Monk Retaining His Squad Influence

Garry Monk retains his influence over the squad despite his frustration over not being involved in the first team

Monk skippered the Swans to promotion last season but has spent large periods of this watching on from the sidelines this season with the Swans defence in strong form in the Premier League.

But he retains his leadership from the bench and is biding his time waiting for his chance to come back in the side.

“Of course I’m frustrated,” he told the Western Mail.

“At the start of the season I was playing when my foot probably wasn’t quite right.

“I did a job for the team.

“The last couple of months I’ve been more or less bang on but the boys have been tremendous.

“I’m not the type of lad to throw my teddy out of the pram. I’ve got too much respect for the club.

“If you mope about it will probably only take you further away from selection.

“You have to keep fighting. I’ve always fought throughout my whole career so that won’t change.

“If the team’s doing well everyone benefits because we’re still in the Premier League.

“I’ve played a lot of games against some good teams so I’ve had some experiences already this season,” he said.

“I need to bide my time and work hard. Even if I wasn’t club captain, I’m a natural leader.

“I’ve got an influence on the squad, they respect me, so even if I am feeling down I don’t show that to the rest of the team.

“Tomorrow’s a massive game for us, we’re going to go up there and make sure we don’t get three defeats in a row,” he said.

“I saw that Anton Ferdinand said he’s looking at a mini-league of five to go down.

“But if we’re not careful we can get sucked into it.

“It’s vitally important this weekend we treat it like a cup final and try to set a marker down.

“This is the first time we’ve lost back-to-back-games, but a lot of teams have gone four or five games without a win.

“A run like that would put us in a dangerous situation.

“Tomorrow is one of those games where we have to get the job done. It’s crucial we don’t lose the game and we’re looking for a win.

“I think about 36 or 37 might be enough but I just want to get to 40 points

“Even then that’s no guarantee but the likelihood then is you’re safe and then we can push on.

“I don’t see the bottom teams drastically changing things by going on a winning run.

“It’s never good to be losing games in a row. It can affect you because you’re thinking, ‘We’ve got to win the next one’.

“We’re looking to bounce back tomorrow against another side that need the points.

“I don’t see things as aggressively as the fans but obviously it hurt when he left because I thought we had something good going here,” said Monk.

“At the time it felt like we were in danger of throwing all our work away.

“In terms of resentment there was a little bit.

“I don’t begrudge him that move because in any line of business if you’re offered a higher level and a lot more money, there wouldn’t be many people that would turn that down.

“But then he told Ferrie (Bodde), when he had a chance to go to Bolton, ‘Stay here and the rewards will come to you’.

“I guess it hasn’t gone to plan like Roberto hoped it would,” added Monk.

“But it’s not my concern really. All I care about is Swansea City.

“Maybe it hasn’t turned out like Roberto planned himself but it couldn’t have worked out much better for us.

“The gaffer might never have come in and taken us to the level we’re at now had that not happened.

“It’s worked out well for us in the end.”