Jermaine Jenas thinks Swansea City should have stuck with now-Leeds boss Garry Monk.
Pundit Jermaine Jenas has told BBC Sport’s Football Focus that Swansea City appear to have made a mistake by sacking Garry Monk in 2015.
Monk, 37, spent ten years of his playing career with Swansea, making more than 250 appearances for the club and was even captain of the Swans for seven years of his stay in South Wales.
Leeds United manager Garry Monk
Many were surprised in February 2014 when Monk, then 34, was named as Swansea manager following Michael Laudrup’s departure, and he not only kept the in the Premier League in 2014, but then guided Swansea to an eighth-placed finish and a club record points tally in the Premier League in 2015.
Monk endured difficulties last season, and with the Swans sitting 15th in the Premier League table, Monk was sacked on the 9th of December 2015, with Swansea moving on to Francesco Guidolin.
Leeds United manager Garry Monk
Since then, Monk has taken over at Leeds United, and has them fifth in the Championship table after seven wins in the last nine games, whilst Swansea look to be a club in crisis.
Monk’s replacement Guidolin left the club in October, and his successor Bob Bradley has won just twice in his ten games in charge, leaving Swansea second bottom of the Premier League and three points from safety.
The differing fortunes of Leeds and Swansea have led to questions about Monk, and whether Swansea made a mistake by sacking him at the one time when the going got tough for him at the Liberty Stadium.
Now, pundit Jermaine Jenas has told BBC Sport’s Football Focus that he thinks Swansea made a mistake sacking Monk given how they’ve struggled since his departure, claiming that the Swans should have stuck with him having given such great service to the club – but Leeds won’t worry about that, as Swansea’s decision has greatly benefited them this season.
“We all thought it was a weird one,” said Jenas. “Managers are going to go through moments in their career, where they have a tough run of games, where it’s not quite going for them, but you would expect that, with Garry being at the club for so long, they’d have stuck with him through that period. If you look at what they’ve done since then, it doesn’t seem to have been the right decision to have sacked him,” he added.
Do you think Swansea should have stuck with Monk?
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
