KEITH ANDREWS: The appointment of O'Neill and Keane is box office... there is a buzz around Irish football again

Published: 02:50 EST, 22 November 2013 | Updated: 03:38 EST, 22 November 2013

Keith Andrews is Ireland international midfielder who is currently plying his trade in the Championship with Brighton. Andrews started his career at Wolves before moving to Hull and then onto MK Dons and Blackburn. Andrews moved to Brighton in the summer after his place at Bolton was no longer guaranteed and in his debut Footballers' Football Column he says why he enjoys playing at the Amex and why he will not retire from playing international football just yet. Before you read his column, check out his video below...

There's no way I would ever retire from international football while I’m still playing for a club. I’m 33 now and I can’t really expect to be playing for Ireland regularly, but I’m certainly never going to retire myself from international football. Maybe at my age I could benefit from using the international breaks to rest but I’m patriotic. If I could get back into the Ireland team it would be as special for me as when I first made my debut

I love being part of the set up with Ireland. I think it means even more because I didn’t make my international debut until I was 28. That was very special. I thought that ship had sailed, to be honest. I would obviously have loved to have won my first international cap 10 years earlier, but if I have kicked my last ball for Ireland then I look back on my career with happiness.

Breath of fresh air: Keith Andrews is enjoying playing for Brighton

It’s been a disappointing spell for me with the Republic of Ireland. After Euro 2012 I had an achilles niggle that turned into a serious injury. I missed a large chunk of matches and the team moved on as players like Darron Gibson and James McCarthy really took their chances. It’s just one of those things.

I think the appointment of Martin O’Neill is fantastic. It is box office, it has the whole of Ireland talking about football again. The TV and newspapers back in Ireland have been mad, everyone is on the edge of their seats waiting for the next press conference and seeing who will speak, whether it be Martin or Roy Keane.

It really has got the excitement back into Irish football. The last 12-18 months since the Euros has been a bit dour and down in Ireland. So something exciting had to happen and capture the imagination of the fans and this appointment has done that and more.

When I first heard that Roy Keane was in line to be Martin’s No 2, I was in a bit of disbelief I thought it was so far fetched I did not know where it had come from. The only way they knew each other was working on ITV, but it has become very clear that it was Martin O’Neill’s appointment and not the FAI’s.

The more you think about it, the more you see that Roy is very passionate about his country, the League of Ireland and the younger age groups. And that is what I wanted to see from the appointment, someone who would care about the FAI as a whole and grassroots football.

The U18s will be vital as we need to mold teams for the future. We need to establish a DNA of Irish football and make a decision on how we want to play and that starts from the ages of nine and 10.

I thought it was a little bit sad the way Ireland’s interim manager, Noel King, was treated during the last two World Cup qualifying matches against Germany and Kazakhstan. It’s a sad indictment on our culture that the pundits and media were intent on taking him down a peg or two. That annoyed me a little bit.

I think it was the right decision to appoint an interim manager for the last two games rather than rush into appointing Giovanni Trapattoni successor, but anyone who thought we were going to beat Germany in Germany was delusional. Noel stepped up and did his job: Ireland lost 3-0 to Germany and beat Kazakhstan 3-1 at home, which was expected. His selection process was a little bit off but he did not deserve the abuse and criticism he received.

Dream team: Martin O'Neill and Roy Keane have brought excitement back to Irish football

Flying the flag: Fan raise a flag for new management team O'Neill and Keane

Sad: Andrews was not happy with the way Ireland's coach Noel King was treated by some pundits

Irish eyes: Andrews has won 25 caps for Ireland

It's been a breath of fresh air for me joining Brighton. The club made a big impression on me when I played against them for Bolton last season, in terms of their style of football and their new stadium, and when they came in for me it was a very easy decision in footballing terms. It’s not an easy decision, moving 250 miles away from your home in the north-west, but Brighton made it very clear they wanted me and Bolton made it clear they didn’t.  It came out of the blue, but I felt it was a chance to be a part of something really exciting.

It was a bit strange, the way I left Bolton and joined Brighton on loan until the end of the season. I played for Bolton in the first two games of the season and was training as normal one morning and then, in the afternoon, I started getting all these calls about other clubs. Bolton were signing Jay Spearing from Liverpool, but nobody from the club phoned me. It all changes so quickly – it’s not a nice side of football, but you can’t really expect much more from the game and I certainly looked at it like a blessing in disguise.

Replacement: Bolton signed Jay Spearing and Andrews was sent on loan to Brighton

Playing the right way: Andrews is pleased with the way Oscar Garcia has Brighton playing

On the up: Andrews is enjoying life at the Amex

I would want to watch my team playing football the way we play at Brighton: trying to play exciting, free-flowing football. It something the chairman Tony Bloom and former manager Gus Poyet tried to instil and it comes as second nature to our manager Oscar Garcia, given his background at Barcelona. We’re not quite where we want to be in terms of the Championship table because we’re still a work in progress and I really believe we have a squad capable of getting up the table and challenging for promotion.