The Bees are gambling that their system - not Thomas Frank - was the secret to their success
In April, Keith Andrews was at a career crossroads. Appointed as Brentford’s set-piece coach the previous summer, Andrews applied – and interviewed – for the manager’s job at Milton Keynes Dons. He felt he was ready to take a step forward. MK Dons, then ranked 87th of the 92 league clubs in England, appointed former Derby County manager Paul Warne several days later.
That Andrews is now beginning his first month as a manager is therefore surprising. For the job to be at a club that has just finished in the top half of the Premier League is astonishing. There are benefits to coaching at Brentford, where innovation comes as standard: you might just end up getting promoted all the way to the top.
The involuntary insta-reaction is to scoff and/or wince, even without meaning to be hasty. A top-flight team appointing someone who has never been a permanent manager before is not unique – Mikel Arteta at Arsenal, for starters – but appointing the set-piece coach might just be.
Even if, as we hear, Andrews’ responsibilities went beyond that remit, this all sounds faintly ludicrous. Clubs don’t do this. Clubs who are replacing a long-term manager and who have lost his staff (Justin Cochrane, Chris Haslam, Joe Newton and Claus Norgaard have all also left Brentford) really don’t do this. Clubs who are about to lose their top scorer and their captain definitely don’t do this.
But maybe Brentford do do this. When Frank got his job, he was an internal candidate promoted from Dean Smith’s coaching staff. It is not like Frank was their fourth or fifth choice, so often a prelude to disappointment. Same with Andrews. Frank knew the club and everyone in it; the club and everyone in it knew Frank. This is the same theory.
So much of this remarkable success (and it remains remarkable, by the measure of history, size and budgets) has been platformed by succession plans. Take eight years of centre forwards: Brentford sold Scott Hogan and Jota and bought Ollie Watkins and Neal Maupay; they sold Maupay and bought Bryan Mbeumo; they sold Watkins and bought Ivan Toney. By the time they sold Ivan Toney, they were consolidated amongst the elite and had barely made an expensive mistake.
As such, this summer can have come as no surprise: Frank was a likely target for someone for at least two years and so was Mbeumo. If you think that Brentford’s hierarchy got caught out, spooked and panicked, think on. This may be a misstep, perhaps even a desperate one, but it is taken with purpose.
This week, director of football Phil Giles intimated that Andrews was appointed principally because they believed that he could step up to this role. That might be management speak bluster but external candidates were interviewed, including former Ajax head coach Francesco Farioli.
Giles’ message rang true: “We’re not trying to change everything and go in a totally different direction. It’s all about the details – we’re not looking to revolutionise.” Continuity, continuity, continuity.
If this is a gamble, Brentford have chips to play with. Nobody reasonable – probably even Giles himself – is expecting Andrews to replicate last season after losing (at least) Christian Norgaard and Mbeumo, but the recent struggle of promoted clubs to stay in touch creates breathing space. Brentford took 56 points last season and would need to drop by at least 20 to be relegated. Even Manchester United, who finished 15th, didn’t take 20 fewer points from 2023-24.
We cannot avoid that potential, though. Nor can Brentford. They do magnificent work in their community and they lead the way on Premier League fan engagement and ticket pricing. They have repeatedly proven themselves adept at scouting, recruitment and squad development. But they are still taking a vast risk. They know more than all of us about this situation, but they cannot know everything.
This appointment creates pressure – that much is undeniable. That pressure lies squarely upon Andrews because he is the public face of the club and because he will shortly lead his first ever training session as a manager. That pressure will rush in quickly: Brentford’s first six home league opponents are Aston Villa, Chelsea, Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool and Newcastle.
As outsiders, we should celebrate. We beg for clubs who do things differently to succeed, particularly those outside of a financial elite. We want promotion of British and Irish coaches because that helps our national teams. We want clubs to back the courage of their convictions and to be interesting rather than play it safe. If any club in England has earned trust to do so, it’s Brentford.
But uncertainty is an inadvertent emotion and it festers in the corners that we cannot fill with confirmed reality. Brentford supporters in panic mode should not be blamed – we would be the same because we crave the sanctuary of certainty. The scariest three words in modern life: I don’t know.
The last time Brentford were without Frank, they had spent £3m on a player only once in their history and had never played in the Premier League. Everything flowed through him. We are about to find out whether, at Brentford, the system truly is the king or merely the magnificent manipulation of one manager.