Monk gets band back together at Sheffield Wednesday
Monk worked with Beattie at Leeds, Middlesbrough and Birmingham
Written by Simon Austin — August 14, 2020
GARRY MONK has been reunited with assistant James Beattie and goalkeeping coach Darryl Flahavan, his two long-time lieutenants, at Sheffield Wednesday.
In addition, he has brought in the former Sheffield United and Huddersfield coach Andrew Hughes as his first-team coach at Hillsborough.
Monk has worked with the same quartet of assistants for most of his managerial career, with Beattie, Flahavan, Head of Analyis Ryan Needs and Head of Performance Sean Rush alongside him at Leeds, Middlesbrough and Birmingham.
In fact, they were the subject of legal action by Middlesbrough in 2018 after they moved en masse to Birmingham, which Boro said breached a clause in their contracts. The case was eventually settled out of court.
However, when he took the Wednesday job last September, Monk was able to bring only one of the four with him - analyst Needs. That followed an acrimonious exit from Birmingham, when he was replaced as manager by his assistant Pep Clotet.
Following the appointment of Aitor Karanka at Birmingham last week, Monk was finally able to bring in Beattie and Flahavan. The appointments also represent a significant show of faith in him from Wednesday owner Dejphon Chansiri.
Nicky Weaver and Lee Bullen, who assisted Monk with the first team last season, have taken up Academy roles as a result. Here are the changes in full:
- Darryl Flahavan has been appointed first-team goalkeeping coach. Nicky Weaver becomes Head of Academy Goalkeeping - the role he took when he first joined the club in 2014. Tommy Lee, the previous Head of Academy Goalkeeping, moved to city rivals Sheffield United earlier this month.
- James Beattie appointed assistant, with Andrew Hughes becoming first-team coach. Hughes left Sheffield United, where he had been Under-23 boss for a season, in June.
- Lee Bullen, who has been caretaker manager of the club on three occasions and assisted Monk with the first team last season, becomes U23 boss.
- Neil Thompson continues as assistant after stepping up from the U23s to help Monk last season.
- Andy Holdsworth, who stepped up to fill in for Thompson with the U23s last season, reverts to the U18s following Bullen’s move.
- Tony Strudwick, one of the most experienced practitioners in British football, continues as Head of Performance. That means that Sean Rush - the fourth member of Monk’s quartet of lieutenants - has not come in.
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