Few moments in recent Premier League history have been as agonising as the one Brentford endured in the dying seconds of the 2025/26 season. Drawing 1-1 with Liverpool at Anfield, the Bees needed just one goal to finish seventh and clinch a place in the UEFA Europa League. In the 10th minute of added time, Mikkel Damsgaard laid the ball off to Vitaly Janelt, whose first-time cross curled invitingly into the box — only for Dango Ouattara to get ahead of Kevin Schade and steer the ball wide.

Head coach Keith Andrews sank to his knees on the touchline. His first season in charge had come agonisingly close to a historic conclusion.

Pride, then hunger

Reflecting on that moment three months later in an exclusive interview with Sky Sports, Andrews described it as the defining image of his debut campaign. "I felt that epitomised the journey we'd been on last season," he said. "Everybody was so engrossed in our journey and gave absolutely everything. There was no shame at all from not getting into Europe, but it whetted the appetite pretty nicely."

Andrews used his summer break to think carefully about how Brentford could take the step forward. "There's amazing thinking time you don't normally get on a weekly basis to plan and look at things in a more forensic way," he said. "You could smell it, you could feel it — this season was already there."

A quieter window, but a precise one

The summer of 2026 was markedly calmer than the previous year, when Bryan Mbeumo and Christian Norgaard departed for Manchester United and Arsenal respectively, and Yoane Wissa's move to Newcastle United proved long and disruptive. This time, the only notable first-team departures were Ethan Pinnock and Frank Onyeka, who joined Coventry for less than £12 million combined.

Brentford were the eighth-lowest spenders in the Premier League at £112.5 million, focusing on adding depth and experience. Jannik Schuster arrived as a young centre-back, while Callum Wilson and Jaidon Anthony brought proven Premier League pedigree. Mamadou Sangare has impressed early on, and Malick Diouf arrived from West Ham United to complete the squad-building exercise.

"We've added to an already really good squad, we've added very well, and we've kept hold of exactly who we wanted," Andrews said. "I'm really, really happy with the deals we've got done."

Breaking the ceiling

Andrews is open about what improvement means in concrete terms this season: reaching Europe. "Naturally, the next step for us is to try and break that ceiling," he said. That ambition is visible in how the Bees have started the 2026/27 campaign.

On the opening weekend, Brentford dismantled Tottenham Hotspur 3-0 at the Gtech Community Stadium — a performance that would have been even more emphatic had Igor Thiago not struck the post from the penalty spot. Sky Sports pundit Jamie Redknapp praised the team's shape and collective bravery, noting that what Tottenham faced was closer to total football than the long-ball game their manager Roberto De Zerbi had anticipated.

Andrews welcomed the assessment but stressed the versatility behind it. "We can play in different ways. We can control games now with the quality we have technically as a team. If teams want to have a fight, we'll have a fight," he said. "We've got so many different attributes within the squad where we can cause problems in an unpredictable way."

Individual growth driving the team

The head coach believes individual improvement will be the engine of collective progress. He pointed to Michael Kayode as an example: "He had an amazing season — let's get him better. If someone is as humble and hungry as Michael, it's inevitable they will get better."

Andrews also identified set-pieces, chance creation, and defensive organisation — particularly the ability to press high and absorb pressure in equal measure — as areas where Brentford intend to sharpen their game. The appointment of former Republic of Ireland team-mate Damien Duff as assistant head coach in June has been central to that process.

"He's an unbelievable support for me on a daily basis," Andrews said of Duff. "You've got to be very impactful in your role and whatever responsibilities you have — and Damien is certainly that."

Europe remains the target. The ceiling, Andrews insists, is there to be broken.