After pulling off "The Great Escape" from relegation towards the end of the 2003–04 season, manager Martin Allen assembled a "two bob" squad of veterans, youngsters and non-league footballers on free transfers. The season would be punctuated by bizarre motivational challenges set by Allen, which stretched from ordering the players to prepare their own lunch to swimming in rivers before cup ties. Brentford opened the season with three wins and three losses from the opening six games and though the Bees exited the League Cup and the Football League Trophy at the first attempts, a run of five wins in eight matches through to mid-October had the club rooted in the automatic promotion places. Though Brentford won just four matches in all competitions during the final two months of 2004, the club managed to remain in the top 10 in League One.

Victory over Walsall in the first match at Griffin Park of 2005 began a spell in which the Bees lost just three of the following 21 matches, with one of the defeats coming in a replay at home to Southampton to end a memorable run to the fifth round of the FA Cup. Postponements due to the cup run gave Brentford up to three games in hand from February through March and the club broke back into the playoff positions on 12 April after a 1–0 win over Tranmere Rovers, still with a game in hand. Three defeats in a row to Bradford City, Huddersfield Town and Luton Town in April dropped the Bees outside the playoff places again, but a late 2–1 comeback victory away to Wrexham in the penultimate match (the final game in hand) confirmed a place in the playoffs. Martin Allen selected a predominantly youth and reserve lineup for the final match of the league season versus already-promoted Hull City and the experimental team secured a 2–1 victory and a 4th-place finish in League One. Despite finishing 4th, the 9 goals conceded during the three consecutive defeats in April saw Brentford finish the season with a goal difference of -3.

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