Keith Andrews is ready for the derby heat

Keith Andrews learned his trade at Wolves. But he insists his career didn't start for real until he escaped.

Andrews will be a familiar face in the Baggies squad travelling to Molineux for Sunday's Black Country derby.

Yet the 31-year-old is adamant, if he makes his debut on his former stomping ground, Wolves fans will not recognise the player he has become.

The Irishman spent 10 years at Molineux after moving from his homeland as a 15-year-old who was heralded as one of the brightest stars of Wolves' academy.

He made just 48 starts for the club, however, and seven years after his departure he offers a frank assessment of the mistakes he made and the reasons he had to leave.

"Whether my lifestyle was wrong, or it was the people I was knocking around with, I don't know. But it was just so easy for me because I had been there for so long," he admits.

"It's no secret that I was dying to get out of Wolves at that stage because I didn't get the football I needed.

"It was when I went to MK Dons that the penny dropped and I realised I had to do things right and take my destiny into my own hands rather than leaving it up to other people.

"It's fair to say that my whole life changed. It was the kick up the backside I needed.

"I changed my diet and my lifestyle. I wouldn't say I needed to change the people I was knocking around with because I think I've got good family and friends.

"But I just wasn't being as professional as I could be.

"I would go through stages where I would play a few games and then I'd get dropped and I wouldn't take it very well.

"For the last four or five years I've dealt with that quite well.

"Before that it was just a vicious circle but there were good players in midfield at Wolves at the time.

"There was Paul Ince, Colin Cameron and Alex Rae, who were good international players, whereas I was 21 or 22 and I wouldn't take things well and wouldn't react in the way the manager wanted me to.

"I always look in the mirror first when I'm looking to reasons why things happen and, looking back, I certainly would have done things differently."

Andrews was released by Wolves in 2005 and spent a year with Hull.

But it was a move to MK Dons, and a reunion with former Wolves captain Ince, which he believes kick-started a career that was going nowhere fast.

Having shed the extra pounds he admits he carried at Molineux, Andrews has reinvented himself as a box-to-box midfield figure and become a regular Ireland international.

And he traces it all to his days in Milton Keynes.

Ince's move to Blackburn offered Andrews the shot at the Premier League that looked to have passed him by thanks to a £1.3m move to Ewood Park in his manager's wake.

Four years brought 51 Premier League starts, only for a major summer fall-out with the powers-that-be to convince him his time in Lancashire was up.

Last Tuesday he forfeited the remaining 18 months of his contract to sign a six-month Hawthorns deal.

And Andrews is confident he can finally make his mark in the Black Country and prove he was better than Wolves fans think.

He said: "I'm a more rounded player. "I've played at the highest level for a few years now and I'm fully confident I can come here and make an impact."

See also:

• Keith Andrews happy to relegate former club Wolves