Stephen Bradley reveals what sets ‘student of the game' Keith Andrews apart after being appointed Brentford head coach

The Irish Sun

2 days ago

SHAMROCK ROVERS boss joked that match-winner Rory Gaffney was cursing him.
With 65 minutes on the clock and the Hoops struggling against a stubborn
spring
Gaffney, 35, from the bench.
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2
Keith Andrews has been appointed Brentford head coach
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Shamrock Rovers boss Stephen Bradley praised the decision
Credit: David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile
Nine minutes later, the
Galway
native repaid his manager's faith when he tapped home from close range after Blues keeper Stephen McMullan failed to gather a stinging effort from Danny Mandroiu.
That goal
Bradley said: 'He should have started, I'm sure he feels the same.
'He was brilliant here against
Cork
City last Friday.
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'He played 90 minutes so you leave him out of Monday's squad, obviously.
'I know he's really annoyed he doesn't start tonight and that's the hardest part of this job is leaving good people like that out of the squad, obviously good players, but good people too, out of the team and out of the squad and I knew he was annoyed, rightly so. But he's played at the level he's played at for such a long time because of his character and how professional he is and I knew once you call upon him, he'll be ready. And he was.
'I thought he played like he has done all year, to be fair, so I'm sure he's cursing me but he comes on and wins us the game.'
The victory extended Rovers' lead at the top of the Premier Division from nine points before kick-off to 11 afterwards, thanks to Bohemians dropping two points at home against
Sligo
Rovers.
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Bradley is glad his Hoops have a healthy lead at the summit as a hectic period of fixtures involving three
competitions
approaches.
He said: 'We go to
Europe
so we're in a position that I would have taken your hand off for at the start of the year.
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'It's important that you push as hard as you can coming into this period because you have a little break that allows you to focus fully on what's to come and you're not looking at what's around the corner. They were excellent tonight and it's a
nice
lead to have.'
Bradley also praised his players for bouncing back from Monday's
Dublin
Derby defeat by the Gypsies that brought an end to an 11-game unbeaten run.
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He said: 'The thing that disappointed me on Monday was not losing the game, but our performance.
'We've been that good this year, but we were miles off our levels and that's what annoyed us.
'You can win and lose games, that's
football
. It was more, just get back to our levels, get back to what we do.
'So if Waterford had left Tallaght with a draw, we can't complain about our performance, it was a really high level and you
take that
, but we don't accept Monday.
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'We asked the players to respond from Monday in terms of our performance levels and they did that.
'I thought they were excellent all over the pitch, in and out of possession, they showed a real hunger to get back to our levels and we get a really important win.
'So it wasn't about extending the lead, it was just about getting back to our performance levels and everything after that takes care of itself.'
KEITH GOING
On the same day Bradley's team stretched their lead in the top flight, a fellow Dubliner was handed the reins in the English
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But the
The 40-year-old said: 'I really, really hope he does well. I got to have a lot of discussions with him on tactics and football in general. You can see he is definitely a student of the game and he thinks about it.
'I'm absolutely delighted, a young Irish manager in the Premier League and I just really, really want it to go well for him.
'I texted him and I hope it goes really well. That's what we want, we want our managers managing at the highest level and in
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'I think
'The Sparta manager we played against last year, he was B team manager as well and was the
next
one to come in and then got the Sparta offer. They do that quite regularly.
'We had a really good
relationship
with Brentford technical director Rob Rowan, who sadly passed away a few years back, and he was the one who set all that in motion and they have stuck to their plan. If Brentford have given Keith that job, they've given it to him because they really believe in what he does and how he does it.
'They don't look to me like a club that makes rash decisions. They buy well, they sell well, they recruit good players, they recruit good managers and coaches.
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'They have made this decision with their eyes open and that should fill you with confidence if you're Keith.
'They have obviously seen something they really, really like, which is good.'