KEITH ANDREWS’ appointment at Brentford makes him a relative rarity.
He is an Irish-born Premier League manager.
Of course, it’s a flawed metric, but if you focus on football since the league’s inception/name change ahead of the 1992-93 season and what some perceive as the birth of modern football as we know it, Irish players had more of a presence than people might assume.
According to figures by Transfermarkt, Ireland has been responsible for 260 Premier League footballers in that time.
Outside of England, only one country, Scotland (265), has produced more.
By that logic, you might assume that there has also been a high proportion of Irish managers in the English game, but that is not really the case.
The Guardian compiled a list in November 2024 of non-English-born Premier League managers who were appointed for a minimum of five top-flight games.
Italy (15), Spain (14), the Netherlands (10) and France (8) led the way outside of Britain.
Including the UK, Scotland had 30, ahead of Wales (9) and Northern Ireland (7).
Before Andrews at least, the Republic of Ireland had six, which seems low, considering the country’s proximity to England, the historical interest in the top flight on these isles and the general popularity of soccer.
It’s also worth noting that the list counts players who represented Ireland at international level, but who were not necessarily Irish-born.
So the six in question are Mick McCarthy, Dave O’Leary, Joe Kinnear, Roy Keane, Owen Coyle and Chris Hughton.
Of that list, only Keane and Kinnear were born in Ireland, and the latter moved to England at the age of eight.
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O’Leary was born in London to Irish parents and moved to Dublin three years later, so along with Keane, he is the only future Premier League coach pre-Andrews who came through the Irish schoolboy system — the former defender had a stint at Shelbourne before joining Arsenal as an apprentice.
The late Joe Kinnear is one of just three Republic of Ireland-born coaches to manage in the Premier League. Alamy Stock Photo
Alamy Stock Photo
But whatever way you tally up the figures, it is fair to say Ireland have underperformed when it comes to producing Premier League managers or coaches who go on to work in any of Europe’s big five leagues, despite the aforementioned significant English-based playing pool.
There are multiple reasons why this is the case.
Perhaps the biggest issue is that football isn’t a substantial industry in Ireland compared to other European countries.
While there has recently been significant growth in the popularity of the League of Ireland, the country is still playing catch-up overall.
Per figures released last year, there are 10 full-time academy staff in Ireland. Those figures pale in comparison to not just the top European nations but even those perceived to be more mid-ranking, such as Poland (376), Croatia (190) and Austria (114).
Of course, there is a chance that at least one of those 10 will reach the highest level and go on to manage in the Premier League or La Liga, but you don’t need to be a mathematics professor to figure out the greater likelihood of at least one of the 376 Polish coaches flourishing.
Another issue is accessibility.
The FAI-run Uefa Pro Licence course takes place every two years.
It’s a costly enterprise, which can put off some, and there is no guarantee it will secure a coaching job.
In December last year, the FAI noted that 94 of its 136 graduates were active within the game.
It is not uncommon for members of the coaching staff within the League of Ireland to be without a pro licence.
So, for instance, Joey O’Brien can technically only manage Shelbourne for 60 days as he doesn’t meet the requirements for a permanent job, though the former Bolton and West Ham star has applied to be on the next course.
There was a similar issue with Dundalk FC in 2021, when Filippo Giovagnoli had to be demoted from head coach to coach, owing to his lack of a Pro Licence, with Shane Keegan stepping in as manager.
It’s even less common in women’s football to hold a Pro Licence.
In 2024, Laura Heffernan, DLR Waves Head Coach, became just the third female to complete the FAI’s course, following in the footsteps of former Ireland managers Eileen Gleeson and Sue Ronan.
The cost is perhaps the single biggest factor why some within the women’s game and the League of Ireland are reluctant to undertake the course.
Big salaries aren’t a given within these spheres, so the risk-reward balance tends to be disproportionate.
With full-time football jobs relatively scarce in the country, a large number of ex-Ireland internationals tend to apply, given they have both the financial stability to do so and the profile that is more likely to secure them a job at a high level abroad without having to build up a reputation on these shores first.
Andrews secured his Pro Licence on the FAI course in 2023, along with fellow ex-Ireland teammates Damien Duff, Robbie Keane and Andy Reid.
He is the third of that quartet to get a relatively high-profile management job since then, while the exception, Reid, has spent the last couple of years working steadily as an academy coach at Nottingham Forest.
Duff is one of the few pro-licence holders with a significant profile in England to have tried his luck in the League of Ireland.
Many managers and players in the sport tend to be driven by money, but it was not the case with the ex-Shelbourne boss, who managed the Tolka Park outfit as a labour of love, which is why he made the rare move of resigning when most tend to be pushed out the door as they seek compensation to soften the blow of their exits.
For the most part, it really all comes back to finances, which is why many high-profile Irish footballing figures tend to stay away from the League of Ireland and also why there are not many examples of recent domestic-based coaches graduating to the elite level of the game.
This dilemma extends to the national team — of the seven permanent Boys in Green coaches post-Premier League era/Jack Charlton, only three had any kind of League of Ireland background — Brian Kerr, Steve Staunton and Stephen Kenny — and none of them had particularly successful or lengthy reigns.
When the national association has patent reservations about trusting their homegrown managers, it is another stark sign of the sorry state of coaching in the country.
