True, but that doesn't really count for a lot in terms of who makes a good coach, and they weren't exactly illustrious playing careers. I'd guess Monk played around 10-15 games at Premier League level. Don't know about the players, but I think the majority of Swansea fans, as underwhelmed as they were at Bradley's appointment, were at least relieved to see him appointed over Ryan Giggs, despite Giggs's achievements as a player.
are there any reports of clubs or countries tracking him? CONCACAF nations maybe or perhaps a Liga MX club?
If you want to look at Monk's playing career then it might be worth considering football exists outside the Prem. His lengthy career at Swansea meant he had a better chance from a continuity perspective having been part of their rise up the leagues. People would be right to not want Giggs based upon managerial experience but I'd suggest a lot of dislike for Giggs would be based upon where he was born.
Bob will be back with LAFC, I bet. In the meantime, he can rest. A manager's life has long periods of doing nothing beyond giving interviews for some bucks, and (if you're famous enough) getting invited here and there to give motivational talks and help local charities.
Yes I know football exists outside of the Prem and Monk played his part in Swansea's rise, but I still don't think his CV at the time of his appointment was very prestigious or commanded more respect than Bradley's (particularly given that a large portion of the playing squad were signed when Swansea were in the Prem and hadn't been there for Monk's on-field captaincy).
No, however Monk had been in the system at Swansea. Liverpool used to do that with the Boot Room days; success declined as they went away from that so at least there was logic to Monk being appointed.
I'm kinda just bustin' your balls, but my point is that since he isn't working there's nothing to track. He has history though.
i'm surprised though no reports of any clubs interested in him. surely something must be credible enough to be reported on. I wanna see Bobbo coaching in China. Talk about random.
The latest from last week: http://www.si.com/planet-futbol/2017/02/15/bob-bradley-lafc-jonathan-klinsmann-timothy-tillman-usmnt
A big congratulations to Swansea City for recovering to secure safety with a game to spare. What's news with Bob?
None, at least as far as I know, but Swansea staying up does not make Bob look good. When he took over they were in the bottom 3 and stayed there for the duration of his tenure, while Clement took them out of said bottom 3 immediately and kept them out for 9 games. Late-season wobble, or not, they stayed up when almost everyone expected them to go down. Any extenuating circumstances - unbalanced squad, took over at a very bad time, no time to put his own stamp on things, didn't have a transfer window, etc - applied to Paul Clement as well, more so in the case of taking over at a bad time. The verdict will be, decent guy, with a good record at D2-level but out of his depth in the Top Flight. It's going be hard to find a club gig at a higher level than the equivalent of Scandinavian D1.
Clement did have a transfer window. 30% of the field players were different then what Bradley had available.
Part of a transfer window, then. Clement's first game in charge was on Jan 21st, and the transfer window closed at 11.00pm on January 31st. During the January window they let 3 players leave and got 6 players in to bring the squad to 28. Maths was never my strong suit, but 6 out of 28 is 20%, not 30%. One of those 6, Kenji Gorre, was returning from a not-terribly-impressive loan spell in the bottom half of League 1, and hasn't made the squad even once. Clement surely had at least a say in the other five incomers and the 3 departures, but the transfer window is when deals that have been anywhere from 3 weeks to 3 months in the making are signed. You were a bit closer to the truth than I was: Bob had no transfer window, while Clement had at least part of one. On the other hand, the fact that Bob was canned less than 2 weeks before the window opened suggests that the club didn't have confidence in him being able to identify or bring in the kind of players that would get them out of trouble.
I was talking about the 10 field players that played most of the games while Clement was in charge. 3 out of 10 is 30%.
Yeah, neglecting the whole transfer window thing - that's some spin going on there. So is the "part of a transfer window" thing. Clement was not starting from scratch as of the kickoff of his first match in charge. It seemed during Bob's limited time that decisions were made by club committee (to a fault.) So weaknesses had surely been identified and presumably some options were as well.
I might also add that the central defender pairing of Alfie Mawson and Frederico Fernandez got healthy about this times and things became substanitally more solid in the back. I don't think anyone would suggest that this was a highlight of Bob's career, but certainly there were some mitigating circumstances. And props to Bob's successor, Ray Clement, who steered the club to safety, having a nice run to finish off the season.
The question regarding Bob and the transfer window is rendered a bit moot by the reports that members of the playing staff were making Ronald Reagan jokes in week 2.
So do you think Mr B would have kept Swansea up? I'm not trying to be rude or offensive, but the man spent part of a session telling adult footballers to 'open their bodies out' and to 'pass with their instep'....
You're just pointed out a critical factor. He tried to train EPL players like they were U12s. If the press reports stating this are accurate,of course.
So basically what you are saying is he treated the Swans like ducklings? ... or I guess cygnets would be a biologically more accurate comparison....