Ben Burgess became a fan favourite at Griffin Park during the 2001/02 campaign, netting 18 goals in 51 appearances while on loan from Blackburn Rovers. In total, Ben led the line for ten clubs during a 14-year career.

Now a teacher in Lancashire, Ben still keeps a close eye on the Bees and will be providing his thoughts ahead of each game this season.

Settling in

Players are often given an initiation of sorts when they begin life at a new club. That’s tough enough but, once that hurdle has been cleared, there is the small matter of finding somewhere for you and your family to live. During my playing days, this was an area that clubs often overlooked and neglected.

Players were signed for millions of pounds and then left to figure out where to live, how to open a bank account and even how to speak the language. Thankfully, I never really had a problem with language when moving around my various clubs in England (apart from Steve Sidwell’s rhyming slang!)

Whenever I signed for a club, there would be a portion of money in my contract for ‘relocation’, which included expenses like rent, removal companies and estate agents’ fees. That was the extent of the help I (and every other player) received. If you were lucky, one of the current players would tell you roughly which areas to live in and which to avoid.

When you’re on loan, as I was at Brentford, the club sort your accommodation for you. I remember living near Kingston. I had only been there for a couple of days before making my debut and scoring against Port Vale. To celebrate, I went out for a few beers with some of the boys. It got to around 1am and I hopped in a taxi feeling slightly worse for wear. “Where to, guv’nor?” enquired the driver. And that’s where my night unraveled - I didn’t have a clue! It took three hours to find where I was staying!

Player liaison

Nowadays, clubs are far more advanced with player welfare. Most clubs have a designated player liaison officer, who can usually be contacted at any time and for practically any request.

Obviously, this will differ slightly from club to club, but it makes sense to let these multi-million pound investments concentrate on their main job of playing football, and not wandering around trying to find the right school, house or restaurant.

Returning to a former club

Today will see Christian Eriksen return to the Gtech alongside his new team-mates. I am positive he will receive a far warmer welcome from the Bees faithful than the taunts and threats I received when returning to Oldham. Admittedly, Eriksen contributed far more than I ever did for the Latics!

I liked going back to my former clubs because I generally enjoyed my time there, and the fans were good to me. The season after my spell at Brentford, I made the ill-fated decision to sign for Stockport County. When the Bees visited Edgely Park, I received a lovely welcome from you Brentford fans. It was not so lovely from my own fans, however. In fact, I received quite a bit of criticism for clapping the travelling fans after the game.

Eriksen’s contribution to Brentford’s success last season cannot be underestimated; his quality, composure and influence on those around him came at the perfect time for Thomas Frank’s men.

You get the sense that it was not an easy decision for him to leave TW8, but the opportunity to play for arguably the biggest club of his career, after everything he’s been through, was too much to turn down.

The only question now is, will it be Eriksen or Cristiano Ronaldo on free-kicks?