Keith Andrews: From Set-Piece Coach to Brentford's Main Man
Keith Andrews was supposed to steady the ship, not redraw the map.
When Brentford turned inwards in the summer of 2025 and handed the reins to their set-piece coach as Thomas Frank packed for Tottenham, the decision felt like a gamble. A bright, progressive club suddenly looked romantic, almost sentimental. The Premier League, though, is a ruthless judge. It has answered back with a nod of approval.
From trusted lieutenant to main man
Andrews arrived in the dugout with a playing résumé that commanded respect – Premier League spells at Blackburn and West Brom, 35 caps for the Republic of Ireland – but without the managerial gravitas usually demanded by a top-flight board. His coaching journey had been one of quiet graft rather than headline billing.
He learned the trade at MK Dons alongside Karl Robinson, then stepped into the international arena with Stephen Kenny at both U21 and senior level for Ireland. A stint under Chris Wilder at Sheffield United added another layer of tactical schooling, before Brentford brought him in as their set-piece specialist in 2023.
That was supposed to be his lane. Instead, when Frank left, the club looked past the usual carousel of familiar names and chose the man already in the building. The reaction was instant: raised eyebrows, puzzled pundits, a murmur that Brentford might finally have overreached.
They hadn’t.
Relegation talk silenced
Andrews walked into a dressing room stripped of key figures and overshadowed by the loss of a hugely popular manager. The narrative wrote itself: second-season syndrome for a club punching above its weight, a coach learning on the job, a slide back towards the pack.
He ripped it up.
Brentford not only stayed clear of trouble, they surged. Relegation chatter evaporated as a composed, confident side assembled a campaign that ended in ninth place. Europe slipped just out of reach, but only just, and only after they had spent long stretches of the season flirting with the continental spots.
The style was familiar yet refreshed. The intensity remained, the set-piece threat sharpened, the squad knitted together with a sense of purpose that belied the upheaval. For a coach once pigeonholed as a specialist, Andrews suddenly looked like the complete package.
A squad built on depth and pressure
Former Brentford striker Clinton Morrison, speaking to GOAL, has watched the transformation closely and sees a team designed to compete on multiple fronts.
“I think Brentford have a chance of, even this season, getting them outside spots of Europe,” he said. “They missed out last season. And they could win a cup.”
That optimism is rooted in depth. Andrews has quietly assembled a group where almost no position is safe, no starting place guaranteed.
“The boy who they signed, [Mamadou] Sangare, he could have easily gone to any of the top four teams,” Morrison noted. “I think he's a special talent. He went to Brentford. He likes their project and they’ve got a good signing.”
Sangare’s arrival felt like a statement: Brentford can now tempt players who would not look out of place at clubs with Champions League budgets. Around him, Andrews has layered experience and competition. Callum Wilson brings proven Premier League nous and turns up the heat on Thiago in the central striking role. Out wide, Jaidon Anthony, recruited from Burnley and quick out of the blocks this season, pushes Dango Ouattara and Kevin Schade for minutes.
Even big-money signings are not immune. “[El Hadji Malick] Diouf for 40 million from West Ham - can't get a game at the moment,” Morrison pointed out, underlining the standard Andrews demands. Keane Lewis-Potter, meanwhile, has been “outstanding”, another example of a player thriving under the Irishman’s watch.
Two players in every position. Competition everywhere. A squad built not just to survive, but to stretch itself towards those European places that slipped away last time.
From doubted to coveted
The context makes the current admiration even sharper. “Considering last season, the players that they lost and losing Thomas Frank, everyone thought Brentford might get relegated,” Morrison said. That wasn’t idle talk; it was a widely held expectation.
Instead, Andrews has turned anxiety into ambition. He has done it quickly, too. The new campaign has begun with the same authority, Brentford starting “ever so well” in Morrison’s words, and looking nothing like a club bracing for a scrap at the bottom.
The board backed Andrews with a long-term contract through to 2032, a show of faith that looked bold at the time. Now it looks prescient. The question is no longer whether Brentford were right to promote him. It’s how long they can keep him.
“If he carries on going like that, there'll be a lot of other clubs higher up sniffing around him, for sure,” Morrison warned.
Brentford took a risk on the set-piece coach. They may soon find out what it feels like when a Premier League heavyweight decides Keith Andrews is worth taking a risk on too.
