Garry Monk believes that Reading were wrong to dismiss Brendan Rodgers last season
The Swansea City captain was speaking in the run up to Rodgers' return to the Madejski Stadium with the Swans looking for a second successive road victory.
Ironically it was Rodgers' other previous club - Watford - who were the opponents last time on the road and now he gets the chance to get one over Reading, the club who dismissed him just 21 games into his reign last season.
And that dismissal was - according to Monk - a mistake as he explained to the Western Mail “Having worked with him, I was really surprised things didn’t work out at Reading
“But the way I look at it, Reading’s loss is our gain.
“The training he tried to bring in at Reading is the sort of thing we have been doing for a number of years now.
“So we are much more suited to his style and what he wants to do. People can see from the results we are getting and the way we are playing he is not a bad manager whatsoever.
“In fact, he is a top, top manager.
“I was expecting good things and he has not disappointed – he’s been brilliant with us
“When he came in here I knew he was a good manager. I’d spoken to a few boys I know at Reading and they liked him. They thought he was a good coach.
“He’s said himself that Reading was the right club but at the wrong time.
“Every manager, apart from a very few of the top ones, have been sacked at one time or another in their career.
“Just because you get sacked somewhere does not mean you are a bad manager.
“I was watching a programme about football management recently and it said 10 years ago the average time a manager was given was about two and a bit years. Now it is about 12 months.
“It’s stupid but that’s the way football is going. It is so crucial when clubs make decisions and get the right man in.
“Of course, you are going to make mistakes here and there but you need to get it bang on.
“You can’t knock our board, they’ve picked the perfect man for the job.
“He is honest with us and that’s all you can ask for in a manager,” said Monk.
“The quality of player he has brought in shows the respect he has in the game and how much people think of him. For me it makes a massive difference to get on with the manager.
“You look at all the best managers in the world, probably their top skill is their man-management.
“Jose Mourinho, Alex Ferguson and Harry Redknapp are all top man-managers. It is something our gaffer is very big on.
“He talks to every single one of us, not just about football but about everything in your life and things in his life.
“It makes a massive difference and it’s something I’ve learnt from all the managers I’ve had over the years.
“The ones who tend to be better are the ones who are good at man-management and it is something I have taken on board when I hopefully go into coaching. It helps you progress as a player.
“The gaffer won’t make a big deal of it, he didn’t at Watford and he won’t at Reading,” he added.
“But as players you know in the back of your mind you want to do well for him.
“It might give you the extra one or two per cent you need to win a game.
“We go out to every game with that mentality but it will give us extra satisfaction if we can put in a good performance for the manager.”