Martin O'Neill: Keith Andrews is not my favourite person

Martin O’Neill has again hit out at Keith Andrews. Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

Martin O’Neill has again hit out at Keith Andrews by admitting the Brentford manager “is not my favourite person.”

In an interview with the Guardian to promote his new book The Changing Game: The Past, Present and Future of Football, O’Neill, who previously claimed Andrews was a “vitriolic critic” of his due to his focus on set-pieces, also offered his thoughts on how the former Ireland midfielder is performing in charge of the Bees.

“Keith is not my favourite person because he was very critical of me in Ireland,” O’Neill told Donald McRae.

“The irony is that Brentford are using the long throw, which is not all that inventive because it’s been around for years.

“But take my irritants aside. He’s a young fellow coming in [to management] and it’s a great challenge because he’s taking over from a person whose character pervaded the football club.

“Thomas Frank was excellent and so it’s a strange and interesting dilemma for [Andrews].

“Do you want to change things straight away? Do you want to show your personality immediately? Or do you take your time, because the players do know you?

“But knowing you as a set-piece coach and then knowing you as a manager is a wee bit different. If you overcome those things, then you should be on the right path.”

O’Neill also opened up on how he was in contention to become England manager, only to lose out to Steve McClaren back in 2006, seven years before he took charge of the Republic of Ireland.

“My interviewing technique might not have been the greatest and maybe I didn’t have a power play,” he joked.

“But deep down I probably thought I hadn’t really done enough to merit being England manager at that stage. The England manager’s job is up there alongside managing Brazil.

“Thomas Tuchel’s now in and the only thing he can do is to win the World Cup. He has got to win it because everything else would be relative failure.

"That didn’t worry me at the time because England then wouldn’t have been considered as extraordinary – apart from the fact they had some really good players.

"If given the job, I would absolutely have taken it.”