The former Swansea City and Leeds United boss has two huge blips in his managerial record that should concern Middlesbrough fans.
Garry Monk manager of Leeds United
With the news that Middlesbrough will be hiring Garry Monk as their new manager, as reported by BBC Sport, Boro fans have the right to remain rather cautious about hiring the former Swansea City and Leeds United boss, despite his exploits last season.
The 38-year-old took a Leeds United side who finished 13th in the 2015/16 season to seventh in the 2016/17 campaign before resigning in May, which sounds incredibly impressive, but there is a lot more to the story than meets the eye.
Leeds manager Garry Monk
With just eight games of the season left to play, Leeds were comfortably fourth and in the Championship play-off places, while sitting eight points clear of seventh placed Fulham. However, despite having no major injury worries, the Whites ended up finishing seventh, five points behind the London side, after a complete capitulation.
As appalling as that implosion was, given Monk’s tender age for a manager, it could maybe be excused if it was a one-off – however, it’s not a one-off, and his time in charge of Swansea went exactly the same way.
Leeds United manager Garry Monk
Having impressively led the club to eighth in the 2014/15 season, his first full campaign in charge, the next season began atrociously as Monk oversaw a Swansea side that won three out of their opening 15 games, which saw the Swans lurch into a relegation battle, ultimately forcing the club’s hand and sacking Monk as a result.
While there is a lot of potential for Monk to succeed with Boro – he clearly isn’t a bad manager given he’s finished eighth out of 20th and then seventh out of 24th in his two full seasons in management – their fans should be wary that he still has an awful lot to learn given by those spectacular falls from grace.
Garry Monk
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