Swansea fires manager Monk after slump in form
Jolted into action with the Premier League's biggest-ever TV deal looming, Swansea fired highly rated manager Garry Monk on Wednesday following an alarming slump in form that saw the team hurtle toward the relegation zone.
Swansea - the only Welsh club in England's top division - has won just one of its last 11 games, having begun the season unbeaten in its first four matches. The team is one point above the bottom three.
"To find ourselves in our current situation from where we were in the first week of September, and considering the drop of performance levels and run of results over the last three months, it has brought us to this unfortunate decision," Swansea chairman Huw Jenkins said.
The fear of relegation from the lucrative Premier League has never been so acute. In February, the league sold TV rights to its games for a record $8 billion - 71 percent above the previous deal - for the three seasons starting in 2016-17.
Likely relegation contenders Aston Villa and Sunderland have already fired their managers and Swansea has followed suit, three weeks before the January transfer window opens.
Monk was with Swansea for more than 11 years, first as a defender and then manager since February 2014 when he replaced Michael Laudrup. The former center back established himself as one of the most highly rated coaches in Britain by guiding Swansea to an eighth-place finish - the club's highest ever - last season in his first full campaign in charge.
The team's attractive passing game under Monk was a continuation of the style favored by previous managers Laudrup, Brendan Rodgers and Roberto Martinez, and Swansea's early-season form - including an opening day draw at champion Chelsea and a home win over Manchester United - didn't hint at the problems that would follow in the last three months.
Swansea's only win since the end of August came against last-place Aston Villa, intensifying the pressure on Monk.
Jenkins said he made the decision to fire Monk with a "heavy heart."
"Garry took on the job 22 months ago with the backing of everyone at the club," said Jenkins, who has a reputation for showing loyalty to managers. "And when you take into account the excellent campaign we had last season when we broke all club records in the Premier League, nobody foresaw the position we would be in at this moment in time."
Rodgers, fired by Liverpool in October, and ex-Sunderland coach Gus Poyet have been linked with the job in the British media.
Swansea has been in the Premier League since 2011, and won the League Cup in 2013.