I’ve often remarked how well run Swansea City seem to be. I think they have a fantastic ethos and are a credit to the English Premier League.

But the sacking of manager Garry Monk last week has left me scratching my head, if I am being honest I can’t see too many valid reasons for his dismissal.

Yes the Swans have fallen away after a bright start and looked to be in a bit of a rut but surely the young coach deserved more time to turn things around at the Liberty Stadium.

The fact is Monk is still only thirty six years old and was always going to go through a rough spell at some stage. Once chairman Huw Jenkins decided to give him the managers job on a full time basis, it should have been decided that the club would support their young boss through his first real rough patch and see him grow because of it. That would have empowered Garry and helped the club in the long term.

Monk stepped into the hot-seat in February when Michael Laudrup was sacked. He managed to safely guided the club away from the relegation zone and watched his side win 3-0 against Welsh rivals Cardiff City in the process.

Last season (In Garry Monk’s only full season in charge) the Swans beat both Manchester United and Arsenal home and away. They finished in a very impressive eighth spot and secured a record points tally in the top flight. Not bad at all, especially when you remember that they sold off their main striker last January without properly replacing him.

More often than not, under Monk, Swansea played some superb attacking football. They were a joy to watch.

As I’ve previously noted, the club were in a bit of a slump at the moment and were in a poor run of form. But let’s not forget that they were still three places away from the bottom three and hand’t been in the relegation zone all season.

The club tied him down to a new three year deal back in July, yet decided to turn their backs on him at what seems like the first sign of trouble.

Now I understand that panic sets in when you go on a slump in the Premier League and you start to think about losing all that TV and prize money. But it is still only December.

I think looking at the squad, Swansea are quite capable of going on a decent run and away from trouble.

Now I understand Mr Jenkins has done a lot in helping secure Swansea’s long term future after a flirtation with dreaded debts and spells in the lower leagues, so he has the right to do what he wants. I just think more could have been done in helping Monk out and that would have been a better outcome for everyone involved.

I suppose it becomes even more puzzling when you see that no plan seems to be in place to replace Monk.

Two early contenders in Brendan Rodgers and David Moyes have distanced themselves from the role.

The new favourites for the job seem to be Gus Poyet and Marcelo Bielsa.

Poyet seems interested but he only took over at AEK Athens in October. The Uruguayan also had a dire time of it at Sunderland and didn’t leave that post with much credit. Is he really a better option than Monk? I don’t think he is. Plus Poyet seemed to have a big issue with others leading the recruitment at the Black Cats, that will be the same at the Liberty Stadium.

Then you have Bielsa. The Argentine has a strong reputation and will have British hipsters thrilled at the prospect of him joining the Swans. But when you look at his recent CV he comes in and starts off brilliantly with his attacking, free flowing tactics before his sides badly falling away once every team sees past his Plan A and his lack of a Plan B.

I think that either of these two coaches could cone in and achieve the short-term target of keeping Swansea City in the Premier League. But I think Monk would have done that too.

My problem is that I don’t see Poyet, Bielsa or anyone else currently linked being a great long-term solution to take the club forward.

I think they had that with Garry Monk and would have been better served holding fire and backing him to turn things around. Hopefully he can come back stronger elsewhere and prove his worth!

Posted on December 14th, 2015 by scott
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