{"id":16832,"date":"2009-10-30T08:12:00","date_gmt":"2009-10-30T08:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.staging28.planetswans.co.uk\/?p=16832"},"modified":"2020-10-29T19:53:08","modified_gmt":"2020-10-29T19:53:08","slug":"monk-returns-to-the-scene-of-painful-memories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/2009\/10\/30\/monk-returns-to-the-scene-of-painful-memories\/","title":{"rendered":"Monk Returns To The Scene Of Painful Memories"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Swansea City captain was in just his second game as Captain when he went to Scunthorpe in 2006 only to see his season end with a career threatening injury.<\/span><\/p>\n

And you could forgive Monk for not liking lining up against the Iron – his red card at the Liberty earlier in the season was the first of three for the Swans on the night as they crashed out of the Carling Cup.<\/span><\/p>\n

Speaking to the Western Mail, Monk said <\/span>\u201cIt was probably my worst-ever moment in\u00a0football<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSo it\u2019s not a place which holds happy memories.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis will be the first season I\u2019ve had the chance to go back. I\u2019ll be honest, and admit it was one of the first fixtures I looked at when the list came out.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cA few people have mentioned it this week, especially my family, and I\u2019ve definitely been thinking about it. That\u2019s only natural, I suppose.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDuring the pre-match warm-up is when I\u2019ll probably think of it more.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBut once you get started, you just get on with the game. If I am picked, it\u2019d be nice to put a performance in, just as a little thanks to all the people who supported me when the injury happened.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIn a way, I look back on it as a good thing,\u201d he said. \u201cI didn\u2019t think that at the time, mind you \u2013 not when I was on the gas, lying on the floor.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNor two days later, when the surgeon said that if the nerve was damaged, my career could be over.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was hard to take. But in a weird way, it was maybe the best thing that could have happened to me. It gave me a different outlook on things and made me a stronger person.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI came back at the end of that season and trained all the way through the summer.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a better player; the last three seasons I\u2019ve played the best football of my life.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a really good run after a slow start,\u201d said Monk.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAnd we could even have nicked a couple more points than we have.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we drew eight games in a row last season, maybe it was a bit disappointing not to win a couple more.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBut not losing breeds confidence, and this run is doing the same.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou can see it in the boys right now.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t get me wrong \u2013 if you can be up there among the leaders from the start, it\u2019s where you want to be.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t really care about coming up on the rails if you\u2019re already in front.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBut we\u2019re not far off. We\u2019ve played a few of those sides above us, and there\u2019s not much that\u2019s better than us at all.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis division is the same as ever.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou win two or three games, you\u2019re right up there. Lose two or three, and you\u2019re dragged down into the bottom half.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cLook at Sheffield United all of a sudden and the way they\u2019ve dropped.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I wouldn\u2019t be surprised to see Ipswich start pushing up the league if they get a couple of wins.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Swansea City captain was in just his second game as Captain when he went to Scunthorpe in 2006 only to see his season end with a career threatening injury. And you could forgive Monk for not liking lining up against the Iron – his red card at the Liberty earlier in the season was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":453,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16832","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16832","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/453"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16832"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16832\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}