Tony Pulis became the Boro manager in what was a pretty crazy Christmas for the Teesiders which saw Garry Monk and his staff put on gardening leave on the surprising night of December 23rd, 2017.

The move to relieve Monk of his duties came from Middlesborough chairman Steve Gibson who told the former Swansea City boss of Boro’s decision after just 198 days in charge and hours after Monk had led his team to a 2-1 away win over Sheffield Wednesday.

To say the change was a surprise is an understatement as pretty much no-one imagined the firing and hiring of a new boss 36 hours before Christmas with the club in 8th in the League and having just won.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with Sky Sports, Monk had this to say about his shock departure from Boro:

“It was certainly one I didn’t see coming, I didn’t expect that,”

“Particularly the timing considering it was off the back of a really good performance. We got three points away to Sheffield Wednesday and there was a good feeling in the squad afterwards”.

“Then to receive that call – it will always be a shock to the system to be dismissed by a club. The timing of it makes it feel like there was unfinished business.”

“It’s out of your hands, you can only control what you control. I would love to be at a club for four, five or six years and have that time to build something. That’s the ambition of most managers.

“But you are also in a results business. It’s very much business-like in that sense at clubs – the here and now. The demand is instant.

“We were so close. We were very much in contact with where we wanted to be. It’s just a shame we weren’t given the time to finish it off.”

Since Monk left Boro have won 3 games and lost 2 games and are sitting in 9th in the Championship.

Former West Brom boss, Pulis is clearly still putting his stamp on the team and making transfer moves and only time will tell if the harsh treatment of Garry Monk will pay dividends for Boro in the long-term.