Latest news with #ChrisHughton
Irish Times
8 hours ago
- Sport
- Irish Times
Brentford appoint Keith Andrews as manager to replace Thomas Frank
Brentford have named former Ireland international Keith Andrews as manager on a three-year contract to replace Thomas Frank, Sky Sports reported on Friday, continuing the West London club's trend of promoting from within. Frank, who left to take over at Tottenham Hotspur, stepped up from the assistant role at Brentford to take charge in 2018, and now Andrews has been handed his first managerial role having served as the club's set-piece coach for one season. Andrews, who made 35 appearances for Ireland, is the first former Republic of Ireland international to manage in the Premier League since Chris Hughton left Brighton in 2019. He will get manage current Ireland internationals Caoimhín Kelleher and Nathan Collins. He began his coaching career as assistant manager at MK Dons where he finished playing in 2015 before joining the Ireland Under-21 set-up as assistant coach to Stephen Kenny. READ MORE Kenny became manager of Ireland's senior side in 2020, taking Andrews with him, where they both remained until Kenny's contract ended three years later, but Andrews found himself newly employed in a matter of weeks. Andrews joined Sheffield United's coaching staff when Chris Wilder took over in December 2023, with the Irishman leaving at the end of the season to take up his role at Brentford. 'He is someone we have known for a while and always had in mind for a role at some point in the future,' Brentford Director of Football Phil Giles said at the time of the appointment. While Frank took assistant first-team coach Justin Cochrane, head of athletic performance Chris Haslam and first-team analyst Joe Newton with him to Spurs, Andrews remained at Brentford, a clue perhaps to his future at the club. Frank, who took Brentford into the top flight for the first time in 74 years and made them a competitive force in the Premier League, will be a hard act to follow for the inexperienced Andrews, but his predecessor also went into the job relatively unknown. (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2025
BBC News
8 hours ago
- Sport
- BBC News
Andrews becomes seventh Irish Premier League boss
Keith Andrews will become the first permanent Premier League manager from the Republic of Ireland since Chris Hughton left Brighton in 2019, and only the seventh in the competition's Mick McCarthy, Owen Coyle and David O'Leary, who were all born in the UK, are classified by Opta as being from the Republic of Ireland since they won caps for the country as caretakers, and managers from Northern Ireland, Andrews will be just the third Irish-born boss to lead a Premier League club, alongside Joe Kinnear and Roy and Keane have a bit of history, with the Manchester United legend making a disparaging remark about the Dubliner when he was named the Republic's assistant manager in spent a year and a half as a Premier League manager, winning 15 of 53 games with Sunderland, so Andrews could prove a bit of a point if he lasts longer with the Bees.
Sunday World
16-06-2025
- Sport
- Sunday World
Kevin Palmer: Changing faces of football management still face a familiar fate
Most top-level managers are doomed before they start Only a handful of managers in the history of the game have walked away from a top jobs on their own terms, with Alex Ferguson and Jurgen Klopp notable examples in recent years. For the rest, the countdown to the sack begins the moment they take on a new role and the clock will already be ticking for Frank at Spurs. The impressive Danish tactician may have suspected the contract he signed with Spurs until 2028 was little more than a security agreement that would be useful when he faces the almost inevitable outcome, probably long before his three years are up, with all managers going into these high pressure jobs appreciating the perils that go with it. The fact that Frank's managerial approach is based around getting the best out of moderately priced talent should give him a chance to enjoy more success under Spurs chairman Daniel Levy than many have enjoyed in recent years, but he will be aware of the big names that have tried and failed to achieve success under this owner. Levy's determination to put financial prudence ahead of success on the field has been increasingly evident in recent years, with their Europa League success last month a rare highlight of his long and generally unsuccessful tenure running the club. If Frank fails to build on that trophy success Ange Postecoglou achieved before he was sacked, the last Tottenham boss will be the latest recipient of a huge pay-off that will serve as compensation for the humiliation he will be forced to endure when he is condemned to join the ranks of the unemployed in the most public fashion imaginable. All of us accept our jobs can be taken away at any moment, but we don't live in a world that sees our exit celebrated by supporters who are generally glad to see the back of you and with your reputation shredded by the slide in fortunes that led to your demise. The probability of the sack threat does not dissuade those eager to get back on the managerial treadmill, with the intoxicating nature of the game ensuring the embarrassment of a bruising dismissal is quickly overtaken by a desire to get back into the madhouse as quickly as possible. "How does it feel to get the sack? It's part of the job and we all realise that will probably be the end at some point," former Newcastle and Brighton manager Chris Hughton told the Sunday World. "You have to dust yourself down and go again, but that is easier said than done because you do take a confidence hit when you have a tough time and results go against you. "I've had situations where I saw it coming and the one for that was a bit different was at Brighton, as I didn't see that coming when the call came. Chris Hughton says being sacked is not a pleasant experience. Photo: Reuters "I wouldn't say it's embarrassing to get the sack, but it's not nice. The way things are in the modern world, there are a lot of places for people to talk about you and pass judgement on you and that's probably different than it was for managers when I was a player. "It can be hard to build an affinity with clubs if you know the demand for quick success is there. You might speak to the owners when you take the job and give them a vision for a two or three year project and they might go along with it at that point. "What then happens is the long-term plan is ripped up if you don't get instant success and that can change the way you manage. "The game has changed and the arrival of foreign owners is part of that. They run the clubs as if they are a business and follow the same principles, but that doesn't always work in football. "The situation I had at Nottingham Forest was challenging and it was the one job that I couldn't find the right solutions. "A manager needs time to bring in players and build a team, but that isn't always possible when an owner wants to win and isn't prepared to wait." Former