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Is Monk the man to tame the mad house? Interview
Wednesday, 3rd Aug 2016 22:53 by Clive Whittingham

Leeds come to town on Sunday with one of the country's brightest young managers in charge. Are they finally getting their act together? Author and Elland Road regular David Watkins has his doubts…

Are Leeds getting their act together a bit this summer? Eye-catching signings and an excellent young manager...

DW: Well, interesting that it looks like that from afar. Sig. Cellino has been relatively quiet this summer which is the way we like it. The vast majority of Leeds fans still want rid of him, they only differ in terms of the means by which that might be achieved.

The signings have generally been acknowledged as decent although there are question marks against most. We needed to strengthen a powder puff defence and the arrival of the experienced Rob Green in goal and the massive Kyle Bartley at centre back may have done that. But we are aware that Green is now 36 and QPR fans will know he’s not immune to the odd gaffe. Bartley on the other hand has been plagued with injuries in his career.

New striker Marcus Antonsson is on paper a regular scorer but only in the Swedish league and he’s not exactly looked dynamite in pre-season. Hadi Sacko looks a tricky player and Matt Grimes ought to be a step up for us. The big signing for me though is Kemar Roofe. Scored loads of goals last season for Oxford and was a key part of their success albeit at a lower level. Keep an eye on him; he does look capable of taking this division by storm. Plays left side but loves to cut inside and shoot from distance.

Garry Monk has been well received by all the fans and is considered to be full of promise but once again we are saying that mostly based on hope. He has only really been in management a couple of years, with one side and he got the chop from the Swans after a run of four wins in 17 games. He had Clotet and James Beattie with him there as well of course. As with most aspects of Leeds these days… it could one of two ways.

Cellino has given season ticket holders a part money back guarantee of a top six finish so the incentive is there but the sale of Lewis Cook put a damper on all the positivity and to date we have not replaced him with someone who can perform that role of winning the ball and darting forward. The closest I’ve seen is another youngster, Ronaldo Vieira; watch out for him.

Assess last season for us, standard farce?

DW: It was the usual circus off the pitch certainly: several costly court cases resulting from Cellino’s poor handling of various situations here and in Italy; the on-going fight he is having with Sky TV over our last minute fixture changes; a pie-tax he imposed on fans in the South Stand at Elland Road forcing fans to pay an extra fiver for a pie and a pint whether they wanted one or not; and the ongoing protests by the Massimo Time To Go supporters.

On the pitch though we only failed to break into the top six for two reasons. I’ve already mentioned our powder puff defence; it let us down time after time giving away sloppy, needless goals through calamitous mistakes or poor marking — you saw one at your place when Austin was left free as a bird just seconds after coming on. We had too many poor defenders and they were badly organised. The second reason we failed to amass more points was our inability to put the ball in the net. We’d paid £3m for Chris Wood to do it and he couldn’t and throughout the season great chances were squandered on a regular basis. So, in fact, I thought we were pretty well set last season, especially once we brought in Liam Bridcutt to tidy up in front of that shoddy defence but we messed up too often. In the end Steve Evans turned us into a more resolute outfit but those two problems were still there.

Any tears shed over Slimline Steve's departure?

DW: During May, while we were kept waiting by Cellino as to exactly who would be head coach this season, a significant body of Leeds fans would have accepted Steve for another go this season. We had grown to love his passion, if not the way he opened his gob too much. He was also promising us promotion if he got a full season and some backing. Many still felt that tactically he was naïve though and as soon as Monk was mentioned he was seen as a vast improvement. As I’ve said though, Monk is no more than a good looking young bloke with two years of failed management behind him. The next two months will show us if he has what’s need to succeed in the pressure cooker atmosphere of a Cellino run Leeds United.

Presumably the appointment of Monk was universally well received? What did you make of that and how has he done over the summer?

DW: As I’ve mentioned above the majority of Leeds fans love him and it was seen as a progressive appointment but I’m yet to be convinced. As a former decent centre back himself I’m expecting him to sort our defence although the evidence from a 2 -1 defeat at Peterborough recently was not positive on that front. We have no idea who is making the calls on the transfers but if it is Monk then those have been positive. As I say, let’s see where we are come the start of October.

Lewis Cook gone for big money, thoughts? Will he make it? Wider thoughts on Leeds producing academy players just for them to be picked off - Byram gone as well of course...
DW: … and we are all expecting left back Charlie Taylor to follow them shortly as he has told the club he doesn’t want to extend his stay at the club. His contract runs out next summer so we anticipate another big offer will leave us no choice. Many fans believe these young players are being actively sold to support the club financially but I tend to think that is the effect not the cause. The cause is simply that there is so much money swilling about in the Premier League that when players see the colour of the money they have little choice but to ask to pursue it. The club is then left trying to get the best deal. The players also want to be seen playing at the highest level too and we have shown little sign of getting there any time soon. Will Cook make it in the big time? Well, he’s got a lot to learn still and I’m not sure he’s picked the right team. If Bournemouth start to struggle he is probably not the right man to have in there yet. On the other hand if they continue to do well then under Howe he may flourish. Incidentally, I actually think his leaving could do us a favour — but only if we use the cash to get the midfield general we have craved for so long; an experienced quality leader in there would transform us.

