In 2013/14, Brentford finished runners-up in League One. It was the Bees’ first promotion to the second tier in more than 20 years and marked the beginning of the club’s eventual rise to the Premier League.

To celebrate the 10-year anniversary of Brentford’s 2013/14 promotion-winning campaign, we’re speaking with the key members of the squad and staff to discover the secrets of a successful season.

Next up is former Bees midfielder Alan Judge, whose mix of industry and creativity made him a fan favourite at Griffin Park - especially as it was his penalty against Preston North End that sent the Bees up to the Championship

When Alan Judge signed for Blackburn in the summer of 2014, he was hoping for a second chance to make an impact at Ewood Park.

He had come over from his native Ireland to join Rovers as an 18-year-old in 2006 and progressed to the first-team setup, yet, when he left for Notts County in January 2011, he had made just two appearances in cup competitions for the club.

Things went swimmingly at Meadow Lane over the next 18 months - across 2011/12 and 2012/13, he scored 15 goals and provided 24 assists in 82 League One appearances - so it seemed Blackburn had realised the error of their ways when they brought Judge back on a free and handed him a three-year deal.

Under Gary Bowyer, he started the first four Championship games on the right flank and scored in a League Cup defeat away at Carlisle in early August, but things quickly went south.

“I turned down Ipswich at the time; the only reason I went back to Blackburn was because I’d been there before, been through the academy and I felt like I was ready, so it was a good option to go back,” he explains.

“I’ll be brutally honest, they had a lot of big-name players that had to play. I was on one of the lower contracts as they were starting to get the club aligned.

“I played well in the first five games, then my daughter was born, I missed the game on the Saturday, a bigger name player came back from injury and played - I got told he had to play and there was nothing that could be done.

“It was very frustrating because it started off really well for me.”

It continued this way until Christmas, by which time Judge was kicking his heels, having only made six further appearances.

On 8 January 2014, he was handed a lifeline by Brentford, who signed him on a six-month loan.

“I don’t like to sit there and just collect my money,” Judge says. “I want to play as it’s a short career and I know that well. It’s always been about playing, for me.

“Mark Warburton had been in contact for the previous year or so. The year before, he tried to sign me when he was sporting director, then in around Christmas 2012, and I think he knew from the summer I was going to make the jump to the Championship, so I don’t think he tried then.

“When he knew I wanted to go and play more football, the minute he found out, he came in for me. When they asked me to go down, I said yes, and me and my family packed up and moved down straightaway. My daughter was only five months old.

“On the whole, he was probably one of the best managers I’ve had. What mattered to the players was that he knew about their families. That kind of stuff goes a long way. If you needed help with anything, he was always there and his brand of football was very pleasing to me and one I very much enjoyed.”

Despite being given the opportunity to play on a more regular basis, Judge says he was never given assurances of a starting spot in Warburton’s team. It made sense; Brentford were top of League One on the day he signed, having won 12 of the previous 13 games.

Still, he made his full debut during the 2-0 win over Port Vale on 11 January and kept his place, playing a variety of different roles until the very end of the season.

He admits it took him a few weeks to get up to full speed after receiving little in the way of game time at Blackburn.

“The training was intense and I was getting my fitness back for the first month I was there. Once I got past the first three or four games, I felt like I fitted in well. I felt like I was ready, I knew I could help the team and I saw how good the team was that they had already.

“It was great to go into a team that was winning, but you had to make sure you were sharp and ready to go; I had to be on my game or I’d be out of the team. There was no way that I’d play just because he brought me in. You had to perform as there were players behind me I had to try and keep out, too.

“But it was the easiest team I’ve ever gone into. The lads were brilliant and just took to me straight away. At times, they let me do what I wanted to do on the pitch as they would do all the hard stuff for me!

“I think the Brentford fans just liked the way I played football. I always gave 100 per cent - as the other lads did - but I think they could just see my enthusiasm to get around the pitch.

“I know sometimes I’d come out of position and be here, there and everywhere, but that has always been me as a player. I took risks; I didn’t see the point in playing backwards, so I always played forwards.”

Judge scored seven goals and provided three assists during his initial loan spell at Griffin Park - and few will be remembered more than the penalty he scored against Preston on 18 April.

The previous Good Friday, he had scored a stunning free-kick in the 4-1 demolition of Fulham in their own backyard. On this one, he scored from the spot, which turned out to be enough to send Brentford up to the Championship with three games to spare.

“That day, it was just about making sure we got the three points because we didn’t actually think it could happen. There were so many things that had to go right on that day,” he recalls.

“After we scored the peno, we started to realise things were going our way. When I took it, I never had in my mind that would be the goal that would secure everything for the club.

“I missed one in the second half, too - they shouldn’t have watered the pitch! I slipped and it went over the bar. It would have been nice to score that. I’m pretty sure straight after that, Preston had an attack and I don’t think that would have gone down well if they’d scored!

“It felt like a lifetime in the dressing room waiting for result to come in afterwards. I think I had Macca [Alan McCormack] beside me just telling everyone to shut up because we couldn’t hear the TV. The minute it did, as you can see from the celebrations, everyone just went nuts. I don’t think we really knew what to do, that’s probably what made it even more special.

“I didn’t take in the magnitude of it for the club for a year. I knew what the club had gone through over the years and the year before with the penalty, but I had only come there to prove to Blackburn why they should have played me.”

Understandably, Judge did not want the season to end only three games later. He was just getting back into his stride.

“I was hitting form at the right time. I was very happy with the numbers I was racking up towards the end of that season, coming in and getting as many goals as I did in a short space of time. I thought I might have got more assists, to be honest.

“If you’re playing in that no.10 position, if you’re not scoring or assisting, you have to be involved in the game, you can’t just float about. You have to be the main cog of the team.

“It was great knowing we could get ready for next year. Warbs wouldn’t have allowed it to be a party atmosphere, though, because we wanted to close in on Wolves as much as we could, though we knew it was a bit out of reach.

“If you ask anybody, when you’re getting promoted from a league, it doesn’t really matter if you finish first, just get promoted. I know some people probably don’t want to hear that, but do you really care? You’re still going up and you still get a trophy - for some reason!

“Those first few months were just a whirlwind. When you play, you want to have a promotion on your CV, you want to have those feelings and not many people get them. To be a part of a team like that and something like that is very special.”

Though Judge’s loan spell ended shortly after the season ended, at the start of June, there was jubilation all round in west London when he signed permanently on a three-year deal for an undisclosed fee.

“It was an easy decision to make - the only problem was that I wanted it to be done sooner so I didn’t have to move back up to Blackburn,” he says.

“I moved everything back up, assuming there was trouble with the deal, then we finally got it done. I was going home to see my family in Dublin and I said I wanted it done as soon as possible, so Warbs flew over for me to sign the papers in Dublin Airport and it was done.”

Judge went on to make 140 appearances in all in five years at Brentford, scoring 26 goals and providing 31 assists, before departing for Ipswich in 2019.

He visited the Gtech on the final day of last season, where he was presented with a commemorative cap by Peter Gilham, as the 926th player in the history of Brentford to play for the club.

That penalty will always make him an integral part of this club’s rise to the top.