Monk staff sacked by Wednesday - three months after being reunited

SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY have sacked Garry Monk and his quartet of assistants - just three months after the club allowed him to bring them back together.

When Monk arrived at Wednesday in September 2019, he brought only one member of staff with him - analyst Ryan Needs.

However, in August, he was allowed to hire assistant James Beattie and goalkeeping coach Darryl Flahavan, with whom he had worked at Leeds, Middlesbrough and Birmingham (along with Needs). Andrew Hughes was also recruited as first-team coach.

The move was seen as a major show of faith by owner Dejphon Chansiri. However, on Monday night, the club announced that Monk and his staff (Beattie, Flahavan, Needs and Hughes) had been sacked.

Tony Pulis, 62, was subsequently appointed as Monk's successor on Friday. He is yet to name his backroom team.

Head of Performance Tony Strudwick, who came in under Steve Bruce, remains at the club, as does first-team coach Neil Thompson. Goalkeeper coach Nicky Weaver and coach Lee Bullen are back working with the first team on an interim basis after being moved to the Under-23s in August.

In a statement issued through the LMA, Monk said: “Amongst many other factors, strengthening my staff this summer enabled us to meet the target set for this stage of this season.

“Being out of the minus points and beginning the next phase of climbing the league. It is a big disappointment to be unable to see the project through.”