The Kilrea man has made repeated remarks about Andrews, his feelings stemming from what he saw as unfair criticism by Andrews when he was a Sky Sports pundit during O’Neill’s tenure as Republic of Ireland manager.

“Keith is not my favourite person because he was very critical of me in Ireland,” O’Neill told the Guardian, speaking to promote his new book The Changing Game: The Past, Present and Future of Football.

“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 dile

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