Wednesday Get The Monk On: My Thoughts On The New Manager

So, Sheffield Wednesday have ended speculation over the next manager today by appointing Garry Monk as the latest incumbent of the Owls hot seat. It's fair to say it's split opinion and in fairness I have mixed thoughts on it as well. Here I'll go through my own pros and cons of the decision.

Cons

We'll start with the negatives of it. Firstly I do find it worrying that a man who only took his first job in February 2014 is now onto his 5th club. Swansea, Leeds, Middlesbrough and Birmingham all proceed Wednesday on Monk's managerial CV. Having said that management isn't known for being a long term job these days. It's not Monk's fault either that certain chairmen might have panicked and pushed the button too early (Boro) but it's still something that slightly concerns me. As someone who isn't a big fan of changing managers every few seasons it would be nice to think this one would stick around a while.

A lack of a promotion of his CV again isn't necessarily grounds to not give someone a job. Only three teams can go up from this division in any season, it's not easy to get sides out of this division. As for Monk's record, it shows a manager who can get a team moving. Leeds were a mid table side before he arrived that he took to the brink of the play offs only to fall away at the death. Middlesbrough were moving along at a steady pace but as mentioned before Steve Gibson panicked in the hope Tony Pulis would get them over the line. At Birmingham he dealt with a difficult financial situation and in doing so built a solid side that were knocking on the door of the play offs.

Pros

Monk does arrived with plenty of experience at this level as well as well as some time in the league above. He'll know the players at Hillsborough already having come up against them with Leeds, Boro and Birmingham. He'll not need time to get to know them from that point of view. Of course smaller more intricate stuff will need to be worked on but from a wider point of view he won't need telling who's who.

As mentioned before Monk dealt well with the restrictions at Birmingham. He built a solid team based around the strike partners up top of Che Adams and Lukas Jutkiewicz with a solid core of Championship players. He won't be fazed by not being able to spend millions on players. There's a decent core of players at Hillsborough and I'd expect Monk to be able to build a solid side from them.

Having been a player here, all be it briefly during the disastrous 2002/03 season which resulted in relegation from the 2^nd tier. Monk will know what this club is all about, he won't need telling like other managers of the past might have. He'll understand the kind of fan base we have. Being active on twitter as well suggests he's open to the modern way of social media and he'll no doubt have one eye on it.

Lets just get behind him

While he wasn't my choice personally all we can do is get behind him. People wanted a manager and we've got one, people wanted someone who knew the division, they've got him. People wanted someone who would be his own man and wouldn't pick favourites. I feel Monk is that kind of man. He'll get my full support and I'm looking forward to seeing what team he picks at Huddersfield on the 15^th. Good luck Garry. Welcome to the madhouse that is Sheffield Wednesday.

Thanks for reading

Tom

WAWAW

Sheffield Wednesday 2019/20: August Review

Well isn't it nice to have the football back, it's been another interesting month in Sheffield Wednesday history. The start of a new season, still without a manager and several things to discuss.

The Matches

Reading

The Owls started the 2019/20 campaign with a trip down to Berkshire to face Reading. Over the last 10 years or so Reading hasn't exactly been the home of many wins for Wednesday just two at the Madejski Stadium since the Royals moved there. The 2^nd of those however was last season and Wednesday made it back to back wins there with a 3-1 success. Overall I thought it was a decent performance. We showed glimpses of what we were capable of. New signing Kadeem Harris scoring on debut before being pegged back at 1-1. The reaction to that set back though was good and Wednesday were back in front through Sam Hutchinson only for Lucas Joao to sign off his Wednesday career with a goal against Reading who he'd join a few days later. Have to say it was a cracking finish. We'll talk more about Joao later. Overall after a couple of years of bad opening days it was nice to get a win on opening day and briefly top the division.

Barnsley

Following the win down at Reading we had the first South Yorkshire derby of the season with the visit of newly promoted Barnsley. These always seem to be interesting games and this was no exception. Wednesday going in front early through new loan signing Jacob Murphy followed later on in the game by Steven Fletcher. Again Wednesday played well, pressing Barnsley and capitalising on their attempts to play out from the back. It could have been 3 or 4-0 very easily, we always for the first time a while looked like we had more in the tank at the end. A sign of the good fitness work done in the summer. Overall it was a pleasing first home game of the campaign.

