There are those who believe Swansea City require another big-name manager in order to once again climb into the top half of the Premier League table. I'm not one of them. There are also people who favour the appointment of an outside "footballing manager" - Marco Bielsa, Paul Clement and Oscar Garcia are all names that have been mentioned and while the lack of grandeur attached to their names does make me think that type of appointment would be preferential (as opposed to another Laudrup/Sousa), I'm still not convinced we should be looking far and wide for the man to take Swansea forward. My reasoning is simple; we've already found him.
Every time I've seen Garry Monk do anything to do with the club since his appointment it's reinforced my belief that he's the right man for the job. It's often (rightly) stated that one of the key attributes of any manager is passion, and Monk has it in spades. Brendan Rodgers is passionate about tactics, as is Roberto Martinez, and no doubt other managers have differing aspects of management they're passionate about - Wenger hates spending money, Mourinho loves spinning the media in his favour while Ferguson seemed to revel in simply getting under the skin of his opponents - but Garry Monk? His passion is Swansea City.
Each time you see him speak, you come away feeling galvanized, motivated, or, as seems to be the case any time I watch him speak, beating your chest and raising a clenched fist, with tears forming in the corners of your eyes. After the affable cool of Laudrup it really is a complete change of tack - but don't be fooled by Monk's calm demeanour and measured responses. A look at the fire that burns in his eyes (and the grin which preceded his post-Norwich press conference) shows he cares as much as any fan, and is fully committed to improving the fortunes of Swansea City.
Ashley Williams recently commented that Garry Monk can't have seen his newborn twins, such has been his workload since taking charge/their birth a few weeks ago, and it's hard to argue with that to be honest. Thrown in amid a hectic run of fixtures, he's done well to simply keep his head above water and with performances generally on the up since he's come in, there's reason to be confident that more preparation time before games should bring about an increased points return.
Tactically too, I don't think it can be ignored that he's addressed long-standing failings. Our lack of bite in midfield was first addressed by pairing Jose Canas with Leon, before (once our pressing game had returned) De Guzman was reinstated at central midfield with a brief to put himself about a lot more than in recent memory.
De Guzman and Wilfried Bony are two players whose performances have visibly improved since Monk's appointment, and it seems that in terms of getting them pressing for ninety minutes all that was necessary was for the boss to request it of them. It was like a switch being flicked - it does beg the question why they hadn't been asked to do it previously but regardless the impact has been massive.
It's not just the pressing though - Monk identified we lacked width and instructed our wingers to once again hug the touchlines, while he has made numerous good decisions in terms of team selection - be it the first eleven or bringing players off the bench at a crucial point in the match. Ok, there have been a couple of iffy substitutions but if that's the biggest hole you can pick in the fledgling managerial career of a 35-year-old novice eleven games after being thrown into a Premier League relegation battle he must surely be doing plenty of other things right.
It's still early days, but for me Garry Monk is showing all the attributes necessary to be an excellent manager of Swansea City Football Club. The club seem to harbour similar sentiments (if comments from Ronald Koeman's agent regarding an unanswered email are indeed correct), and unless someone with a seriously impressive CV comes forward between now and the beginning of next season I can't see anyone other than Garry Monk being in charge when the 2014/15 season sparks into life.
Now, who knows a good scout...