Like all the best offbeat rivalries, it started with a grudge. Matthew Benham quit working for Tony Bloom’s company to set up in competition and by the time he bought Brentford had made an enemy of his former boss.
Bloom, usually private and remote, would change his normal routine when his Brighton team travelled to play Benham’s, riding on the team bus and making it abundantly clear to the players that this one was personal and he was desperate to win.
He would swerve the directors’ box to watch from the away end.