One Wilf Copping
12-07-2014, 08:52 AM
Garry Monk:
- still only 35;
- natural leader as a former club captain;
- Started his coaching badges at 26 and wrote reports on every training session throughout his playing career;
- played as a central defender;
- experience playing in all divisions of the league;
- played under Roberto Martinez, Michael Laudrup and Brendan Rodgers;
- has appointed a Spanish assistant manager and goalkeeping coach;
- his team play good football, are sophisticated tactically, but can mix it with the more 'rudimentary' teams like Stoke;
- a disciple if Argentine coach Marcelo Bielsa, whose methods he has studied for years;
AND
- his team are surviving (thriving in fact) on a wage budget that is less than a quarter the size of ours.
For any rabid 'Wenger In' supporters who constantly wail just who could ever replace Wenger and ask for names, there are a multitude of eminently well-qualified candidates. For every 'star' candidate like Guardiola or Klopp (my preference), there are a dozen less well-known, but equally intriguing candidates - just like Garry Monk.
Really, we could do a lot worse than to seriously look at Garry Monk when we come to replace Wenger. Pound-for-pound he looks the best manager in the Premier League right now.
- still only 35;
- natural leader as a former club captain;
- Started his coaching badges at 26 and wrote reports on every training session throughout his playing career;
- played as a central defender;
- experience playing in all divisions of the league;
- played under Roberto Martinez, Michael Laudrup and Brendan Rodgers;
- has appointed a Spanish assistant manager and goalkeeping coach;
- his team play good football, are sophisticated tactically, but can mix it with the more 'rudimentary' teams like Stoke;
- a disciple if Argentine coach Marcelo Bielsa, whose methods he has studied for years;
AND
- his team are surviving (thriving in fact) on a wage budget that is less than a quarter the size of ours.
For any rabid 'Wenger In' supporters who constantly wail just who could ever replace Wenger and ask for names, there are a multitude of eminently well-qualified candidates. For every 'star' candidate like Guardiola or Klopp (my preference), there are a dozen less well-known, but equally intriguing candidates - just like Garry Monk.
Really, we could do a lot worse than to seriously look at Garry Monk when we come to replace Wenger. Pound-for-pound he looks the best manager in the Premier League right now.