Martin O'Neill slams 'vitriolic critic' Keith Andrews as Brentford rumours swirl
Former Republic of Ireland manager Martin O'Neill has taken aim at Keith Andrews, labelling the prospective Brentford boss a 'vitriolic critic' of O'Neill during his time in charge of the Boys in Green.
O'Neill took charge of the National side in 2013 and stayed at the helm until 2019, and while there was success in qualifying for Euro 2016, things soured following the failed attempt at qualifying for the 2018 World Cup, with Andrews often working as a pundit on Ireland games and highlights for Virgin Media TV at the time.
Andrews went on to become one of Stephen Kenny's assistants when he took over as Ireland boss in 2020 and moved to Brentford last year where he was appointed set-piece coach of the Premier League side.
The 44-year-old is expected to be promoted to the role of head coach of Brentford following Thomas Frank's departure from the club, and O'Neill is looking forward to seeing how the Dubliner gets on in the role where he has to make tough decisions and face the scrutiny of the media.
"He has been their set-piece coach. The irony is when I was manager of the Republic of Ireland he was a particularly vitriolic critic of mine at the time. He was really dead against me trying to use setpieces to try to win games," O'Neill told TalkSport.
"The irony is he becomes the set-piece coach. Really I say good luck to him. Brentford have decided, if it is the case, that he should get it.
"I hope he does get it because then he will realise what management is all about. It's not as easy to be sitting in a pundit's chair sitting to criticise someone who in all honesty had a much better career than he had.
"He was dealing at the bottom end of it when I was winning the European Cup. That doesn't mean you shouldn't be criticising. Everyone to their own. But it'll be a different ball game now."
While critical of Andrews, O'Neill does concede that the Irishman has done a decent job in his time with the London side.
"In terms of some of the decisions he has made, I think he has done very well as the set-piece coach. A lot of credit has gone to him for the fast starts Brentford have made in games.
"He is stepping into an unknown. It's all very well when you can be the friend of the players. You can have the set-pieces, you can be the coach sitting there in the room. It's a different ball game when you're making the big decisions."
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