Bury

Next up we played Bury in the first round of the League cup....oh no we didn't. I'll probably do a separate blog on Bury and the way football is run in the country at the moment. I have quite a few things to say about the EFL and very little of it is positive. Sheffield Wednesday V Bury never happened and Bury sadly are no longer in the football league. A disgrace in my opinion and something that should not be brushed under the carpet.

Millwall

Following the enforced free week Wednesday took the long trip down to Millwall. Millwall away does seem to be a game that worries me. I think the same feeling was going through the minds of the coaching staff given the team selection. I'll be honest I didn't agree with replacing Odubajo for Iorfa mainly because I didn't feel we needed to make a change there. I appreciate the idea that Iorfa adds more of a physical presence at the back but to make a change after two wins seemed a bit odd to me. We lost 1-0 through a goal from Matt Smith and despite an OK performance it did raise a few questions. A lack of a plan b being one of them. Having said that we had out chances and on another day there's certainly an argument we could have got a point. All in all though the toughest test so far not passed.

Luton

After the defeat at The Den we were back at Hillsborough for Luton Town, of course having played them twice last season in the FA Cup it wasn't a completely alien experience for us. First of all I will say Luton are a decent side, they were last season and I think they'll be OK this season. As for the game, the first half from Wednesday's point of view wasn't great. We never really got going, not through a lack of effort or anything like that but the ball wasn't sticking up front and a number of the players just didn't look at it. Luton were probably a little bit unlucky that they didn't take the lead. In the 2^nd half we came out much the better and Kadeem Harris tapped in his 2^nd of the campaign to give the Owls a third win from four and for the third time ended a matchday on top of the division all be it for 24 hours.

Preston

After the Luton win a trip to Preston was next up, Preston away has never been a happy hunting ground for Wednesday and it was, like Millwall a game that worried me. Again I do think that that played on the mind of Lee Bullen. The performance while not great wasn't awful but as with a lot of games at this level if you make individual mistakes you often get punished. Moses Odubajo had a day to forget giving away both penalties. Personally the 2^nd one was 100% a penalty and while the first one probably was a penalty it is one of those you see often not given. No excuses though Wednesday weren't good enough and even though the last 20 minutes were decent including a goal from Steven Fletcher we didn't deserve anything out of it. Once again a tough test on the road not passed.

Rotherham

After the defeat at Preston there was a good opportunity to bounce back at local rivals Rotherham in the 2^nd round of the League Cup. It did feel a bit odd having not really earned the right to play in round two but that wasn't anything we could help of course. It was an interesting team, several changes and run outs for the likes of Cameron Dawson, Joey Pelupessy and Massimo Luongo and a debut for David Bates. Also starts for the much talked about three of Adthe Nuhiu, Jordan Rhodes and Sam Winnall. Have to say it wasn't the best performance, it improved with the additions of Kadeem Harris and Barry Bannan. A late winner scored by Adthe Nuhiu sent us through to round three setting up a third round tie at home to Everton. A lot has been made of Jordan Rhodes' reaction to the goal and to be honest I can see both sides of it but I do think it has been over done a bit. I can fully understand why he might have been a tad annoyed at effectively being shoved out of the way by Adthe Nuhiu but it was a split second reaction. It's also worth noting he went over to congratulate Kadeem Harris on the assist before joining the rest of the celebrations. Sometimes it's worth watching the full video and not just part of it. As for the game, while not the best performance cup football is about results. We needed to bounce back from defeat at Preston and personally I felt that one or two might have got a run out against QPR.

QPR

So we come onto the final game of the month. QPR at home. Let's not sugar coat it, it was a poor performance and there were many different things we would go into. Firstly I didn't really agree with the team, yes it was good to see Fernando Forestieri back in the side but just off Steven Fletcher doesn't tend to work, it hasn't really worked since Fletcher came to the club. The midfield didn't include Kieran Lee, yes he's had injuries and needs to be managed but to not sure him at all was odd for me. The substitutions in general didn't work at all. Luongo came on and did well but should have probably started, taking Palmer and Reach off seemed odd as well. Yes we were going to try and win the game but it left a number of players out there with little idea of where they were supposed to be. We didn't get to grips with QPR in the 2^nd half after a relatively even first half where Wednesday for me deserved to take the lead. Having watched it back I don't think the penalty was a penalty but I still felt we created enough in that first half for us to edge it. The 2^nd however we seemed to switch off completely, as soon as QPR equalised you could feel the energy out out of the crowd, the players looked lost. It felt a bigger game that it should and that for me was down to most of the fans knowing it was probably Bullen's last chance of the job. 12 points from 18 looks decent with some decent performances. 9 from 18 with back to back defeats doesn't look so good. It isn't as simple as that of course and I'll come onto my own thoughts on it.

