhat home orientated.

Moving round the ground anti-clockwise from the away end you have the more spacious oddly shaped “Griffin” which is a Fullers house boasting several real ales, and then heading back up the other side of the ground to Ealing Road the Princess Royal that also serves Fullers. The latter was closed last year having been bought by the Bees and refurbished but is now thankfully back in business.

Finally back on New Road there is the pick of the bunch for away fans, that being the New Inn. This is another that treats its patrons to an excellent pint of Directors, but importantly the staff are superb, the sarnies gargantuan, and it’s the kind of pub that sends one off to a freezing open terrace temporarily numb with contentment, and a feeling that maybe today will be Walsall’s day.

Then the match starts.

The New Inn also does B and B for those who fall totally in love with the place, and with a great juke-box, pool-table, and outlandishly flirtatious barmaids it’s on my list of retirement homes.

There are some pubs on Brentford High St. None of which are necessary in the context of a trip to Griffin Park, although for anyone arriving at Brentford station the Kings Arms is adjacent if you need a piddle and a pint of London Pride, although on my last visit there seemed little distinction between the two.