‘It might be the Irish in him’: What Brentford fans think of their high-flying manager Keith Andrews

Keith Andrews is looking up. It is exactly 7.33pm last Saturday and at St James’ Park Andrews is in the Leazes End penalty area in front of the travelling Brentford fans high above. They are in darkness, he is in light. He is punching the air in their direction. The response is noise. And more noise.

Brentford have just won at Newcastle United for the first time since 1934; De Valera was in power, Bray Unknowns were in the League of Ireland. Around him Andrews has jubilant players and staff. They are being hailed by the 1,300 or so supporters who have broken off from their anti-QPR chanting to salute their heroes.

One week on from Brentford’s first-ever win at Aston Villa, the Bees have produced another piece of club history.

Brentford have had many good days and nights in the four seasons since they made it back to top-flight English football, having not been part of it from 1947. Season five had been looking perilous, though; but these two victories in seven days are almost as heady as anything achieved under Thomas Frank – his dismal week at Tottenham offering a vivid contrast.

And all this before Brentford’s energised 1-1 draw with Arsenal on Thursday night.

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At St James’, in among the Bees fans in the safe standing area on Level 7, it certainly feels buoyant. On the final whistle there are hugs and handshakes and cheeks puffed out in relief – nine minutes of added time does that. The blow-up snake – brought to goad Yoane Wissa – gets a rest.

It had been tossed about all game. Fans don’t forget. Wissa had engineered a €63 million transfer to Newcastle in August. When he passed the ball into touch in the 18th minute the cheer in the away end was as if a goal had been scored. Wissa was then substituted with Brentford 2-1 ahead and although Newcastle came back, Dango Ouattara made it 3-2 to the visitors with five minutes of normal time remaining.

Wissa was part of Newcastle’s depressed inquest – €63 million for a 29-year-old, plus €79 million Nick Woltemade, plus €63 million Anthony Elanga plus €49 million Jacob Ramsey. It mounts up. Brentford don’t recruit this way.

They are as smart – and collaborative – as bees, seventh in the Premier League, four points off Chelsea in fifth. There are 12 games left and three of Brentford’s are against the current bottom three. Crucially, Brentford are 16 points above that relegation zone, not that they are looking down.

If we return to the opening day of the season, when Andrews was new and his team trailed 3-0 at half-time at Nottingham Forest, few saw this coming.

Standing outside the Trent House pub adjacent to St James’ an hour before kick-off on Saturday, Brentford followers said as much. “Full of hope and some dread,” is how Dave Minckley says the general feeling was on the way to Forest. “Scepticism – there was the lack of experience, other managers in the market we could have gone for,” is Christian Devlin’s honest recall.

But both also say “we trust the club” and share the context of last summer – the departure of Frank and backroom staff, of Bryan Mbeumo, Wissa, captain Christian Norgaard and goalkeeper Mark Flekken. Flekken played in 37 of Brentford’s 38 league games in 2024-25; Mbeumo and Wissa contributed 39 goals. You’re going to miss all that.

This is why there is enhanced and growing appreciation of Andrews. At half-time inside St James’ Park, Callum Maguire – like Devlin a Londoner of Irish lineage – says “there were a lot of disgruntled individuals after the first game at Forest.

“But after the first month, once we’d progressed in the Carabao Cup against Bournemouth, had a good league win against Aston Villa, I saw progress. I think we’ve set up better at the back – we did concede a lot of goals under Thomas Frank. And Andrews is not scared to make changes – he’s dropped Nathan Collins, which was huge, Frank never did that.”

Devlin agrees the differences between Andrews and Frank are not major; but they are there. “He’s similar to Frank, but there’s a difference in game management. Andrews is pragmatic, he switches game to game. At times we’ve played some very good football. We know who we are and there’ll be games when our chances are limited.

“But you can see the way he interacts with players, look at the way he celebrated with Thiago when he scored the other week.”

Igor Thiago has been essential to Brentford and Andrews. His penalty at Newcastle was his 17th goal of the Premier League season. Thiago is only 24. Ruptured knee ligaments meant he missed last season. But he is back, developing and signed a new contract on Friday. Not playing to Thiago’s strengths would be odd.

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But it can happen with fixated ideologues; in an in-house interview last September, Andrews spoke of “balancing my ideologies with pragmatism”. He also said “player development” had been prominent in his job interview and Devlin notes the improvement in Vitaly Janelt under Andrews, an hour before Janelt scores.

“He comes from Ger-man-y,” they sing, “and now he is a Bee, Vi-tal-y.”

The club already knew Andrews as their set-piece coach of 12 months and he knew them. Andrews impressed with his ideas, his work and player relationships. This was bigger, but Brentford’s structural intelligence meant that, at Forest for example, they understood Andrews was not just missing all the aforementioned, but Kevin Schade too, Jordan Henderson was not fit to start and Outtara had not been signed in time to play. All three began the next game – Brentford 1-0 Villa. Outtara, €48 million to Wissa’s €63 million, scored.

Andrews will have appreciated patience shown. Now look where they are, making club history, deservedly drawing with the league leaders and about to go to Macclesfield on Monday night in the FA Cup. Television is there on the off chance there’s an upset. It seems unlikely.

Minckley saw his first Brentford game in 1964, so it’s no surprise he is at Newcastle, having just been to Villa. He provides the ultimate compliment to any coach, squad or club: “I was at Villa Park and I saw Igor come off, patting his chest. The team spirit and camaraderie ... this is a proper team, a proper team. I’m not sure you can say that about many clubs.

“We know the players are going to play for us. I could name about seven or eight who are going to be our player of the season.

“It feels like it has all improved. I think we really are together as a unit and I think Keith has played a big role in that. It might be the Irish in him, putting an arm around players, getting people together.”

It was what he was doing at St James’ Park last Saturday night. Brentford and Keith Andrews, they are looking up.

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