Who should take over?

At the beginning of the season I said if we were to challenge for the top six we needed to pick up 12 points from the first 18 available. Now to have got 9 isn't a disaster, it's certainly not as bad as some of the more fancied sides have got and it's also worth noting where the likes of Norwich were this time last year. But we can't escape some glaring errors over the last few games that have lead to big questions over the team. I don't think Lee Bullen has done enough to get the job, he's done some good things but I still think tactically we don't have a plan b. We don't seem to know what to do when behind. As good as the Barnsley game was for example they didn't change the way they played. That for me all comes from the manager, a big issue with Jos Luhukay for example was his lack of ability to change games, if the opposition went in front, they'd win baring two occasions. It feels the same now. Obviously players have to take some responsibility for some of this as well but the main bulk of it comes from who's in the dugout.

For me from the names that have done the rounds very few actually appeal which is probably why someone isn't already in the dugout. Chris Hughton was an early favourite, apparently turned it down in favour of waiting for a Preamier League job, in fairness not exactly a bad reason. He probably will get one. Tony Pulis has been mentioned, as much as he'd bring a solidity and you know what you'd be getting I feel his best days are behind us. He didn't do well at Middlesbrough, his style of football wouldn't suit the group of players he'd have to work with at Hillsborough. Alex Neil is a name that has cropped up more recently. Wouldn't be a terrible choice for me, done well at Preston and has a promotion on his CV with Norwich. He knows the division and his stock appears to be pretty high. Gary Rowett now a well worn name in the Championship again wouldn't be terrible, did well at Burton and Birmingham, OK at Derby. Stoke appeared to be a tougher situation that we all thought it would be, he'd probably have something to prove and while he wouldn't be my choice he'd not be the worst name we could go for. Garry Monk while clearly has ability as a manager it would worry me why he's had 4 clubs in 4 years. Swansea, Leeds, Middlesbrough and Birmingham City have all moved Monk on and while some of them maybe haven't been the best run clubs it does make you wonder. It'd be a no from me. Nigel Pearson NO, just no. Ian Holloway not the worst name I've heard. At the very least he'd have an understanding of what Wednesday is about with the advantage of not having being here before. The worry with people who had been involved with the club before is that there's a certain worry for me of being sentimental and also a fear of doing things against what the fans might want. I'm not saying that's what's happening with Bullen but it might be one reason my results haven't flown.

For me the names that have interested me the most happen to be the ones who have been heavily linked with it at the time of writing this. Danny and Nicky Cowley the managerial duo who have revolutionised Lincoln City and masterminded their ascent up the leagues have been rumoured to be in talks with Wednesday after turning down the change to join recently relegated Huddersfield Town. As someone who likes to watch as much football as they can, the Cowley's have caught the eye, it's not every day you see a proper management duo. Danny may be the 'manager' but they come as a pair, the 2017 FA Cup run which saw them catch the headlines after making the Quarter Finals was only part of the their success. They won the National League title and then finished 7^th in League Two the year after losing to Exeter City in the Play Offs before winning the title in 2018/19. Add to that the 2018 Football League Trophy and a good start to this currant campaign. I think it's safe to say they are a pair on the rise.

Of course there would be risks, they have never managed at this level and would have to learn on the job as well as only able to work with the players available. Free agents are available of course but if there were many realistic options out there in the free market. Would they not have been singed already? At the end of the day, any appointment is a risk. It would make a refreshing change to got and get people who seem to be on the rise. People with something to prove and people who seem to have a record of staying somewhere for a period of time. They'd be my choice personally.

September

Regardless of what happens with the managerial situation. We still need to see improvement on the pitch. If Bullen is still in charge when we go to Huddersfield on Sunday the 15^th then we have to back him. Huddersfield have had a shocking start and we really need to be going there and winning if we have any hopes of challenging that top six in my opinion. Fulham at home will be tough but Middlesbrough away as well doesn't strike me as the tricky fixture of the past. Throw in the cup tie against Everton and it has a lot of potential this month.

Thanks for reading,

Tom

WAWAW (that's gone quiet again hasn't it?)