Will Monk Walk to Middlesbrough?

It is never a dull moment at Leeds United especially over the past few seasons and the spotlight is on the Yorkshire club after the somewhat shock resignation of Garry Monk on Thursday. With that departure it means that the vacancy sign is once again in the window of Elland Road.

Who is next to sit in the Leeds hotseat remains to be seen but could Monk’s vow of managerial silence be just a few days with reportedly newly relegated Middlesbrough lining up to make the former Swansea player and manager their new permanent man in charge for next season.

William Hill certainly seem to think that will be the case and they are offering odds of 8/11 for him to take over at The Riverside Stadium, that is where the smart money seems to be going right now as punters feel a quick transition from Yorkshire to Teesside is just around the corner

After the sacking of Aitor Karanka in March, Middlesbrough held off from appointing a new manager and gave the reigns to Steve Agnew until the end of the season. A decision that was likely made due to a lack of any real credible candidates that were available.

When sacking a manager in March there is always the gamble of whether or not a suitable replacement can be found straight away as many managers will want to bide their time and want to find out just exactly what division Middlesbrough will be competing in next season.

With the dust settled and ‘Boro consigned to the EFL Championship they can now start looking for a new manager accordingly and it seems as if Garry Monk is going to be the man who takes over from the former Real Madrid assistant Karanka.

Chairman Steve Gibson said there was going to be a large amount of overhaul in the club this summer and that process has already started with the likes of Brad Guzan, Victor Valdes and Alvaro Negredo now longer a part of the first team squad.

They have left for all differing reasons but the common consensus is that the higher earning players from the squad that suffered relegation will be no longer on the books by the time the new season comes around in August meaning whoever the new incumbent is they will have to work with a much changed squad.

The brief for whoever does take over is to get Middlesbrough back in the Premier League at the first time of asking and although Monk had to suffer the disappointment of missing out on this season’s Championship play-offs with Leeds he does have previous top flight experience with Swansea.

Although another manager with previous experience of managing a Premier League outfit is that of Nigel Pearson. He was in charge of Leicester up until 2015 and was responsible that they performed the great escape of beating the drop after an incredible run of form towards the end of the season.

That was not enough to keep him in a job though as the Thai owners then decided to remove him and install Claudio Ranieri at the King Power Stadium, of course we all know what happened 12 months later as Leicester went on to win the Premier League for the first time ever.

Since departing Leicester he has only had a somewhat forgettable stint at Derby County to add to his C.V.
The 53 year old was only in charge for a number of months and would depart the IPro Stadium in October of last year.

With that in mind Pearson is itching to get back into the day to day saddle of management and sees Middlesbrough as the ideal project to work with. Whether he picks ahead of new bookmakers favourite Garry Monk remains to be seen but it is fair to say the managerial merry go round is picking up a steady pace right now.