The head coach was abducted? Then straighten the set-piece coach

On June 27, the Premier League Brentford Club announced that it would appoint the team's set piece coach Keith Andrews as the head coach to lead the team to compete in the new season of the Premier League. Andrews has never served as the head coach of any team before.

Because former head coach Thomas Frank transferred to Tottenham Hotspur, Brentford's coaching position was vacant. The club searched for a round and finally decided to tap the potential inside. This is not the first time that the Bees have operated like this. Before Thomas Frank became the team's head coach in 2018, he was the assistant coach of former coach Dean Smith.

Andrews is the 98th official (non-career or temporary) head coach appointed by Premier League clubs since June 2015, and the sixth "chicken" who has not had any experience in head coaching.

The remaining five people - Mike Ferran (Hull City, 2016), Craig Shakespeare (Leicester City, 2017), Scott Parker (Fulham, 2019), Mikel Arteta (Arsenal, 2019) and Gary O'Neal (Bornemouth, 2022) - Only Parker and Arteta have more than seven months in office. The youngest captain of the Wolves in more than 100 years, Keith Andrews was born on September 13, 1980 in Dublin, the capital of Ireland, but his entire player career was basically in England. At the age of 20, he became the youngest captain of the Wolves in more than 100 years of establishment. In the 2007-08 season, he served as captain of the Milton Keynes team and led the team to the English Championship.

national team, he has played for Ireland 35 times, including all three games in the 2012 European Cup group stage. In that European Cup, Ireland unfortunately joined the final champion and runner-up Spain, Italy, and Croatia led by Modric. As a result, it lost three games and three losses, ranking last in the group.

Andrews was sent off in the final round of the group stage against Italy, but he was still named Ireland Player of the Year in 2012.

The most unsatisfactory game in Andrews's career was the loss to France in the 2009 World Cup qualifier play-off. Henry's goal after a clear handball made the Irish team lose the right to qualify for the South African World Cup.

In 2015, Keith Andrews retired at Milton Keynes, and he has played for a total of 12 teams in his 15-year career.

Settings Master, helping the Bees score goals in 40 seconds in three consecutive Premier League rounds

Brentford fans all know that Andrews is a set piece master - there is no doubt about this.

Since Andrews took office early last season, Brentford has ranked third in the expected number of goals in the Premier League, with 16.71; tied for fifth in the number of goals, with 13.

A set of data can illustrate Andrews' contribution to the Bees last season: 14 of Brentford's 66 Premier League goals in the 2024-25 season came from set pieces. Only Arsenal (17), Crystal Palace (17), Nottingham Forest (17), Aston Villa (16), Brighton (15) and Everton (15) scored more set-piece goals than them.

Meanwhile, Brentford conceded the least number of goals (3) in set pieces, with Manchester City ranking second, conceding 6 goals.

What is even more impressive is that Andrews led Brentford to innovate in the kick-off method, and in three consecutive Premier League rounds, Brentford scored within 40 seconds of the opening game.

In the match against Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United, Andrews designed a set of kick-off tactics, including a quick sprint along one side of the side and a cross to the penalty area, and then his forward ran around the opponent's central defender to compete for the landing point.

Three successes reflect Andrews' attention to details and his ability to make his opponent unpredictable. He showed innovative spirit and a keen tactical mind when he was a set piece coach for the first time.

not just set pieces coaches

2015-16 season, Andrews, who had just retired, started his coaching career at Milton Keynes. A year later, he became an assistant to Ireland U21 national coach Stephen Kenny, and then served as assistant coach of the Ireland national team from 2020 to 2023.

After leaving the Irish national team, Andrews became Sheffield United's assistant coach, assisting Chris Wilder. After the 2023-24 season, he joined Brentford and became the set piece coach for Thomas Frank's team.

Andrews has worked with several coaches and has held senior coaching positions; he is more than just a set piece coach.

In fact, he is known for his technical coaching, and he trains Brentford players one-on-one, beyond his role as a set piece expert.

"Andrews are strict," Brentford defender Nathan Collins said in March when Andrews was praised for helping Brentford take advantage of Bournemouth's air defense weakness.

"He was great off the court, very joking, he was a good guy, and he was very lively. On the court, he was very noisy, and you could hear him on the court."

In fact, Andrews always wanted a chance to lead the team independently. Two months ago, he took the initiative to apply to be the head coach of Milton Keynes, but in the end the latter chose former Derby coach Paul Vaughan.

Brentford needs to rebuild

Andrews's player and coaching career shows that he is suitable for management, and past history tells us not to doubt Brentford's decisions.

Putting aside Frank, Brentford's previous coaches have also achieved better results here, most famously set-piece coach Nicholas Joffre, who was dug up from Arsenal.

This is a good sign, and Andrews is the ninth Irish man to coach the Premier League team, and he has a pretty tough task.

Frank joined Tottenham with assistant coach Justin Cochrane, Chris Haslam and analyst Joe Newton, and another assistant coach Klaus Norgard also left Brentford.

For a "rookie" who has never been a head coach, the starting point of his coaching career is the Premier League team, which is a very high requirement.

The good news is that since the beginning of his career, Andrews has a strong interpersonal skills, which may make it much easier for him to coach.