Middlesbrough sack Garry Monk hours after win at Sheffield Wednesday

Garry Monk was sacked as manager of Middlesbrough on Saturday night, just four hours after presiding over his side’s 2-1 win at Sheffield Wednesday.

Only appointed in June, the former Swansea City and Leeds United manager leaves the Teesside club in ninth position in the Championship and appeared to have no inkling of the impending bombshell as he conducted post-match duties at Hillsborough. Yet if the timing of Monk’s departure is slightly surprising, his dismissal will not come as a complete shock in Middlesbrough.

Given that Monk spent around £50m in the summer transfer market there have long been concerns over the team’s mediocre record of only 10 wins in 23 Championship games this season.

Steve Gibson, the club’s owner, is understood to have come to the conclusion that Monk was not, after all, the man to lead Boro back into the Premier League and, following a series of in-depth conversations with the 38-year-old during the past week, reluctantly decided that a change of manager was imperative.

Considering that Monk took over the then newly relegated side only in June, Gibson is said to have acted with a “heavy heart” but, with the owner having pledged to “smash” the second tier en route to an immediate return to the Premier League, the former Swansea defender always knew he was expected to make an instant impact.

In reality Monk struggled to alter Boro’s playing style from the ultra-defensive approach of Aitor Karanka to the more expansive, attacking game his Swansea and Leeds sides were noted for. “Change doesn’t happen overnight,” said Monk as recently as Friday. “It’s taken a bit longer than I hoped and expected but the players that I inherited had had one system drilled into them for three years and it’s not easy to change the style.”

Whoever succeeds him will inherit a team with a slightly confused identity, but one which is still only three points behind Aston Villa, who occupy the final place in the play-off places. But they are 19 points adrift of Wolves, the leaders, and 12 short of second-placed Cardiff.

Although Gibson is rightly noted as one of the most supportive and loyal club owners in English football, such an ostensibly ruthless act is not without precedent on Teesside.

After all, back in 2009, he sacked Gareth Southgate following a midweek 2-0 home win over Derby County which left Boro fourth in the Championship. After being informed of his dismissal with midnight approaching, the current England manager was left to drive back to his home in North Yorkshire in a state of shock.

Monk managed Swansea in the Premier League between 2014 and 2015 before helping Leeds to a seventh-placed finish in the Championship last season. He controversially walked out of Elland Road last May before being preferred to Nigel Pearson, his principal rival for the Boro job, the following month.

Despite having a full close-season to work with his squad and signing players including the striker Britt Assombalonga, Boro’s record £15m signing, Monk never properly won over the fans on Teesside and made some controversial decisions, most notably the frequent omission of George Friend, the team’s popular left-back.

Although Tony Pulis, who parted company with West Brom last month and has been on Gibson’s radar in the past, is the bookmakers’ favourite for the job, Craig Liddle, Boro’s academy manager, will assume a caretaker role, and may well be in charge for two forthcoming games at The Riverside, against Bolton on Boxing Day and Aston Villa on Saturday.