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Why have there been so few Republic of Ireland-born Premier League managers?
KEITH ANDREWS’ appointment at Brentford makes him a relative rarity.
He is an Irish-born Premier League manager.
Of course, it’s a flawed metric, but if you focus on football since the league’s inception/name change ahead of the 1992-93 season and what some perceive as the birth of modern football as we know it, Irish players had more of a presence than people might assume.
According to figures by Transfermarkt, Ireland has been responsible for 260 Premier League footballers in that time.
Outside of England, only one country, Scotland (265), has produced more.
By that logic, you might assume that there has also been a high proportion of Irish managers in the English game, but that is not really the case.
The Guardian compiled a list in November 2024 of non-English-born Premier League managers who were appointed for a minimum of five top-flight games.
Italy (15), Spain (14), the Netherlands (10) and France (8) led the way outside of Britain.
Including the UK, Scotland had 30, ahead of Wales (9) and Northern Ireland (7).
Before Andrews at least, the Republic of Ireland had six, which seems low, considering the country’s proximity to England, the historical interest in the top flight on these isles and the general popularity of soccer.
It’s also worth noting that the list counts players who represented Ireland at international level, but who were not necessarily Irish-born.
So the six in question are Mick McCarthy, Dave O’Leary, Joe Kinnear, Roy Keane, Owen Coyle and Chris Hughton.
Of that list, only Keane and Kinnear were born in Ireland, and the latter moved to England at the age of eight.
O’Leary was born in London to Irish parents and moved to Dublin three years later, so along with Keane, he is the only future Premier League coach pre-Andrews who came through the Irish schoolboy system — the former defender had a stint at Shelbourne before joining Arsenal as an apprentice.
But whatever way you tally up the figures, it is fair to say Ireland have underperformed when it comes to producing Premier League managers or coaches who go on to work in any of Europe’s big five leagues, despite the aforementioned significant English-based playing pool.
There are multiple reasons why this is the case.
Perhaps the biggest issue is that football isn’t a substantial industry in Ireland compared to other European countries.
While there has recently been significant growth in the popularity of the League of Ireland, the country is still playing catch-up overall.
Per figures released last year, there are 10 full-time academy staff in Ireland. Those figures pale in comparison to not just the top European nations but even those perceived to be more mid-ranking, such as Poland (376), Croatia (190) and Austria (114).
Of course, there is a chance that at least one of those 10 will reach the highest level and go on to manage in the Premier League or La Liga, but you don’t need to be a mathematics professor to figure out the greater likelihood of at least one of the 376 Polish coaches flourishing.
Another issue is accessibility.
The FAI-run Uefa Pro Licence course takes place every two years.
It’s a costly enterprise, which can put off some, and there is no guarantee it will secure a coaching job.
In December last year, the FAI noted that 94 of its 136 graduates were active within the game.
It is not uncommon for members of the coaching staff within the League of Ireland to be without a pro licence.
So, for instance, Joey O’Brien can technically only manage Shelbourne for 60 days as he doesn’t meet the requirements for a permanent job, though the former Bolton and West Ham star has applied to be on the next course.
There was a similar issue with Dundalk FC in 2021, when Filippo Giovagnoli had to be demoted from head coach to coach, owing to his lack of a Pro Licence, with Shane Keegan stepping in as manager.
It’s even less common in women’s football to hold a Pro Licence.
In 2024, Laura Heffernan, DLR Waves Head Coach, became just the third female to complete the FAI’s course, following in the footsteps of former Ireland managers Eileen Gleeson and Sue Ronan.
The cost is perhaps the single biggest factor why some within the women’s game and the League of Ireland are reluctant to undertake the course.
Big salaries aren’t a given within these spheres, so the risk-reward balance tends to be disproportionate.
With full-time football jobs relatively scarce in the country, a large number of ex-Ireland internationals tend to apply, given they have both the financial stability to do so and the profile that is more likely to secure them a job at a high level abroad without having to build up a reputation on these shores first.
Andrews secured his Pro Licence on the FAI course in 2023, along with fellow ex-Ireland teammates Damien Duff, Robbie Keane and Andy Reid.
He is the third of that quartet to get a relatively high-profile management job since then, while the exception, Reid, has spent the last couple of years working steadily as an academy coach at Nottingham Forest.
Duff is one of the few pro-licence holders with a significant profile in England to have tried his luck in the League of Ireland.
Many managers and players in the sport tend to be driven by money, but it was not the case with the ex-Shelbourne boss, who managed the Tolka Park outfit as a labour of love, which is why he made the rare move of resigning when most tend to be pushed out the door as they seek compensation to soften the blow of their exits.
For the most part, it really all comes back to finances, which is why many high-profile Irish footballing figures tend to stay away from the League of Ireland and also why there are not many examples of recent domestic-based coaches graduating to the elite level of the game.
This dilemma extends to the national team — of the seven permanent Boys in Green coaches post-Premier League era/Jack Charlton, only three had any kind of League of Ireland background — Brian Kerr, Steve Staunton and Stephen Kenny — and none of them had particularly successful or lengthy reigns.
When the national association has patent reservations about trusting their homegrown managers, it is another stark sign of the sorry state of coaching in the country.
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Damien Duff EPL Keith Andrews Premier League Roy Keane talking point Brentford