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Monk Wants Warm Reception For Jackett

Club captain Garry Monk believes that Kenny Jackett should be welcomed back to the Liberty Stadium tomorrow evening

Monk was made club captain following Jackett's release of Roberto Martinez - ironically the man who will stand in the home dugout as the successor to the man that led Swansea back into League One.

But with the Swans standing on the verge of the Championship, Jackett returns a little over twelve months as he left with the club - and the team - virtually unrecognisable from the one he selected in his last game in charge.

Monk though believes that the Swans supporters should be grateful for what Jackett did right rather than concentrate on what he did wrong and he believes that the former manager should receive a good reception back at the Liberty Stadium "I think Kenny deserves a good reception," he said.

"I don't know if the fans ever really gave him their full backing during his time here, but I think the job he did put us on the road to success.

"If you look at his record compared to those of other managers at this club down the years, it's a lot better than a lot of them.

"You can't ignore that and I think it would be very harsh if he was to get booed.

"He did a lot of good things for this club and he deserves a decent welcome in return.

"The players have talked about it. We've all said the same thing, and I think the majority of fans will appreciate the job that he did.

"We're all keen to play against our old manager," he said.

"We have to make sure we're up for it, because Kenny will be desperate to do well just like Willy Gueret was when he came back a couple of weeks ago.

Monk also believes that - despite supporters beliefs to the contrary - that Jackett never asked or instructed them to play long ball but admits with Rory Fallon up front the temptation was always there to do just that

"Kenny never once told us to play long ball.

"There was always a lot of talk about our style of play, and it was different from the way we play now.

"But I think it might have been to do with the fact that we had Rory Fallon, a targetman, in the side and the temptation to say 'Let's hit Rory' was always there.

"I think it was to do with the personnel we had on the pitch, and also the fact that the training was different.

"Training with Kenny was decent, but we worked a lot more on shape than we do now. With the present gaffer everything is short and sharp and everything is done with a football.

"Instead of having 50 or 60 touches per training session, we are now having 400 or 500 and that has an effect when we're out on the pitch.

"Everyone is comfortable on the ball, and even in tight positions where we would have gone long in the past, we now try to keep it short.

"It was a surprise when he left and I suppose the reasons why will remain between him and the chairman," the central defender said.

"People always ask about what happened with Knighty, too, but Kenny kept those things to himself because he is a gentleman and a good bloke.

"It was disappointing the way Kenny left, but that's the nature of the game. Managers and players move on."

"Maybe he didn't give us quite the mentality we have now, where we believe we can win every game we play," he said. "But he gave us the mentality to get promotion from League Two and believe that we could win things.

"The gaffer now has taken things to the next stage, but overall Kenny did a great job for this club."

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