Swansea City chairman Huw Jenkins is preparing to hold talks with Garry Monk in the coming weeks, regarding his position at the club.
Despite leading the Swans to a ninth place finish in the Premier League and League Cup glory last season, a disappointing spell this term resulted in Michael Laudrup being sacked in February. Monk was appointed as his successor on an interim basis, and a 4-1 win over Aston Villa last weekend has ensured their status in the top-flight.
Now that they know they will be competing with the elite for a third successive campaign, attention has naturally turned to who will be in charge of first team affairs next season. And Jenkins has revealed that he will open talks with Monk over the next couple of weeks, although it is far from certain the 35-year-old will be handed the job.
“It will be a huge decision, and obviously it will be made in the best interests of the club going forward,” Jenkins told the South Wales Evening Post. “Hopefully it will be a long-term decision that gets the club in the position where we want to be. We all agree that we would like to get everything sorted and clarified as soon as we can.”
Monk has a long association with the Welsh club, having initially joined them a decade ago. He has gone on to make over 200 league appearances during this time, although he has been restricted to just 27 over the past three years due to injury. Indeed, his only outing this term came in the 3-1 League Cup defeat at Birmingham City in September.
Speaking to Sky’s Goals on Sunday programme at the weekend, the defender revealed that despite the uncertainty over his future, he has already begun to plan for next season: “I have to prepare as if I’m taking the club forward for the future. I’ve done my preparation and it is still on-going; I have conversations with the chairman about possible targets and doing stuff but to be able to act on that stuff you need to be in charge.”
One of Monk’s first jobs, should be given the role on a permanent basis, will be to convince Ashley Williams to sign a new contract. The Wales international will enter the final 12 months of his current deal this summer, and he has in the past been linked with Premier League heavyweights such as Arsenal, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur.
