Football obsessed Andrews vows to keep it simple

Irish Examiner

4 hours ago

ROOKIE Brentford boss Keith Andrews was football-obsessed even at the start of his coaching career, and with his managerial debut just around the corner, he's finding it hard to think about anything else.
'I was having fajitas last night, my wife was talking to me and it was straight over my head,' said the Dubliner ahead of Sunday's meeting with Nottingham Forest. 'I was thinking about training and what we would be doing.
'I didn't feel like my obsession could go to different levels but it has. I think it's a healthy obsession. Whether my wife does is probably up for debate! You have to be serious about what you do if you want to be successful.'
Andrews certainly has a point to prove. First-time managers don't often land Premier League jobs, and when they do, their reigns have generally been short-lived.
The 44-year-old has been chosen to succeed Thomas Frank at a turbulent time. Brentford have already lost their top scorer from last season, Bryan Mbeumo, and their skipper, Christian Norgaard, in this transfer window. Wantaway forward Yoane Wissa could yet follow.
The chaos makes Andrews' promotion from set-piece coach to head coach even more compelling. And it's part of the reason, having been turned down for the top job at fourth-tier MK Dons only four months ago, that he's the bookmakers' favourite to be the first Premier League manager sacked this term.
The odds are quite literally stacked against Andrews but part of the group pulling for him will be highly-decorated midfielder Jordan Henderson, who the manager says is having an 'amazing influence' on the group, plus the Republic of Ireland duo of Caoimhín Kelleher and newly-appointed captain Nathan Collins.
On the €21million deal which brought Cork-born Kelleher to Brentford, Andrews said: 'I'm very, very happy with who we got in, for obvious reasons. He's a keeper that I rate very, very highly.'
Andrews may be a new manager but he has a wealth of experience from both playing under and working alongside other esteemed coaches. After a playing career which saw him make Premier League appearances for Wolves, Blackburn Rovers and West Bromwich Albion, he took on backroom roles with MK Dons, Ireland and Sheffield United before landing at the Gtech Community Stadium last year.
Across his 26-year association with senior football, which also saw him rack up 35 caps for the Boys in Green, Andrews has banked knowledge from managers like Giovanni Trapattoni, Roy Hodgson and Sam Allardyce. And he was taking notes the whole time.
'You always pick up little tidbits of information,' he explained. 'Roy Hodgson had a big impact on certain aspects of how I see the game, and the structure of a team, and the positional sense of a team. He was such a brilliant coach in terms of how he prepared the team. You really knew the details of what you needed to do on a Saturday.
'Sam used to break the game down very well into what was needed to win matches. I was very privileged to play under a manager like Trapattoni who would emphasise the basics over and over and over again.'
This could be an overwhelming situation for Andrews. But he gives off the impression of a man in control, and insists he won't be overcomplicating the task at hand.
Andrews concluded: 'Sometimes you can get lost, as a younger coach, in the beautiful game and how it should look and how it should be played. But when you strip it back to the basics of what's needed, it can be a simple game.'