Leeds United boss Garry Monk’s current deal at Elland Road expires at the end of the season.
Leeds United manager Garry Monk
Eddie Gray has insisted that Leeds should really have no decision to make regarding Garry Monk’s future, and expressed his hope that the recent report suggesting that he may be replaced this summer is only speculation, the Yorkshire Evening Post reports.
The Whites’ season will finish in fairly disappointing fashion with the club all but nailed on for seventh spot in the Championship despite spending much of the campaign in the top six.
A poor run of form to end the season has seen Leeds – at one stage, talked about as one of the outsiders that may upset the apple cart in the race for automatic-promotion – fall out of the play-off places at virtually the last hurdle, and has seen some of the gloss taken off a tremendous campaign.
It is bound to be a busy summer at Elland Road with a number of first-team players at the club on loan, and with the head coach currently only on a deal that runs until the end of this season (via Yorkshire Evening Post).
The Sun recently suggested that Monk will be replaced this summer following their inability to finish the season in the top six.
But while Whites legend Gray can understand the frustration of missing out on the play-offs, he insisted that there should not be any question mark surrounding Monk’s future given what he has achieved in his first year.
“As far as I’m concerned there’s no decision to make. There’s no doubt in my mind that Garry should be here next season. The job he’s done has been good enough to deserve that. I’d hope the talk of a change is just speculation,” he said, as reported by the Yorkshire Evening Post.
“Last season and the season before, you were going to games thinking so many of them were a waste of time. This season you’ve been going thinking something might actually happen.
“That’s the difference and it’s the first time in a while that people thought this was going to be our year. You’ve seen it in the gates at Elland Road and the atmosphere. The players have blown it in the end but you’ve got to give them credit for going close.”
Once the dust settles and the disappointment subsides somewhat, there is surely no reason why the supporters and the decision-makers within the club should not be impressed by the work that Monk has done.
Of course, there may have been questionable decisions along the way – some may point to the Sutton defeat in the FA Cup and the January transfer window as a whole as key moments – but given what Monk has achieved in comparison with many of his predecessors, it would undoubtedly be a massive gamble and an extremely unpopular decision to show him the door.
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