Monk's Respect For Newcastle Boss McLaren
Garry Monk will come face to face with a former England manager in the shape of Steve McLaren this weekend when Newcastle arrive at the Liberty for the Swans first home Premier League game of the new campaign.
McLaren is back in the Premier League having left Middlesbrough in the summer of 2006 to take up his post as manager of the National team - a post that was to last just fifteen months.
It looked at that point as if his career was in tatters but some spells at foreign clubs such as FC Twente and Wolfsburg slowly rebuilt his career and he was back in this country with spells at Nottingham Forest and QPR.
He moved to Newcastle in the summer with the task of rebuilding a side that only avoided relegation on the last day of last season and certainly does not want a repeat of that this time around.
They started this season with a 2-2 draw against Southampton at home last weekend which on the face of it was a fairly strong result against one of the sides that is competing in the Europa League this season.
The Swans have a reasonably good record against them in recent years but Monk knows that it means nothing ahead of this particular clash "Steve (McClaren) is a very good and experienced manager. They have added quality to the squad this summer and have always been a big club who can attract players," he said.
"Of course we've done well against Newcastle in the past but it's a new team there now, with a new manager, and we have to be ready and focussed because we're expecting a really tough game on Saturday."
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