Jack Brace at Gtech Community Stadium
Keith Andrews spoke of "two aspects" that will be instrumental as Brentford undergo a coaching rebuild following his appointment as the club's new head coach on Friday.
The 44-year-old was speaking to the media for the first time alongside club Director of Football, Phil Giles, and left a positive impression as he discussed a variety of topics over the course of 45 minutes.
Brentford are tasked with building a new backroom team for the 44-year-old, who takes on the first managerial role of his career after the departure of Thomas Frank to Tottenham Hotspur.
Frank was accompanied in north London by highly-rated assistant, Justin Cochrane, head of performance, Chris Haslam, and performance analyst, Joe Newton, while Claus Norgaard resigned from his role.
The backroom staff was a topic of discussion during the initial phases of the Irishman's appointment and it is something that has been discussed "a lot about" since then.
Andrews is meticulous and has a keen eye for detail; it will be important to employ personnel that possesses aligning qualities that will help him in his maiden managerial voyage.
"For me, for there’s two aspects to it," he explained to VAVEL.
"One is the skillset. You need to bring something where you are at the top of your game, that you can provide expertise in terms of whatever role, that fits into the dynamic of the rest of the coaching staff.
"The other is the person. Personal values are really important to me in terms of how you carry yourself. Again, aligns with the football club - that’s one of the biggest reasons why I wanted to come to the club."
Insight into the recruitment process
Brentford are hopeful of appointing one or two coaches by the end of the week. Giles provided insight into the process of coach recruiting, which does not follow the stringent guidelines of player recruitment.
"It's different to players," Giles told VAVEL. "Not everything requires a database to make a decision on it."
It is important for the club to explore connections and have conversations with those that are close and have worked with the person in question, gathering value insight that the data will not present.
"That’s best done by using a network, getting out there, and having conversations. Data for coaching, it's pretty tricky. You can have a successful head coach but what made them successful?", he added.
"Were they a great coach? Did they have a great crop of academy players come through? Did they get a bit lucky in recruitment? Did they have loads of money from a new owner?
"There’s lots and lots of reasons and it’s very hard; did they have a great assistant that did a lot of the work – that can happen."
Appointing a backroom staff comprising 'top coaches' is a priority for the club and outside noise of interest in Bryan Mbeumo and Christian Norgaard is imposing no distraction.
Expressing his qualities
Andrews communication with the media was impressive as he exhibited a humbleness mixed with confidence as he was quick to establish that has has been ready to take on such role for the past two-to-three years.
He spoke of a desire to be authentic in his approach, sticking with key principles and values that he believes will bring him success - all while having an open-minded and adaptable attitude.
As the press conference went on at the Gtech Community Stadium, it became increasingly apparent why the club was so keen to promote him from his set-piece role - one unanimously agreed he was overqualified for.
He showed a strong desire to be at the club by taking on the position, albeit a step back in his coaching journey, and explained it was all part of a deliberate path to becoming a Premier League head coach.
Owner Matthew Benham even showed an interest in him and sat in during the interview process - something that didn't happen with other candidates - as Andrews presented his knowledge of the squad.
"[It was] a presentation on where I see the team and how I can improve [it]," he revealed about the interview process.
"In essence, that was the initial discussion and from that a couple more discussions around it; that was went into pretty deeply."
While Andrews has been provided no assurances in his first managerial role, early signs suggest that the club is not taking as big of a risk as what is being perceived as the Bees begin the post-Frank era*.*