Garry Monk gave an interview to the Telegraph on Monday, in which he spoke about his time Swansea City, his current club Middlesbrough, and also touched on his time at Leeds United. He spoke at length about coming up through the ranks at Swansea, all the way from League Two, from being captain to making the transition to manager at Swansea, and why he didn’t let it bother him after he was sacked.
Garry Monk interview: 'I took the flak and negative opinions but they never broke me' @LukeEdwardsTele https://t.co/Bh2Dh3vBC0
— Telegraph Football (@TeleFootball) October 24, 2017
Apparently the former Leeds manager can’t let bygones be bygones, saying,
There has been a lot of negativity [toward me] and I was disappointed to leave Leeds. I felt we had a fantastic season when you consider what it was when I took over and what it was when we left.
There was an expectancy we’d still be there. It was frustrating, and I don’t want to go too much into it, but for me there was never a real intention for me to have a long-term job there.
My intention was to stay, but I had a one-year contract, there were new owners. After the job I’d done and after discussions, there was never a real desire to keep me and I didn’t want to put myself or my staff in that position.
So it’s gonna be like that, huh Garry?
It’s interesting that he says “there was never a real intention for me to have a long-term job there” while at the same time complaining that “there was never a real desire to keep me.”
He’s basically saying that he quit because he didn’t like the new owner and felt that he wasn’t going to have the job long-term. Which he didn’t want anyway.
All of this contradicts what he said on Twitter at the time, “My intention was always to remain at Leeds and I saw myself at this fantastic club for many years to come.”
So which is it, Garry? Now, you’re saying you didn’t really want to be at Leeds after you said you did? He said in this interview that “there was no real desire to keep me” after Andrea Radrizzani said that they wanted to put him on a three-year deal?
All of this seems like sour grapes. Middlesbrough spent gobs of money this off-season and are currently 13th in the table. They are on a five-match league winless streak, having not won a match since September 16th in the Championship, and lost 3-1 to AFC Bournemouth in the League Cup last night.
Leeds fans said Gary Monk had no plan B, I’m struggling to find plan A??
— Macauley Forster (@Macauleyyy17) October 21, 2017
If that was the sort of football Gary monk was playing at Leeds last year I'm not surprised they were glad to be shot of him
— andy de la touche (@john_neptune) October 24, 2017
Boro, despite shelling out £15 million for Britt Assombalonga and £6.5 million for West Ham United striker Ashley Fletcher, has only scored 15 goals in the Championship so far this season, the same as Barnsley. Boro fans are starting to wonder just what they’ve gotten themselves into, and so Monk goes out swinging in an interview with a national publication.
Monk is doing himself no favours at the moment. At this point, it doesn’t seem like any Leeds fans really miss Monk. Yes, he’s happy to give himself credit for finishing 7th in the Championship last season, but there is no responsibility taken for the catastrophic slide out of the playoff positions after all but being guaranteed a spot in mid-March. It’s a bad look to be still talking about how the new owner, who literally has been the best thing to happen to Leeds United in over a decade, didn’t seem to “fancy” you, but to also say that you never really wanted to stay?
Please shut up about Leeds, Garry. Focus on your current job, where fans are already starting to turn on you after Steve Gibson shelled out over £20 million for two strikers that have scored a total of seven goals in the Championship. Focus on your current job, where the team has only won four of the 13 Championship matches so far with the only road win coming at the worst team in the division, Bolton Wanderers.
Leeds have moved on Garry, perhaps it’s time you did as well.