Why Brentford have appointed Keith Andrews as Thomas Frank’s replacement despite other options | OneFootball

Brentford have confirmed the appointment of Keith Andrews as head coach.

The Irishman replaces Thomas Frank, who left the club after seven years in charge to take the Tottenham head coach role.

It is Andrews’ first senior management job, having served as a coach, mostly focusing on set-pieces, under Frank last season.

He has been coaching full time since his retirement from a playing career which included spells at Wolves, Hull, MK Dons, Blackburn, West Brom and others, and his coaching career has included being assistant manager at MK Dons, for the Ireland U21s and also as a coach at Sheffield United before joining Brentford.

“I started coaching when I was 29 because I knew I wanted to be a head coach,” Andrews said after being appointed as the new Brentford boss.

“I started my B licence then. I was coaching Blackburn Rovers under-14s at the age of 29 and academies until I finished playing at the age of 34.

“This has been a long time in the making with the experiences, coaching different age profiles of young players, under-21s, senior players, international football, League One, Championship, Premier League. It’s an amalgamation of all those things which is the reason I’m sat here today.”

Despite Andews’ long planned ascension into a head coach role, it has come quicker than he and Brentford would have expected because of Frank’s departure this summer. “Taking a set-piece role 12 months ago, I didn’t envisage it would turn into this certainly so soon anyway,” Andrews admitted.

But the decision to hire Andrews as a coach last year was taken with a long-term view in mind, as someone Brentford believed could have the potential to be a head coach. They of course considered other managers, including Ipswich Town’s Kieran McKenna, but felt they had someone at the club already who was capable of doing the job to the same, or perhaps an even better ability.

Continuity is a major reason why Andrews has been chosen. Having worked under Frank for a year, he has seen first hand how he worked and how it was that he was able to keep Brentford away from the relegation zone year after year. Brentford have no real reason to want to change anything about the way things have been going, and Andrews is perhaps the appointment which most represents continuity.

“When we replaced Dean Smith, we had Thomas lined up,” Brentford’s director of football Phil Giles explained. “While we never promised him the job, we had the idea that Thomas could potentially take over from Dean.

“It’s the same principle here. When we appoint coaches, we always have an idea about whether they could potentially step up.”

Andrews is a popular figure at Brentford, and is well liked by the players meaning there will not be any concerns about how he will fit in at the club, as there would be with an outside hire. His communication skills are clear and while he is unproven as a manager and the huge responsibility in making decisions that comes with, there is confidence in his ability as a coach and in his methods.

The challenge and the concern for Andrews is also that he is taking over at a time of significant change at a club which has exemplified stability over the last few years. Not only because of the departure of a long serving manager, but also with the likely exits of both captain Christian Norgaard, who looks set to join Arsenal, and Manchester United target Bryan Mbeumo.

There is a strong argument that Brentford should have opted for a more experienced coach to guide them through an uncertain period, but the response to that would be, why do they need to change the way they have been operating? Under owner Matthew Benham, they have risen from League Two to the Premier League doing what they believe is correct.

Continuing with their bold strategy of promoting within comes with risks, but changing their approach could come with even more.