Former Sheffield Wednesday midfielder backs 'driven' Garry Monk to put club on new track
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Prutton, who made 61 appearances for the club before his retirement in 2014, was a teammate of Monk’s at Southampton and despite the Owls’ downturn in form in the second half of the season believes he is the man to take the club forward and into a next phase.
Speaking to The Star about Monk’s managerial career so far, he said: “He's the very embodiment of the young, dynamic, British manager.
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Hide Ad“He's a very driven individual and I think this is probably the toughest test he's ever had at one of the biggest clubs he's been in charge of and I know he'll be looking forward to it.”
Monk has spoken a number of times about the need for squad transformation at Wednesday, with the likes of long-serving, highly-paid trio of Sam Hutchinson, Steven Fletcher and Fernando Forestieri having been moved on.
The pressures of Profitability & Sustainability regulations and the changing landscape of football finance are likely to see Monk and Wednesday work on a far lower budget this season. Teenage midfielder Fisayo Dele-Bashiru has been signed from Manchester City while others along the ‘young, hungry, dynamic’ ideal continue to be linked.
“We're all waiting to see with baited breath what can be done, what kind of players can come in and what is deemed to be the average wage,” Prutton said.
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Hide Ad“From the outside looking in the squads and teams that got to the playoffs at Wednesday, let's not beat around the bush, they were not cheaply put together teams, they were earning very, very decent money and largely more than the going rate.
“We look back on that with an eye of success but I do stress that it was a team that didn't get to the Premier League. We've seen Huddersfield go up, we've seen Hull City, Blackpool, all sorts of teams. There are more ways of skinning the same cat.”