Any more bright youngsters coming through to watch out for?

DW: Plenty more where they came from. I’ve noted about Ronaldo Vieira in midfield, I really hope he gets his chance. Kalvin Phillips is also starting to find his feet and he has the build to make a huge impact in midfield. Scored a tremendous goal recently in pre-season that shows he can shoot too. Eoghan Stokes is a useful looking striker and we currently have Lewie Coyle and Alex Purver vying for the back-up right back role. Loads more by all accounts too.

What's the ownership situation? Protests still going on? Any hint of a sale? Another three managers this season?

DW: Cellino said earlier in the summer that he’d had enough… but he’s still here and with the appointment of yet another CEO in Ben Mansford (ex-Barnsley) all seems to be quiet on the TOMA front (That’s “Take Over My Arse” by the way!). Time To Go Massimo is still alive and kicking and sure to come up with ever more inventive ways of trying to shame Cellino into going. For my part, I don’t see how anyone is going to offer him enough money to tempt him out. He reportedly has demanded a £5m non-returnable deposit just to look at the books. The talk is that he still wants £40m or more for the club even though it has few assets — Elland Road and the training ground at Thorp Arch are both leased. And the manager-eater will surely spit Monk out if results aren’t up to scratch. If he gets to Bonfire Night then I guess we’ll be riding high.

How has pre-season gone?

DW: With Monk not appointed until June and his team after that, pre-season looked to be put together very quickly. That meant the games in Dublin (Shelbourne and Shamrock Rvs) were squeezed in the day after other games those sides had already booked. Hence the quality of the opposition in both cases was not great although both the Irish sides were fit since they are in the middle of their season of course. We sent a second eleven to Guiseley and came back from 3 — 0 down to win 4 -3 so the first 90 minutes for anything like the side we expect to see at Loftus Road was against Peterborough where we lost 2 — 1. That was a strange game though in which for the first half we looked like Barcelona and the second we looked like Bury. We have a home game with Serie A side Atalanta the week before our opener v QPR (subsequently won 2-1 after this piece had been filed — Ed). I was happier with the Posh performance once I saw that they beat a strong Brentford side but until we recruit that midfield general and another quality centre back I will not be happy. Monk is saying he is happy with the pre-season progress but is he unlikely to say otherwise.

Stand out talent and weak links in the current side?

DW: There is no doubt in my mind that Kemar Roofe is potentially the key that unlocks our potential but aside from him fe others stand out. I’m hoping Marcus Antonsson does prove to be a goal poacher and it would be perfect if Chris Wood could bring his New Zealand form to Elland Road. You will know all about Rob Green but I’m hoping he brings experience and organisation to the back four where hopefully Kyle Bartley and either Sol Bamba or, when fit, Liam Cooper ought to be a more solid pairing than we are used to. Midfield is an issue for us; we have plenty of bodies but none that shouts quality all the time. Expect to see Luke Murphy, Matt Grimes and Alex Mowatt in there somewhere if they don’t risk young Vieira. Out wide we have lots of options now too with Stuart Dallas, Roofe, Jordan Botaka, Hadi Sacko all vying for one or two places.

Is it finally, finally Leeds' year?

Cellino has a fear of the number 17 and we had visions of this season being called the 2016/2016B season so it would be a sweet irony if 2017 is to be the year. For many sides, including Leeds and QPR it is becoming vital to get out of the Championship before the Premiership becomes effectively a closed shop. If the Toon, Villa and Canaries start well then it may already be too late. After August 7 I wish you all the best of luck for the season, let’s hope it’s good for us both.

David Watkins is the author of several Leeds books including Leeds United, The Kids Are Alright; Leeds United, Fiasco and Leeds United, In Pursuit of the Premiership.

The Twitter @DaveLUFCWatkins, @loftforwords

Pictures — Action Images

Photo: Action Images



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francisbowles added 06:44 - Aug 4
Thanks to you and David for the Leeds insight, can't wait!
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TheChef added 09:15 - Aug 4
"You will know all about Rob Green but I’m hoping he brings experience and organisation to the back four".

Er...
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simmo added 13:24 - Aug 4
Ronaldo Vieria is a great name
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TacticalR added 16:09 - Aug 5
Thanks to David.

Interesting that Leeds have enough quality coming through to be able to continuously sell players, although the danger is that this just keeps the club stuck in the Championship.
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