You want to come?! – Birmingham hit back at ex-boss Monk after Clotet blast

Birmingham City have taken the unusual step of publicly criticising former manager Garry Monk after his blast of the Blues’ caretaker boss Pep Clotet.

Sheffield Wednesday manager Monk was surprisingly sacked by Birmingham in June despite helping the club avoid relegation from the Championship despite being hit with a nine-point deduction for breaching the EFL’s profitability and sustainability regulations.

Clotet, who also worked with Monk at Swansea City and Leeds United, stepped into the main role at St Andrew’s.

Monk, whose Owls side host Birmingham at Hillsborough on Wednesday, described working with Clotet as an “error in judgement” when previewing the game.

“You live and learn. Unfortunately, I didn’t listen to a lot of people in football circles who warned me about him,” Monk told a news conference.

“That’s an error of judgement from myself. I don’t speak with him.

“What’s most important to me when I’m assembling a staff is to give them an opportunity and show them complete trust, and that they repay that trust.

“Sadly, not everyone has that character. Some choose to pursue their own opportunities in the worst possible way.

“I don’t want to waste energy talking about it.”

Birmingham uploaded a clip of Monk’s comments to Twitter and wrote: “We tried to find comments from our ‘Interim Caretaker Head Coach’ speaking without class about tomorrow’s game. We couldn’t.

“In the meantime, it’s always nice to hear something from the opposition manager.

“Garry, you want to come?!”

We tried to find comments from our ‘Interim Caretaker Head Coach’ speaking without class about tomorrow’s game. We couldn’t.

In the meantime, it’s always nice to hear something from the opposition manager

Garry, you want to come?! pic.twitter.com/JyPBrjfXTW

— Birmingham City FC (@BCFC) November 26, 2019

The ‘you want to come’ comment is a reference to a reply given by Birmingham director Edward Cheng to a message from a Blues fan posted on Twitter in September.

Clotet kept his counsel when asked about Monk before Wednesday’s encounter, saying: “Being very simple about the situation, it is a football game away from home against Sheffield Wednesday and the focus is on competing for the three points.”

Wednesday are ninth in the Championship, just two points above Birmingham.