Leeds United meet Garry Monk’s Birmingham City this weekend.
Leeds United meet a familiar foe this weekend. On Saturday, Marcelo Bielsa takes his side to Birmingham City, who are managed by former Whites boss Garry Monk.
After a very promising first season at Elland Road, Monk shocked the Yorkshire club in the summer of 2017 by walking away. The 40-year-old manager was hired by United’s Championship rivals Middlesbrough a couple of weeks later, souring his relationship with Leeds fans even more.
There is a huge contrast in fortunes between promotion-chasing Leeds and Birmingham, who are battling relegation into League One following a nine-point deduction last month.
But if Bielsa’s side do return to the Premier League, Monk might have earned a sliver of acknowledgement from his former club’s fanbase.
Pablo Hernandez, a player signed by Monk, scored twice in the dramatic 3-2 win over Millwall on Saturday as Leeds moved back into the automatic promotion places. The Spanish maestro has been easily one of the division’s stand-out players this season, scoring 12 goals and setting up another 11.
And then there’s Kemar Roofe, who is the Yorkshire club’s top goalscorer this season with 14. Roofe is another player brought to Thorp Arch by Monk during his one and only summer transfer window as Whites manager.
Bielsa will forever be revered in West Yorkshire if he leads the club back to the Premier League after a 15-year absence, and rightly so, but you could argue that Monk, who also signed Luke Ayling and Pontus Jansson, left behind a pretty solid foundation when he quit the club two years ago.
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