Despite being a leading member of the Garry Monk fan club, Steve McClaren has poured scorn on suggestions that Swansea’s young manager would be an ideal replacement for Roy Hodgson as England coach.
Newcastle United’s manager was 45 years old when, to fairly calamitous effect, he swapped Middlesbrough for the national job. Nine years on he is adamant he was “too young” for one of football’s most demanding posts.
Monk has made a hugely impressive start to life in charge of Swansea City but, at only 36 and less than two years into his managerial career, talk of his replacing Hodgson is clearly ludicrous.
“I’d definitely advise Garry against England,” said McClaren, whose side travel to south Wales on Saturday. “Garry would be the first to admit he’s not ready for that yet. Having said that, though, you can never tell in football. He’s very focused and doing one job very well. He’s come through ups and downs.”
Although a big admirer of Monk and the style of football he presides over, McClaren also feels it would be too early for him to detach himself from an excellent support network at Swansea in order take charge of one of England’s biggest clubs. “It’s too soon,” he said. “You’re going to have to sustain it for quite a few years and get that experience. He’s doing very well at Swansea. He’s signed a long contract and he’s at a good club.
“To go into Premier League management that young and achieve what Garry Monk’s done is fantastic. Not many could do it at that age. He’s a breath of fresh air and that’s a huge credit to him, his backroom staff and their chairman. I love Swansea’s style of football, love the way they play the game. It’s exciting, it’s about controlling possession. It’s effective. Their performance at Chelsea was very, very good.”
Even so, McClaren hopes Papiss Cissé will spoil Monk’s weekend after confirming the Senegal striker will, once again, lead Newcastle’s attack at the Liberty Stadium. It had been thought Cissé would be sold this summer but it appears McClaren would be happy for him to remain on Tyneside.
“We’re very lucky to have Cissé,” said a manager currently easing Alexsandar Mitrovic, his new £13m Serbia international attacking signing from Anderlecht, into the first team fold. “Cissé’s not missed a training session all pre-season. He’s done very well and he scores goals. This has allowed us to bring Mitro through and not throw him in the deep end, especially as Mitro is not ready yet in terms of physicality. We’ll build that up but it’s good to have competition. Can Mitro and Cissé play together? We’ll find out in the future.”
