Pragmatic Garry Monk keen to adapt his style to Sheffield Wednesday squad

GARRY MONK is promising to be pragmatic in his footballing outlook with Sheffield Wednesday – and will not be burdened by talk of playing style.
Garry Monk.Garry Monk.
Garry Monk.

Monk’s managerial bow in charge of the Owls will arrive in Sunday’s derby at Huddersfield Town, which pits him against another new face in the Terriers’ helm in Danny Cowley in what has all the portents of a fascinating meeting at the John Smith’s Stadium.

Busy getting to know his players during his first week of training at Middlewood Road, the 40-year-old insists that being adaptable in his coaching approach as opposed to sticking to one set philosophy is pre-eminent in his mindset.

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The former Leeds United and Middlesbrough manager said: “The key is to recognise early in your managerial career is that people can talk about philosophies and things like that, but a lot of it is buzzwords and very few teams in this world have a philosophy.

“The key I learned very early in management is to understand the squad you have got and try to play to its strengths.

“I try and adapt myself to the squad I have. It worked very successfully at Leeds and Birmingham. Middlesbrough was different as I did not quite get the time to do that.

“I try and get squads to play to their strengths as if they do that, they are going to be comfortable, confident and also give themselves the best chance to show that.

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“Of course, you address the weaknesses along the way, but the main emphasis for me in recent years has been focusing on the strength of the squad and trying to make that shine through.

“If we can get that, we are on the way and we can then try and address certain weaknesses that we may have.”

Meanwhile, Monk plans to lean heavily on former interim manager Lee Bullen to get the lowdown on the strengths and weaknesses of the current squad over the coming weeks and believes that his input will prove invaluable.

Monk added: “I will use Lee’s experience.

“He is a Sheffield Wednesday legend through and through and he has the passion and I am really looking forward to working with him and tapping into him and using his experience to see how we can play to the players’ strengths.

“If we can get that, we are on the way and we can then try and address certain weaknesses that we may have.”