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Brentford offer a compelling example of the outcome when a efficiently managed club loses its long-serving manager and star players. Will the systems that drove the club so far withstand such change? Can a much-admired data-driven scouting system identify workable replacements? Appointing a manager with limited top-level experience, Keith Andrews, further stress-tests the resilience of the framework.

Mixed Indications but Encouraging Trends

The signs so far are varied but positive on balance. As sainted as the former manager is in the club's history, his exit to join Tottenham showed that development was never straightforward or a consistently rising trajectory. A club with a stated wage bill of £50m a year, among the lowest in the top flight, has significant challenges to overcome. That last season’s 10th place was coupled with frustration in failing to secure European football indicates how far expectations had climbed.

Testing Times and Significant Wins

On Sunday, the reigning champions face a team starting in the moderate security of thirteenth position, though with oscillations from defeat three-one at Fulham a two weeks ago to a deserved 3-1 at their ground victory over the Red Devils last Saturday. Bearing in mind that many find them a vulnerable opponent, and among the previous manager's final matches was a four-three win against Ruben Amorim’s team, beating them still held significance for Andrews. No club have beaten United and City in consecutive fixtures since Spurs in January 1996.

Known Face in a New Role

Andrews was no stranger to the club. Last season, he patrolled the dugout as Frank’s dead-ball expert. Ipswich’s their manager, the Norwegian side's Kjetil Knutsen and the Sheffield Wednesday boss were linked. The likeliest in-house option was number two the former coach, but he followed Frank to North London.

Shifts Both On and Off the Field

The off-season was a time of change both on and off the field. The owner, with an analytics approach follows his achievements in the sports betting industry, sold a minority share to former Autoglass chief executive and Labour party donor Gary Lubner and the director Sir Matthew Vaughn, with his wife, a supermodel, has been attracting media attention to the directors’ box.

Continuity and Guidance

The continuity at the club is maintained by Jon Varney, and the sporting director. Giles, who has been at the team for a ten years, gave an interview last week, stating the Bees can never become complacent with the management congratulating itself for jobs well done. “You can never say we are established,” he said. “It’s not even a football word. At what point are we established? Probably never. For a club of our stature, I don’t think you can ever take it for granted.”

Rebuilding and New Players

The team kicked off versus United in seventeenth position, the safety zone. Parting with the manager, and leading players such as the forwards the Cameroonian winger and the forward, the engine-room and captain Christian Nørgaard along with goalkeeper Mark Flekken, seemed as if a squad's heart was being torn away. Benham, Varney and the sporting director had a strategy; Andrews inherited talent to work with. Igor Thiago was at the team, the previous summer’s major acquisition unavailable to Frank through fitness issues. The forward's quartet of strikes from 10 shots have come at the best conversion rate of any Premier League attacker this season.

Squad Assets and Tools

The speedy Kevin Schade was entrenched in the attack; he joined Wissa and Mbeumo in scoring double figures in the previous campaign. The experienced midfielder brings elite know-how in midfield where stats indicate the Ukrainian, twenty-one, as one of the top defensive workers in the Premier League. Yarmolyuk can pick a pass, as well. Mikkel Damsgaard's unorthodox gait masks real inventiveness and the full-back is a marauding back who launches the set-pieces that are key part of the arsenal. Caoimhín Kelleher, who produced a penalty save from the opponent's the playmaker, is enjoying being a first-choice goalkeeper and the winger, the departed star's successor on the wing, scored the goal versus the Midlands club in August that earned the manager's first victory at their stadium.

Approach and Mindset

With the new boss, Brentford continue to be all-action, flinty, awkward to face. Though a little more guarded publicly than his predecessor, Andrews – a former radio host on Ireland’s radio station who also had a longstanding position as among Sky’s Championship pundits – plays the press relations well. After his team secured a point from Chelsea following a the forward's long throw that raised chaos, he reflected on the dead-ball expertise, and the “carnage” it creates, that is currently incorporated into the majority of sides' tactics. “I felt there is a little bit of elitism in the game regarding scenarios such as that, but when the big boys do it then it seems to be accepted,” the coach said.

Motivational Figures and Scrutiny

Andrews has attempted to reinvigorate the squad by inviting a pair of from Ireland sporting heroes, the rugby union player the former captain and Ryder Cup-winning captain the golfer, to speak to his team. However, not all from back home is supportive on Ireland’s initial top-flight coach since the ex-boss. Andrews questioned the international management of Martin O’Neill and the ex-captain during his punditry work. The former boss has been highly critical; the pundit a little more conciliatory towards a person he gave the full treatment in 2020. “I’ve heard a lot of bullshitters in the past 10 years and the coach is among them with the best of them,” were Keane’s words. The manager taking on the club's challenge is the most accurate evaluation of that and the robustness of his club’s structures.