Ireland defender Hughton is currently open to offers as he waits to make a return to the dug-out at the age of 66, with his appetite to continue his coaching career not diluted by a torturous experience as Ghana manager last year which ended amid a storm of protests from angry fans. Yet the touchlines he has patrolled for so long are now being occupied by fresh faced newcomers arriving into the game via what would have been seen as an unconventional route not so long ago. Arsene Wenger and Jose Mourinho shattered the notion that success as a player was a prerequisite to landing a top job as a manager, with Brighton's 32-year-old manager Fabian Hurzeler and Crystal Palace boss Oliver Glasner among those working at the top of the coaching game without a C.V. of success as a player. Gone are the days when a club struggling to beat the drop will turn to a veteran escapologist such as Sam Allardyce or Tony Pulis, with a youthful coach boasting a vision that may be seen as more progressive now likely to impress perspective employers. Former Chelsea and England midfielder Frank Lampard is bucking that trend as he has a playing career few of his touchline rivals can match, but the pessimism around his move into coaching is evidence of a changing mindset around what managers need in their armoury. Frank Lampard is currently Coventry City manager Photo: Zac Goodwin/PA Lampard has taken on challenging roles at Derby, Chelsea and Everton before highlighting his coaching qualities as he oversaw an impressive run of form at Coventry in the final half of the Championship season that ended with an agonising play-off defeat against Sunderland. In some respects, Lampard's status as one of the stars of the English game over the last two decades is working against him as there is a perception that he only getting these coaching roles due to his star status, but he is eager to defuse that negativity. "I had a long career and people maybe think I don't need to work, I guess financially. But I wanted to get back in because it's what I love doing," says Lampard. "I love coaching players. I love working with players on the training ground. It's a very consuming business, but this is where I want to be. "It's easy to sit at home and play golf, but I like to work. I'm driven. I like to prove people wrong. I did in my playing career." Job security is not a condition that will be included in the job description for any football manager, as the average tenure of a manager in England is now around two years. That does not dilute the ambitions of those eager to throw themselves into the line of fire, with the sporting drug seemingly irresistible despite the perils that come with it.
Daily Mail
04-06-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
Martin's the man! Former Southampton boss Russell agrees to take charge at Rangers
Russell Martin has agreed to become the next manager of Rangers - with confirmation of the deal now imminent. The 39-year-old is set to fly Scotland for his official unveiling after satisfying the club's new hierarchy that he's the right man to take them forward. The ex-Scotland international, who'd a short spell as a Rangers player towards the end his his career, began managing with MK Dons six years ago, then moved to Swansea before taking over at Southampton. It was at St Mary's where his star really began to rise as he guided the club back to the Premier League via the play-offs. Although Martin was sacked in December after a poor start to the season, he's convinced Rangers' new American owners that he's the perfect fit for them now. He looked to be falling out of the race a week ago when Leicester City teed him up to replace Ruud van Nistelrooy. But with the Foxes stalling on sacking the Dutchman, the former Scotland defender was free to open talks with the Glasgow giants. Martin's interview is believed to have hit the spot - and saw him move ahead of one-time favourite Davide Ancelotti, Brian Priske and Francesco Farioli. While Southampton's poor season under Martin has seen the appointment questioned by some Rangers supporters, one of his former managers has warned that he will arrive back in Scotland with a serious point to prove. Chris Hughton, who made Martin his skipper at Carrow Road, is convinced the decision will prove to be the right one. 'If I'm looking at Russell's managerial background, he is known of course, for playing a certain way, very expansive in the way that he wants to play, very much a passing game and progression through the thirds. But he's a strong personality also,' he said. 'He's had a few knock-backs in his football career so far. 'I think any knock-backs he will look at very much as experience and look to improve in every aspect that he can. 'I saw him recently, and he was in good form and really looking forward to getting back into the game. 'I think he's had a few offers. So, this is somebody that's still very respected in the game, and of course, the roller coaster in management, there are always going to be ups and downs. But he's a very confident individual and very confident in what he wants to do on the football pitch. 'He was very much a leader in the changing room, vocal in the meetings that we had and, of course, he was my voice when it came to any sort of direction on the players. 'So, no surprise to me that he eventually went into management. He always showed those characteristics. 'And he was somebody that, as he improved in his career as a player, is of course very much looking to improve the same way in management.'
BBC News
04-06-2025
- General
- BBC News
'Martin would use Southampton hurt to his advantage'
Russell Martin will use the hurt he suffered at Southampton in a positive way should he become new Rangers head coach, according to his former boss Chris MK Dons and Swansea manager Martin is believed to be the frontrunner for the vacant post at many Rangers fans are underwhelmed by the potential appointment of Martin, who had a short loan spell as a player in Govan in who was captain under Hughton at Norwich, brought Southampton up to the Premier League through the play-offs in 2024 but was sacked by December as they headed back towards the Championship with one win from his first 16 Hughton offered a glowing character reference, saying on Talksport: "If I'm looking at Russell's managerial background, he is known for playing a certain way, very expansive, very much a passing game and progression through the thirds."But he's a strong personality also. He's had a few knockbacks in his football career so far."I think any knockbacks, he will look at very much as experience and look to improve in every aspect he can."I think he's had a few offers, so this is somebody that's still very respected in the game. He's a very confident individual and very confident in what he wants to do on the football pitch."He was very much a leader in the changing room, vocal in the meetings we had and he was my voice when it came to any sort of direction on the players."So it's no surprise to me that he eventually went into management. He always showed those characteristics."
