{"id":495869,"date":"2026-06-12T10:35:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T10:35:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/495869\/"},"modified":"2026-06-12T10:35:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T10:35:08","slug":"duff-appointed-brentford-assistant-manager","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/495869\/","title":{"rendered":"Duff appointed Brentford assistant manager"},"content":{"rendered":"

Damien Duff has linked with Keith Andrews after Brentford confirmed the former Republic of Ireland international has been appointed assistant manager at the Premier League club.<\/p>\n

The 47-year-old has been out of the game since leaving his role as Shelbourne manager a year ago<\/a>, but Andrews, who enjoyed a successful first season in charge of the Bees with a ninth-place finish in the league, has moved to bring Duff to the London club after recent discussions.<\/p>\n

The pair worked together in the international fold when Republic of Ireland manager Stephen Kenny brought them both into his coaching team in April 2020.<\/p>\n

The following January Duff, who won 100 caps for his country as a player, left the role less than six months later. Andrews remained part of the coaching team until Kenny’s departure in November 2023 following Ireland\u2019s failure to qualify for Euro 2024.<\/p>\n

“I’ve known Damien for a long time,” Andrews said.<\/p>\n

“I\u2019ve seen him up close throughout his coaching journey. We\u2019ve been on courses together and worked together as coaches with the Republic of Ireland national team.<\/p>\n

“Damien will bring experience, presence and a real level of detail to our coaching department. He will add to the great group we already have and I\u2019m very pleased that he is joining us.”<\/p>\n

Duff spoke glowingly of his visit to Brentford and spoke of his admiration for the way in which the club is run.<\/p>\n

“You look at maybe a couple of my ex-clubs, Blackburn and Chelsea, they\u2019re two basket cases and that\u2019s why they are where they are. Brentford, brilliant from top to bottom,” he said.<\/p>\n

Following a decorated playing career with Blackburn, Chelsea, Newcastle and Fulham, Duff\u2019s first taste of coaching came with Shamrock Rovers, taking charge of the club\u2019s Under-15 side in 2017.<\/p>\n

Celtic manager Neil Lennon brought Duff to Parkhead in January 2019.<\/p>\n

“The next best thing when you finish is obviously coaching and the next best thing for me, I didn’t play for Celtic, but to come and coach here is top class,” he said at the time.<\/p>\n

As first-coach under Neil Lennon, Duff helped Celtic complete the treble treble and add a ninth consecutive Scottish Premiership title, before stepping away to focus on his role within Kenny\u2019s Republic of Ireland set-up.<\/p>\n

The Dubliner said family reasons lay at the heart of his decision to leave Scotland despite such success with the club.<\/p>\n

\"Damien
\nDamien Duff and Keith Andrews during their time in the Republic of Ireland coaching team in 2020<\/p>\n

His time working for the FAI was shortlived however as Ireland struggled for form under Kenny. Winless after eight games, Duff left his role after less than six months<\/a>.<\/p>\n

No reason was given for his sudden departure, though it is understood he was unhappy at an investigation launched into a video shown to the Ireland players before their friendly against England at Wembley in November 2020.<\/p>\n

In November 2021 he assumed his first managerial post when Shelbourne promoted him from his Under-17 position as the club returned to the Premier Division, sparking an immediate upturn in fortunes.<\/p>\n

FAI Cup runners-up in 2022, the following year a fourth-place finish brought the Reds back to European competition for the first time in 18 years.<\/p>\n

In 2024 he led the club to a first league title in 18 years after a dramatic final-day victory over Derry City.<\/p>\n

The title defence however proved a struggle, with the Tolka Park club in sixth position and 15 points adrift of leaders Shamrock Rovers when he tendered his resignation in June of last year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Damien Duff has linked with Keith Andrews after Brentford confirmed the former Republic of Ireland international has been…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":495870,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[61,60,112],"class_list":["post-495869","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495869","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=495869"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495869\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/495870"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=495869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=495869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=495869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}