Keith Andrews' appointment did not come as a shock to Bradley who had started his pro-licence with Andrews before the latter having to defer to the following year due to work commitments.
'He is definitely a student of the game': Bradley wishes Andrews well in Brentford gaffer role
Shamrock Rovers manager Stephen Bradley celebrates. Pic: Thomas Flinkow/Sportsfile
“I'm sure he’s cursing me” joked a jovial Stephen Bradley when speaking about his match winner from Friday night, Rory Gafffney.
The 35-year old sprung from the bench to net a crucial winner against a stubborn and talented Waterford side, showing reactions of a player half his age to capitalise on a Stephen McMullan error as the Northern Irish man failed to gather Danny Mandroiu’s stinging effort, allowing Gaffney to tap home. And his gaffer is fully aware of the frustration his experienced and reliable front man justifiably feels.
““He should have started tonight, I'm sure he feels the same,” admitted Bradley. “He was brilliant here against Cork City last Friday. He played 90 minutes so you leave him out of Monday’s squad obviously. I know he’s really annoyed he doesn’t start tonight and that’s the hardest part of this job is leaving good people like that out of the squad, obviously good players, but good people too out of the team and out of the squad and I knew he was annoyed, rightly so.
“But he’s played at the level he’s played at for such a long time because of his character and how professional he is and I knew once you call upon him he’ll be ready. And he was tonight, I thought he played like he has done all year to be fair, so I’m sure he’s cursing me but he comes on and wins us the game.”
That huge win restored Rovers ominous lead at the top back to 11-points over Bohemians and Derry City in the title race, with the gap nine points prior to kick off, and The Hoops boss feels his side are in a good place with an healthy lead going into what promises to be a crazy July, adding: “That's why it (Friday’s) win was an important one, it was important we got three points.
"We go to Sligo Rovers, FAI Cup and then into Europe so we’re in a position that i would have taken your hand off at the start of the year so it’s important that you push as hard as you can coming into this period because you have a little break that allows you to fully focus on what's to come and not looking at what’s around the corner. They were excellent tonight and its a nice lead to have.”
Bradley was quick to praise his players who bounced back from Monday’s Dublin derby defeat that brought an end to their 11-game unbeaten run but insists, as always, that its just about themselves.
“The thing that disappointed me on Monday was not losing the game, but our performance in the game.” said the 40-year-old. “We’ve been that good this year, but we were miles off our levels and that’s what annoyed us. You can win and lose games, that's football. It was more just get back to our levels, get back to what we do.
"So if Waterford had left Tallaght with a draw, we can’t complain about our performance, it was really high level and you take that, but we don't accept Monday.
"We asked the players to respond from Monday in terms of our performance levels and they did that, I thought they were excellent all over the pitch, in and out of possession, showed a real hunger to get back to our levels and we get a really important win.”
"So it wasn’t about extending the lead, it was just about getting back to our performance levels and everything after that takes care of itself.”
On the same day Rovers stretched their lead at the summit, a fellow Dubliner was handed the reigns in the Premier League at Brentford in a somewhat surprising move, but did not come as a shock to Bradley who had started his pro-licence with Andrews before the latter having to defer to the following year due to work commitments.
“Yeah it's great. I really, really hope he does well. I got to have a lot of discussions with him on tactics and football in general. You can see he is definitely a student of the game and thinks about it. I'm absolutely delighted, a young Irish manager in the Premier League and I just really, really want it to go well for him. I texted him today, and I hope it goes really well. That's what we want, we want our managers managing at the highest level, and in England, that's the highest level.
As well as being proud of a fellow Irish manager at the top table in English football - the first Irish Premier League manager since Chris Hughton in 2019 - he was insistent that the former set-piece coach got the job on merit, adding: “I think Brentford have always been bold and brave in what they've done.
"We all look at Frank now as an established, really good manager but he wasn't always. He was an assistant, he was involved in the B team. The Sparta manager we played against last year, he was B team manager as well and was the next one to come in and then got the Sparta offer. They do that quite regularly.
“We had a really good relationship with Rob Rowan (Brentford technical director who died aged just 28 in 2018) who sadly passed a few years back and he was the one who set all that in motion and they have stuck to their plan. If Brentford have given Keith that job, they've given it to him because they really believe in what he does and how he does it.
"They don't look to me like a club that makes rash decisions. They buy well, they sell well, they recruit good players, they recruit good managers and coaches. I think they have made this decision with their eyes open and that should fill you with confidence if you're Keith.
"I can only imagine the amount of managers who would have wanted that job, so the fact they have gone straight for him is a massive vote of confidence. They have obviously seen something that they really, really like which is good."
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