Former Leeds United goalkeeper David Seaman believes the departure of Garry Monk will see the club take two steps back in their bid to return to the Premier League.
The Championship club announced the shock departure of their manager on their official website last Thursday, with Monk having tendered his resignation after just 12 months in charge.
Monk, 38, had arrived at Elland Road on a one-year deal last summer, and masterminded a stark transformation at Leeds that saw them establish themselves as genuine promotion contenders.
However, a miserable run of form that saw Leeds pick up just two wins from their final ten league games saw them drop out of the play-off race and resigned to a seventh-placed finish at the end of the season.
But Seaman believes Monk was leading the club back on the road to success, and admits he was disappointed at his sudden departure, insisting it could now be a case of ‘one step forward, two steps back’ for Leeds.
In a video shared on the personal Twitter account of Made in Leeds TV presenter Mark Kielesz-Levine, the 53-year-old said:
“I was disappointed when Garry left, because he was getting it going in the right direction. I’ve always been a Leeds fan, it’s so frustrating. I know what it’s like.
“I was there as a kid at 16, I knew what it was like, and I know how big the club is. I know how many fans they’ve got. It’s just like, ‘come on, let’s get it back to there’, and I thought we were really on the way there with Garry.
“But obviously something’s happened and he’s gone, and now we’re in the market for a new manager. It just seems to be one step forward, two steps back. It’s disappointing.”
Anyway, here's #lufc fan & #afc legend, David Seaman, telling me his thoughts on recent events at Elland Road & on always being Leeds… pic.twitter.com/hVvxJt5Sp4
— Mark Kielesz-Levine (@MKLevineITV) May 30, 2017
Seaman, a Leeds United fan, began his playing career at the Yorkshire club, joining their youth ranks in 1981.
However, he was offload just a year later by then-manager Eddie Gray, where he joined Peterborough.
He later became a popular English footballing figure, establishing himself as a regular fixture in both the Arsenal and England sides.
The hunt for Monk’s successor, meanwhile, is very much underway, with ex-Middlesbrough manager Aitor Karanka installed as the favourite candidate to fill the void, in the latest bookmakers’ odds.
SkyBet have priced the Spaniard at 8/11 to replace Monk at Elland Road, while the likes of Claudio Ranieri, Nigel Pearson and David Moyes have also been in contention.