's lone season as
Brentford manager. After a promising, but ultimately disappointing
2000–01 season,
Steve Coppell replaced
Ray Lewington as manager of
Second Division Brentford on 8 May 2001. In the knowledge he would be provided with little money to buy players, Coppell was also tasked with raising £500,000 in transfer fees. The previous season's squad was kept together, with two fringe players released and two arrivals – youngster
Stephen Hunt and
defender Jason Price on a short-term contract. After a 1–1 opening day draw with
Wigan Athletic, teenage
Blackburn Rovers forward Ben Burgess was brought in on a one-month
loan, which was subsequently extended until the end of the season. Brentford had its best start to a season since
1934–35 and topped the table for the first time after a 4–0 win over
Tranmere Rovers on 8 September 2001. After a first league defeat of the season at the hands of
Swindon Town on 25 September, the Bees went on a seven-match club record-equalling winning run and seized top spot in the Second Division.
Captain Paul Evans led by example, scoring 9 goals in 13 matches in all competitions before suffering a hamstring injury in mid-October. His temporary replacement was
Arsenal's teenage
midfielder Steve Sidwell, another loan signing which would prove to be a master-stroke and which would later be extended until the end of the season. Between 10 November 2001 and 24 January 2002, Brentford won just twice in a spell of 13 league matches, suffering eight defeats, while briefly returning to the top of the table in late December. A 4–0 victory over
Brighton & Hove Albion in front of the
Sky cameras at
Griffin Park on 24 January 2002 turned Brentford's flagging season around, with twin forwards Owusu and Burgess finding the net with regularity. The Bees lost just two of the next 16 matches, but a 0–0 draw away to
West London rivals Queens Park Rangers in the penultimate match of the season dropped the club out of the final automatic promotion place. in a bid to reduce the wage bill. Brentford took the lead through
Martin Rowlands, but were pegged back 13 minutes from time by
Jamie Cureton and the match finished as a 1–1 draw, which consigned the Bees to the
playoffs. Brentford faced 6th-placed
Huddersfield Town in the playoff semi-finals, a rematch of the
1995 semi-final encounter between the two sides. In the final versus
Stoke City, Brentford "simply had no sting in their tail" and were defeated 2–0. ==League table==