Five talking points from Keith Andrews' first press conference | OneFootball

Joined by director of football Phil Giles, new Brentford head coach Keith Andrews sat down with the media at Gtech Community Stadium on Monday.

From his footballing philosophy to the vacancies on the Bees’ first-team coaching staff, here are five talking points from Andrews’ first press conference

A very deliberate path

If someone had told you two or three years ago that you would be heading into this season as a Premier League head coach, how do you think you would have reacted?

“Two or three years ago I knew I was ready to be a head coach,” said Andrews.

“Would I have foreseen it being this role at this level, probably not. But the path I’ve taken has been very deliberate to get to this stage.

“Three years ago, I was assistant manager for the Republic of Ireland. It was a long part of my coaching journey – five years with the under-21s and the senior team. The path has been long.”

Backroom staff

Keith’s promotion means that there are four roles unfilled: set-piece coach, assistant first-team coach, head of athletic performance and first-team analyst. How are you going to fill those roles?

“We’ve got a plan,” said Giles.

“What I think we’ll do is go for one or two to begin with and get that working. Then we’ll take a step back.

“Set-piece coach is an important one and we’ve always had that. We’re looking for top coaches now who can develop. That’s always been the Brentford way.

“All options are on the table - external and internal. Hopefully we can get one or two done this week.”

Footballing philosophy

What sort of manager are you going to be?

“I’ll be me. I’ll be authentic. I’ll be who I am on a daily basis – that won’t change,” Andrews responded.

“Obviously, my responsibilities will be very different to the role I’ve just had, but I’ve got brilliant people around me and we’ll add to that.

“I won’t try and emulate anybody. I’ve taken a lot from people on the journey I’ve been on, but I’ll be me.”

Andrews added: “I have to understand all of the individuals in the building.

“I’m a big fan of coaches playing to the strengths of the personnel they have in front of them, rather than fixating on how they’d ideally like to play.

“I love the way our team has played for numerous years, I love the individuals, I love the capabilities and the potential we have. It’s just about progressing that.”

Conversations with Thomas Frank

Has Thomas spoken to you during the last few weeks to wish you luck or offer any advice?

“We’ve both been pretty busy,” Andrews smiled.

“We did speak the other day. Thomas is someone I have a lot of admiration and respect for.

“We built up a really, really good professional and personal relationship and that will certainly continue. We’ll catch up properly when it calms down.

“I’m so respectful of Thomas, I really am. I was respectful before I came into the building, so obviously I’m going to be even more respectful now having worked with him for 12 months.”

Hiring process

The appointment is something you’ve thought about and planned for. What did those conversations look like and how did you reach the decision to appoint Keith as head coach?

“We had a little bit of an advance warning that Thomas going to Tottenham was probably going to happen, so that gave us some time to have a think about the process,” Giles revealed.

“Clearly, we wanted to discuss with internal people first – it’s always been our way. First question: can we appoint from within?

“We spoke with Keith pretty early in that process and he made a very strong impression, but we wanted to complete the process and have conversations with external candidates as well.

“Keith set a very high bar and had the added advantage that he knows the players, he knows how we play and has strong ideas on how we want to develop that. And the staff like and respect him. It was lots of boxes ticked.

“In the end, it was a relatively straightforward decision.”