Keith Andrews: Brentford's Rising Star Manager
Keith Andrews arrived at Brentford as the quiet man in the background, a set-piece specialist tucked into Thomas Frank’s staff. Two years on, he is the face of one of the Premier League’s most upwardly mobile projects – and, if you listen to those who know him best, a manager on a collision course with the division’s elite.
This is not how his story was supposed to go. Andrews, remembered by many as a diligent midfielder for Blackburn and West Brom and a 35-cap Republic of Ireland international, eased into coaching at MK Dons under Karl Robinson. From there he moved through the game’s back corridors: assistant to Stephen Kenny with Ireland’s U21s and senior side, then a spell alongside Chris Wilder at Sheffield United.
Only in 2023 did he step into the Premier League spotlight, joining Brentford as their set-piece coach. A specialist role. A niche.
Then came the summer of 2025.
Thomas Frank left for Tottenham, Brentford looked inward, and Andrews was suddenly promoted into the big chair. No grand unveiling of a superstar name. No glamorous foreign import. Just the internal candidate, the set-piece coach. The decision turned heads across the league and raised plenty of eyebrows. Was this ambition, or a gamble?
The answer arrived quickly.
Andrews not only calmed the early-season whispers about a relegation fight, he buried them. Brentford surged to a ninth-place finish, steering well clear of the bottom and flirting with Europe until the final stretch. They fell just short of continental qualification, but the direction of travel was unmistakable. Now, going into 2026-27, the target is no longer survival. Those European places are the aim.
Inside the club, there is no sense of a short-term fling. Brentford handed Andrews a long-term deal running through to 2032, a statement that this is a project, not a stopgap. The question now is not whether he is safe in the job, but whether the job will be big enough for him if this trajectory continues. Premier League heavyweights are watching. They always do when a so-called smaller club starts punching this hard.
One of the men most impressed is a former Bee himself. Ex-Brentford striker Clinton Morrison, speaking to GOAL on behalf of Freebets.com, did not bother hiding his admiration.
“Amazing, amazing, amazing,” he said when asked to assess Andrews’ impact. Morrison believes Brentford can crash the European picture as early as this season. “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 convinced by the depth and balance of the squad his old club have assembled.
“I just think Keith's done a fantastic job. He's got two players in every position,” he said.
The recruitment backs that up. Mamadou Sangare, in Morrison’s eyes, is the headline. “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.”
Up front, experience and competition drive standards. “He's got Callum Wilson’s experience - puts pressure on Thiago,” Morrison noted, highlighting the internal battles that now define Brentford’s attacking options.
Out wide, the churn is just as fierce. “[Jaidon] Anthony, who they signed from Burnley, started the season well - puts pressure on [Dango] Ouattara, Kevin Schade, competition.”
There is quality even on the fringes. “[They] signed [El Hadji Malick] Diouf for 40 million from West Ham - can't get a game at the moment,” Morrison pointed out, a stark illustration of how far the squad has come. Keane Lewis-Potter, meanwhile, has surged to the fore. “Keane Lewis-Potter has been outstanding. So they have a lot of good players there at Brentford.”
That depth matters because of what Brentford lost. Last season began under a cloud: key departures, a popular manager gone, predictions of a slide back towards the Championship. Many expected the club to be dragged into the relegation scrap.
Morrison hasn’t forgotten that context. “Considering last season, the players that they lost and losing Thomas Frank, everyone thought Brentford might get relegated,” he said. Instead, Andrews retooled the side, stabilised the dressing room and pushed them into the top half.
“He's done a great job. And this season, they started ever so well. Huge credit to Keith,” Morrison added. Then came the line that will echo in boardrooms beyond west London: “If he carries on going like that, there'll be a lot of other clubs higher up sniffing around him, for sure.”
For now, Brentford have their man tied down, their squad stacked and their ambitions clear. The real test is no longer whether they can survive. It is whether Keith Andrews can turn this clever, well-run club into a regular in Europe before one of the Premier League’s giants tries to prise him away.
