Brentford’s Boot Room

So now we know who is going to be filling the huge boots Thomas Frank left behind in the Gtech dugout and just as when the great man took over from Dean Smith, Matthew Benham has delved into the boot room for our next great Head coach.

For anyone unfamiliar with the idea of a ‘boot room’ it was first popularised by the succession of successful managers that led Liverpool FC from the appointment of Bob Paisley as Bill Shankly’s successor in the summer of 1974 to the shock resignation of Kenny Dalglish in February 1991, all of whom had been part of the club for years before their appointment as team manager.

Having seen how successful the promotion of Thomas Frank was in propelling Brentford into a golden age, Benham is now trying to make use of Brentford’s boot room by promoting Frank’s set piece coach into the head coach role.

Keith Andrews is the man that has been trusted with ensuring Brentford’s journey in the Premier League and one that most people outside the club will never have heard, but he spent last season as our set-piece coach and has obviously show enough competence and ambition in that role to be given this great opportunity.

This is Andrews’ first head coach role, though he has served as Assistant coach for both the U-21 and Senior Republic of Ireland national teams, so the proof will be in the results but we owe it to him and the club we love to give him time to adjust to the role and turn a difficult situation into a successful one for the club. After all, Frank’s move into the dugout saw a drop off in form that saw us miss out on the playoffs in his first season before everything he has achieved since.

Andrews has a heap of football knowledge from his 15 years and 413 caps (all comps) as a defensive midfielder across all 4 leagues of the English Professional football pyramid, or the 92 as it is sometimes known.

The teams he played for were: Wolverhampton Wanderers, Oxford United, Stoke City, Walsall, Hull City, Milton Keynes (twice), Blackburn Rovers, Ipswich Town, West Bromwich Albion, Bolton Wanderers, Brighton and Hove Albion, and Watford.

Having played in so many parts of the country and having done so as a defensive midfielder should at least set him up well for his first huge task as Head Coach, replacing the outgoing Christian Norgaard.

Whilst a lot of praise has been deservedly heaped on our attacking players over the past 4 seasons they have only been able to express themselves so freely because of the incredible solidity of our defence. Norgaard was a huge part of that defence and in Andrews we have the right man to find the perfect replacement, either in house or from the wider football world.

This appointment also seems to have had a positive effect on the possibility of Bryan Mbuemo staying with us, or at least not leaving us for a huge step down in his career at Old Trafford.

No matter what the future holds for The Mighty Bees under Keith Andrews we owe it to him and the club to place our trust in the call they have made, they’ve got most things right for a decade now after all…..

This is the view of a Bees’ fan living up north and who has only managed to attend the Gtech 3 times so far this calendar year and I’d be interested to hear the opinions of those of you closer to the action.