Nathan Collins Had Brilliant Response To Keith Andrews Award Question

Eoin Harrington reporting from Ireland camp at FAI HQ

Nathan Collins and the Irish contingent at Brentford surpassed all expectations with their Premier League performances this year, and yet the last day was tinged with disappointment.

The Bees were within touching distance of qualifying for Europe for the first time ever, but a final-day draw at Anfield saw them come up just short.

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One of the season’s surprise packages, the Brentford players nonetheless have understandably muddled feelings after coming so close to a Europa League spot.

“Mixed emotions,” Collins told reporters on Tuesday afternoon.

“If you offered that at the start of the season after our first game, I think you’d have snapped your hand off.

“But the way we carried on during the season and what we were doing and the momentum we had, I think there was a lot of frustration not qualifying for something. It doesn’t take away from the fact of what we did achieve, and I felt how good we were during the season.

“Leaving Anfield with a draw and you’re frustrated, it doesn’t happen often. It’s a bit of mixed emotions.”

Manager Keith Andrews has far surpassed expectations in his first season in charge in west London.

Nathan Collins gave a brilliant response when asked if his compatriot should be rewarded with the Premier League’s Manager of the Season award.

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Nathan Collins hails Keith Andrews

Keith Andrews is one of six coaches in the running for the Premier League Manager of the Season award, after far surpassing expectations with Brentford.

When asked at Tuesday’s press conference whether his club manager should take home the gong, Ireland captain Nathan Collins gave a brilliant response.

I have to say yeah. He’ll kill me if I don’t!

It was an unreal season for Keith. Nobody expected him to do what he did, nobody expected us to do what we did.

I have known him since I was a kid, he has not changed one bit. His energy is ridiculous, his attention to detail is unbelievable, and I’m not surprised he is where he is.

For me it’s unbelievable, because I can keep pushing him and he can keep pushing us as a team and we can keep getting better and growing.

Collins went on to say that Andrews had expressed his pride in the team at full-time in Anfield, even if there was an air of frustration on how the season had ended.

Two of Collins’ international teammates experienced an even more devastating end to their season, with Finn Azaz and Ryan Manning missing out on their shot at the Premier League due to the Southampton spying scandal.

The Saints were thrown out of the play-offs after beating Middlesbrough in the semi-finals, having admitted to spying on Boro’s training sessions, as well as on two other clubs earlier in the season.

Collins expressed his sympathy for his fellow Irish stars.

“I think everyone at the start of the season were judging Southampton, how the lads weren’t playing their best,” Collins said.

“But when they got a run of games they were playing well and it’s great to see Irish players playing well.

“You want Irish players to play at the highest level. So for that to be taken away from them and for them not to get that chance of going to the Premier League and stepping up again and playing at the highest level, it hurts.

“You want teammates and friends to play there. And you feel for them. And again, when they are playing to that level, they deserve that chance and it was harsh that it was taken away from them.”

For Nathan Collins and Brentford and Ireland teammate Caoimhín Kelleher, there will be a sense of “so near and yet so far” when they reflect on this season. After all, their disappointment at club level was only compounded by the heartbreak of Prague.

Collins, though, said that such disappointments only fuel a drive to get over the line, whether that be getting Brentford into Europe next year, or going on a march to a home European Championships in 2028.

I’ve said it that I’ve learned a lot about myself this season. I feel that I’ve got hungrier as the season went on. There’s a bite in me, wanting to succeed more for Ireland. After seeing all the fans in Czechia, how much we came together, it gives you extra to want to do more. That’s given me more of a bite.

Of course as a kid I’ve seen Ireland have some great moments but its so different when you’re involved in it. To see what it meant to fans and us controlling and having an effect on that makes you want to give them more.

Ireland are back in action this week, as they face Qatar on Thursday evening at the Aviva Stadium.

There are plenty of new faces in the squad, with the likes of Jaden Umeh and Mason Melia among those to earn their first senior call-ups.

It has been a strange experience for 25-year-old Collins to find himself as one of the group’s senior players.

“It’s even weird me saying that I feel old now,” Collins said.

I was that player. I was that young player coming into the squad, and that feels a long time ago now. But we’ve created a culture here and it’s gotten stronger and stronger.

I think we’re a good group of lads that just socialise and get involved. And the young lads, they’re a lot more confident than I was when I was a kid, or 18, 17.

So they’re happy out, they are playing games with us. They’re talking, table tennis, you know, just they’re sitting down with us and socialising.

I think that’s just letting them feel like they should be here, letting them feel that they deserve to be here and I think that’s the big thing to get from them.

Ireland squad for Qatar and Canada

* = Qatar match only

** = Canada match only

Goalkeepers: Caoimhín Kelleher (Brentford)*, Mark Travers (Everton)**, Ed McGinty (Shamrock Rovers), Conor Brann (Cork City)
Defenders: Séamus Coleman (Everton), Nathan Collins (Brentford), Dara O’Shea (Ipswich)*, Jake O’Brien (Everton), Liam Scales (Celtic), James Abankwah (Watford), Corrie Ndaba (Lecce), Alex Murphy (Newcastle)
Midfielders: Jayson Molumby (West Bromwich Albion)*, Joe Hodge (Tondela), Killian Phillips (St. Mirren), Jamie McGrath (Hibernians), Conor Coventry (Charlton)**, Dawson Devoy (Bohemians)**
Attackers: Troy Parrott (AZ Alkmaar), Mason Melia (Tottenham Hotspur), Jaden Umeh (Benfica), Jack Moylan (Lincoln City)*, Adam Brennan (Shamrock Rovers), Chiedozie Ogbene (Ipswich)

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