Keith Andrews: Brentford's Rising Star in Premier League Management
Keith Andrews arrived at Brentford as the set-piece guy. Now he looks like the next big thing in Premier League dugouts.
The former Blackburn and West Brom midfielder, capped 35 times by the Republic of Ireland, built his coaching career the hard way. He learned alongside Karl Robinson at MK Dons, stepped into international football with Stephen Kenny at U21 and senior level, then worked under Chris Wilder before Brentford brought him in as a specialist in 2023.
Nobody expected what came next.
When Thomas Frank left for Tottenham in the summer of 2025, Brentford didn’t turn to a fashionable name from abroad or a proven “project manager”. They looked in-house. They handed the job to their set-piece coach. It raised eyebrows all over the league.
Those doubts did not last long.
Andrews silenced early relegation talk and drove Brentford to a ninth-place finish last season. Europe slipped agonisingly away, but the club parked any survival narrative and started looking up. Now, with 2026-27 under way, those European places are no longer a dream. They’re a target.
He is locked into a long-term deal through to 2032. On this trajectory, the real question is whether Brentford can keep him that long.
Former Bees striker Clinton Morrison, a close friend of Andrews, has no doubts about the scale of the job being done in west London. Speaking to GOAL via Freebets.com, he didn’t hold back.
“Amazing, amazing, amazing,” Morrison said. “I think Brentford have a chance of, even this season, getting them outside spots of Europe. They missed out last season. And they could win a cup.”
Morrison had caught up with Andrews around the Birmingham-Brentford game and came away even more convinced. What impresses him most is the depth and balance of the squad the Irishman has shaped.
“He's got two players in every position,” Morrison explained. “The boy who they signed, [Mamadou] Sangare, he could have easily gone to any of the top four teams. I think he's a special talent. He went to Brentford. He likes their project and they’ve got a good signing.”
That word – project – matters. Players are buying into it.
Callum Wilson has arrived to bring hard-earned Premier League know-how and to push Thiago for minutes. Out wide, Jaidon Anthony, signed from Burnley and quick out of the blocks this season, is driving up standards and putting real pressure on Dango Ouattara and Kevin Schade.
The competition runs even deeper. Brentford paid £40 million to West Ham for El Hadji Malick Diouf, yet he cannot get into the team right now. Keane Lewis-Potter has been outstanding and refuses to give up his shirt.
“So they have a lot of good players there at Brentford,” Morrison said. And that is what sharpens the focus on Andrews’ work. Talent alone is not enough; he has moulded it into a coherent, aggressive Premier League side.
The context makes it more impressive. Last season, Brentford lost key players and their long-serving head coach. Many predicted a slide, some even tipped them for the drop.
“And yeah, I think Keith Andrews, he’s done a brilliant job,” Morrison added. “Considering last season, the players that they lost and losing Thomas Frank, everyone thought Brentford might get relegated.
“He's done a great job. And this season, they started ever so well. Huge credit to Keith. And if he carries on going like that, there'll be a lot of other clubs higher up sniffing around him, for sure.”
Brentford backed the coach they already knew. Now the rest of the league is starting to wonder how long they can keep hold of him.
