Andrews in a happier place

SOCCER:"FOOTBALL IS a horrible business, and if your face doesn't fit, you have to move on," Keith Andrews was left concluding after completing his loan move from Blackburn to Ipswich earlier this month, the midfielder just relieved to have ended what had been a demoralising spell at the Premier League club.

Once the move was confirmed he wasn’t slow in letting his feelings be known about his previous employers or the Ewood Park supporters who had taken to greeting his appearances with boos. “I’ve always conducted myself very well so it’s refreshing to come to a football club where you’re appreciated,” he said, in his parting shot.

Considering injury restricted him to only a handful of appearances last season, Andrews was at a loss to understand why the supporters’ frustrations were being taken out on him, but it made the decision to move on, albeit – perhaps – temporarily, an easy one.

Both Ipswich and the 30-year-old Dubliner wanted it to be a season long, but Blackburn, he said, “dug their heels in”. It’s a six-month deal, then, with a view to a permanent move.

He had no worries about the impact on his international career of dropping down a division, Giovanni Trapattoni reassuring him that playing regular first-team football in the Championship was preferable to sitting on a Premier League bench.

“Yeah, he spoke to me about it,” said Andrews, in Dublin yesterday for the build-up to Friday and Tuesday week’s Euro 2012 qualifiers against Slovakia and Russia. “He had heard that I might possibly be moving and that I had come home early from a pre-season trip to Hong Kong. I told him what my plans were and he was fine with all that. He just wants me to be playing football and I don’t think it is a big issue in the grand scheme of things.”

“I’ve always said it’s about playing football regularly. It’s great to have played Premier League football and I hope and expect it not to be my last time playing in the Premier League. Ipswich is certainly the platform for me to bounce back to that.”

Did you feel a bit hard done by at Blackburn? “Yes and no, but it’s football, it happens. I could have stayed there, on the bench one week, playing the next, in the stands the next. The most important thing for me now is that I’m playing week in, week out, so really the move was a no-brainer.”

He might have scored three goals in his last three appearances for Ipswich but the season has started poorly for his new club, their first win coming on Saturday when Andrews’ 90th-minute goal against Leeds gave them the points. “The results haven’t been hectic, but they will come. From a personal point of view it’s been good, but I had a decent pre-season at Blackburn so I feel very sharp. It’s just good to be out on loan, to be honest, and great to be back playing.”

With his club situation resolved, Andrews is looking forward to what he says is a “pivotal week in the shake-up of the group”.

“A win over Slovakia on Friday, he said, would take the pressure off for the trip to Moscow. “Needless to say, we wouldn’t be going to Russia thinking ‘let’s just draw’, but I think if we’re all honest four points would be a good take from these two games.

“We need to start turning the Aviva in to more of a fortress, starting Friday. I’m not really sure of the ins and outs with the FAI and ticket pricing, but hopefully they can do something to try to encourage the fans to come.”