Garry Monk

Football player infobox
playername = Garry Monk


fullname = Garry Alan Monk
height = height|ft=6|in=0
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1979|3|6|df=y
cityofbirth = Bedford
countryofbirth = England
currentclub = Swansea City
clubnumber = 16
position = Defender
youthyears =
youthclubs =
years = 1995-1996
1996-2004
1998
1999
2001
2002-2003
2003-2004
2004
2004-
clubs = Torquay United
Southampton
→ Torquay United (loan)
→ Stockport County (loan)
→ Oxford United (loan)
→ Sheffield Wednesday (loan)
→ Barnsley (loan)
Barnsley
Swansea City
caps(goals) = 05 (0)
11 (0)
06 (0)
02 (0)
05 (0)
15 (0)
14 (0)
03 (0)
107 (2)
nationalyears =
nationalteam = England under-17
nationalcaps(goals) =
pcupdate = 17 September 2008(UTC)
ntupdate =

Garry Alan Monk (born 6 March 1979 in Bedford, England) is an English professional footballer, currently playing as a central defender for Swansea City. He has played for England at Under-17 level.

Football career

Garry Monk began his career as a trainee with Torquay United, making five appearances during the 1995-96 season, whilst still a trainee. At the end of that season he moved to Southampton to complete his apprenticeship and turned professional with "The Saints" in May 1997.

Monk returned to Torquay on loan in September 1998 and on returning to the Dell, immediately broke into the first team squad, making his first team début against Derby County on 28 November 1998 in place of the injured Ken Monkou. In September 1999, he had a loan spell at Stockport County, before being recalled to the first team for two matches in January 2000.

He later had a loan spell at Oxford United (in January 2001), but was recalled from Oxford by Glenn Hoddle during to an injury crisis amongst the Southampton defenders. In May 2001, he started in both of the last two home games at The Dell, against Manchester United and Arsenal, both of which resulted in victories.

Monk had a longer loan spell with Sheffield Wednesday (from December 2002 to March 20) with a view to a permanent transfer, which failed to materialise after Wednesday's relegation to Division Two. He eventually left the Saints in February 2004, signing for Barnsley on a free transfer, having been on loan for the previous three months. He struggled to settle in at Oakwell and moved to Swansea City on a free transfer in June 2004

Monk helped the Swans to promotion in his first season and the League One play-offs in his second. In August 2006, it was announced he would become the captain for the forthcoming season. However, just two games into the 2006-07 season, he picked up a cruciate ligament injury in an innocuous-looking challenge with Scunthorpe striker Andy Keogh, which ruled him out for the whole campaign and with his contract running out at the end of the season his future was in doubt.

Monk made a massive come back at the beginning of the 2007-08 season as skipper and came back strong putting in brilliant performances almost every game he played and got one important goal at home to Leeds United helping the Swans to the Second Tier of Football (Coca Cola Championship) for the first time in 24 years and got his hands on the League One title at Brighton to go with it.

At the end of the "Swans"' promotion-winning 2007-08 season, he signed a new two-year contract. [cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/s/swansea_city/7439305.stm|title=Monk contract boost for Swansea |date=2008-06-06|publisher=BBC Sport|accessdate=2008-06-07]

References

*cite book
author=Duncan Holley & Gary Chalk
title=In That Number - A post-war chronicle of Southampton FC
publisher=Hagiology
year=2003
id=ISBN 0-9534474-3-X

External links