NEW Cambridge United boss Garry Monk insists his threeand-a-half-year break from football has not left him out of touch.
The 45-year-old, below, joined the U’s on Monday, a fortnight after Neil Harris quit the League One strugglers to rejoin former club Millwall.
It is Bedford-born Monk’s first job since being sacked by Sheffield Wednesdayesday in 2020, but the former Swansea, Leeds, Middles-dlesbrough and Birmingham boss shrugged off any suggestion of ring rust.
“It’s not like I’m an ancient manager who was coaching 30 years ago and now everything’s completely changed,” says Monk, who made over 250 appearances as a central defender at Swansea before taking charge of the then-Premier League side in 2014.
“I’m still relatively young. I’d still like to think I’m seen as a modern manager with modern methods. I still know how to approach this generation of players.
“Yes, I’ve been out of management. But it’s not like I’ve been gone for three years and never set eyes on a football!
Studying
“I’ve been studying, analysing and doing lots of things that you don’t get an opportunity to do when you are working. I’ve always been like that anyway. “And football’s football. That never changes. Methods change. Players change. It’s part of your role as a head coach to understand those things.
“But the fundamentals that I learned a long time ago still ring true and a lot of that experience can be used here.”
Monk’s lengthy absence can be partly explained by bruising stints at Sheff Wed and Birmingham. Capricious owners, financial issues and points deductions left him feeling disillusioned with the entire industry.
“The truth of it is, I was a bit fed up,” he admits. “Every time I felt like I was getting somewhere, the rug would be pulled from underneath my feet. I’d had enough.”
It is why, despite the U’s perilous position near the foot of League One, he was happy to resume his managerial career at the Abbey.
Ambitious
“We all want to play, manage and own clubs at the highest level,” says Monk. “We’re all ambitious people. We’re all driven. So I’d never say the level i
