Gavin Cooney

AND SO, 6,041 days later, a Dublin-born manager will lead a Premier League side once more. 

Prior to today, the last Dub to manage in England’s top flight was the late Joe Kinnear, who stepped back from his interim role at Newcastle owing to ill-health, amid a chaotic 2008/09 season that ended in relegation.

Keith Andrews can be considered a success if Brentford’s 2025/26 season does not end in similar circumstances. While the three promoted clubs have dropped back down in each of the last two seasons, all of Leeds, Sunderland and Burnley have spent at least €80 million net in the summer. 

Brentford finished 10th in the league last season but no club has since endured such upheaval: they have lost their head coach, most of their coaching staff, their top scorer, their captain, and their first-choice goalkeeper. Oh, and their second-top scorer is on his way out, too. 

Thomas Frank has taken most of his staff to Spurs; Bryan Mbeumo has taken the step up/down to Man United; Christian Norgaard has gone to Arsenal where Mark Flekken has joined Leverkusen; and Yoane Wissa is among the super-exclusive club of strikers who actually want to join Newcastle. 

Brentford optimists will say the quality of their operation is such that they can absorb these losses, but even in an operation as (relatively) egalitarian as theirs, some members are more equal than others. 

Frank was integral to everything during his tenure: just look at how closely his Spurs side already resembled his Brentford team in the Super Cup final in midweek. 

Mbeumo and Wissa, meanwhile, scored 39 league goals between them last season, 59% of the team’s total goals. An equivalent goalscoring loss on last season would be to take all of Mohamed Salah, Cody Gakpo and Luis Diaz out of Liverpool’s squad. 

Brentford, though, are going to do as they have always done: they are backing people to step up internally.

This is obviously how Andrews has got the gig. It’s no slight to him to say no other Premier League club would have given him this opportunity. 

Ever since Les Reed’s brief and infamous spell in charge of Charlton in 2006, only four men have been given their first head coach job in the Premier League without any prior interim spells at that club:  Gareth Southgate at Middlesbrough in 2006; Gianfranco Zola at West Ham in 2008; Mikel Arteta at Arsenal in 2019; and now Andrews at Brentford.

From this exclusive quartet, now consider that Southgate and Arteta had leadership roles as players with their respective clubs, while Zola had a garlanded playing career. This is how wildly unprecedented Andrews’ elevation is. 

Brentford owner Matthew Benham has a unique ability to predict talent, and he is understood to have kept an eye on Andrews even during his days as Ireland assistant manager. His elevation to the head coach role has undoubtedly come early, however. 

While Brentford will likely allow Wissa to leave now they have sourced a replacement in Dango Ouattara from Bournemouth, for a club-record, £42.5 million fee, the bulk of the goalscoring slack will have to be picked up by current squad members. (Brentford did target Rennes striker Arnaud Kalimuendo in the market but have missed out on him to Nottingham Forest.)

German forward Kevin Schade will be vital for Andrews this season. He was Brentford’s third top-scorer last season and will be expected to add more goals in the absence of Mbeumo and Wissa. Brazilian striker Igor Thiago is also primed for a key role. Signed last year, Thiago missed virtually the whole season through injury, but has played regularly in pre-season. (Irish fans may recognise the name: Thiago scored for Ludogorets in a 3-0 home win over Shamrock Rovers in Champions League qualifying in 2022.) 

Another of whom better is expected is Fabio Carvalho, the creative forward signed from Liverpool a year ago. One wildcard to watch is Romelle Donovan, a talented teenage forward who is stepping up to the first-team this season from Brentford’s B team. 

Andrews must also hope Mikkel Damsgaard continues to flourish. Damsgaard, of course, scored Denmark’s goal in the Euro 2020 semi-final loss to England, but he didn’t kick on as expected. Across his next three league seasons – the first with Sampdoria, the latter two with Brentford – Damsgaard scored zero goals and registered just four assists in all competitions. Three goals and 11 assists last season was a vastly improved return on which he must build again this season. 

Jordan Henderson has been signed to replace some of the experience and leadership lost with Norgaard’s exit, but 21-year-old Yehor Yarmolyuk of Ukraine is expected to take another stride in his development and nail down a central midfield position. 

There has much less disruption defensively, while Caoimhín Kelleher is no downgrade – and probably an upgrade – on Flekken.

Andrews will have to deal with all manner of noise this season – Roy Keane’s judgements from Sky’s lofty pulpit are bound to barbed with grievance – but ultimately his success or otherwise will depend on the goalscoring records of Shade, Thiago and Outtara along with the creativity of Damsgaard and Carvalho. 

The general sense across the game is that your bosses’ trust at Brentford is a more valuable currency than at most other clubs. That exchange rate will be severely tested this season. Andrews has a major opportunity, but a bigger challenge. 

On TV: Nottingham Forest vs Brentford, Sky Sports Premier League; KO: 2pm