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In what many experts consider as a bold move, Keith Andrews has reportedly been selected as Brentford club’s new head coach. By this move the owner Matthew Benham has replaced Thomas Frank, who had earlier joined Tottenham in the similar role. The 44-year-old Irishman joined the Bees last summer to work under Thomas Frank as the club’s set-piece coach.
Andrew’s past coaching experience includes being a part of coaching staff with Sheffield United, MK Dons and the Republic of Ireland. This appointment at the Bees, as per BBC Sport, is considered the first step of the Irishman into management. Many reports claim this move to be a gamble by Bees’ owner Matthew Benham, but Brentford have always been a club that embraces promotion from within when it comes to the top job, no matter their prior experience. Their last five promotion-winning managers were all internal appointments.
Brentford considered Ipswich Town’s Kieran McKenna and Francesco Farioli for the role
Brentford considered a number of external candidates for this role like Ipswich Town’s Kieran McKenna and Francesco Farioli, who left Ajax last month. Reports say that it’s their desire for continuity and to build on the Premier League journey that Keith’s predecessor Frank started is the main reason for his promotion.
According to the reports, in the final week of April 2025, Frank led a review of Brentford’s season in a coaches’ meeting alongside director of the elite performance Ben Ryan with an agenda to decide on the improvements. Andrews had a job to take things forwards in that plan. Here the role of Andrews as set-piece coach proved to be very vital. With this move, Brentford became the first team in England to hire a designated set-piece coach a decade ago, rather than the traditional method of delegating those duties to an existing member of staff. The rest of the Premier League has caught on this trend.
Republic of Ireland goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has arrived from Liverpool to replace Netherlands stopper Mark Flekken, who has moved to Bayer Leverkusen. Denmark midfielder Christian Norgaard is poised to head to Arsenal. It would be exciting to see how Keith Andrews handles this situation as he takes the helm at a time when Gtech Community Stadium is going through a period of turbulence.
