"These offers were absolutely far from" Garry Monk City of Birmingham City Transcript

Garry Monk cut a relieved figure while he was talking with the media after closing the transfer window.

The boss of the city of Birmingham reflected the glow of Che Adams' retention and discussed the departure of Omar Bogle, Viv Solomon-Otabor and Dan Scarr.

There was a lot more too.

Reaction to closing the window

From the beginning of speculation until the last days, I have always felt confident that Che would be there.

That just happened.

Over the past two days, the club has indicated that the offers received were not at all up to the badessment you expect from Che.

That's all you need to hear.

Che has not let anything distract him during this time, especially in recent days. I think you saw that with his performance on Tuesday.

It's up to me to talk to him and see him here. Che has been fully focused, committed and ready to go again.

Now we are just happy that the window is closed and we can all go back to the task.

How impressed by Che's attitude?

I think he matures as a person, matures in football but matures as a person.

Of course, I had good individual discussions with Che about these scenarios. We worked very hard as a group. This is not the first external distraction for players, team or club.

From the beginning, with all that has happened, we have not been distracted. This is just another example of things that are out of our control from outside the club, we did not let that distract us and especially the player did not let him distract.

This has been proven in his performances – and this has been proven Tuesday night.

Statement of intention of the board of directors given what is happening?

After discussions with the board, we were all on the same page – you want to keep your best players. It's imperative, especially in the situation we are in, we can not let our players go because we can not replace them.

The evaluations, financially, are the responsibility of the club. What was good was the communication all along.

Especially during the last two days, the only offers I received made me understand that this did not cause me any problem, because these offers did not correspond to what we could expect for a player of the caliber. from Che.

When you hear that you focus on football, Che does exactly the same thing.

Some players however left – a case of going out for minutes?

Yes. In terms of Omar [Bogle] he came on loan, took a little more time to get used to the way we are going to play, which is usual.

He was a little unlucky because he found himself behind some fitness strikers this season, so he did not get the minutes he would have liked.

I understand that and he, having an option with Portsmouth and his parent club, Cardiff, happy that this would happen, I was not going to put myself in Omar's shoes.

As for Viv and Dan, they struggled to join the team this season.

I know we have a team of stuff but with Kerim coming in, it covers the side of Viv.

And as for Dan himself, since these guys were no longer contracted this summer, I did not want to hinder them in that regard, letting them move on.

Especially Dan, it was the right decision to let him go to try to start his career.

How much attention has returned to the field?

If I am honest, it always has been. This is a great strength for us for many reasons and for topics we have been talking about since the summer.

Much of the work we have done is to leave nothing to distract us and to understand that what is said is essential.

I have found it daily with the players. I think you have seen pretty much every performance, they are focused on doing their best for the team.

Final Thoughts on the Swansea Game: Should You Choose One of the Players?

Of course, right after the final whistle and if you stay in the locker room for about ten minutes, you will feel like a blow and a disappointment.

You quickly realize that in these situations, the next day or so, they have been successful. Play with ten men against a good side like this.

Even putting themselves in a three-point position 20 seconds from the end bears witness to their performance during this second half under difficult circumstances.

I was very happy with them. Yes, we know we should have taken the three points, but I think that one point of the match in general was probably a fair result of the match.

Another demonstration of the will of the players to fight for each other …

You will not get that kind of performance, wit, or commitment to each other if they listened to all the distractions of the season

You expect from Forest?

Since the summer, so far with the players they have also signed in this window. This is a team that was built for the promotion.

It's their intention, that's what they should try to achieve. It's still one of those games where we will have to measure ourselves against this type of team and quality.

Overall, we have done very well with similar teams designed for promotion.

We also want to be sure we can count on Tuesday and try to collect points in consecutive games.

Want to go back to St Andrew's?

Yes, that's for sure, especially against teams similar to the ones we've encountered before, where they're looking for a promotion and where we've described our situation well.

We seek to create this atmosphere, to retrace our steps and to try to win the victory we want to achieve.

Pedersen suspended – the door opens for another player ….

We have already adapted this season to this type of situation. Kristian unfortunately for missing us the match. We will adapt and prepare as we do, and whoever goes down this path will give all he has got with the clarity he needs.

Will David Davis have more play time under 23 on Saturday?

He has a plan for him to play. He really worked well and he really came back. He just needs training and football.

He gets stronger and stronger each day. He played a game in camera for 40 or 45 minutes.

As with Isaac, it's about strengthening him and giving him a few more minutes on the pitch. He should then be able to put himself back in the running for the teams and compete for a starting place.

Marc Roberts has been training this week?

No, it's a little slower than expected, but he should resume training sometime next week, otherwise it'll be the next week.

We were expecting him back this week, but the recovery of this calf was a bit slow.

That's what it is, you trust doctors.

Did players talk about Che potentially?

They might have been able to talk to each other.

I've had discussions with Che and I think he's been fantastic, he's not left distracted.

Of course, he will be aware of everything, but given the discussions I had with Che, he is very committed, he knows that all this escapes him.

He's not the kind of guy who would go and force something like that or would come in and be disruptive. I think he's a lot more respectful.

Of course, he is aware of it, but the key is communication. I talked to him all the way, especially in recent days. He is perfectly aware of how it works. It's not just a club that wants to buy you or your personal situation, it's the club you're in, they have to be happy too.

He understands perfectly that, he is respectful of that, he just lowered his head and work hard.

He knows that he is on the right track, doing what he has to do.

Able to say how many offers there were?

I do not know, as I said, I did not follow it in the details, I did not let anything distract us because I have to follow the same message that I say to my players.

My message to the council was, "Let me know if there is food for thought."

It makes me happy and we can continue now.

Do you have comments on the badessment?

I did not even have to get to this point. It's up to the club to decide what they think, I did not ask them what they thought. I do not need to worry about anything before that.

My job is to focus on football. I'm aware of all these things, but I do not have to go into details before I really need them.

They never came to see me with something like that.

Have you had an ironic smile to all speculation?

I do not mind with that. I do not need to read it. The only thing that matters is to talk with the player, with the club – that's all you need to do.

It's a great strength for us this season.

Played against Roy Keane?

No, I watched it. I played Man United but I do not think he played in this match – lucky enough for me.

What do you think of Martin O'Neill coming to the Championship?

His career speaks for itself and it's great for the championship. Year after year, players, management and coaches attract good managers.

There have already been big names in the championship, it was great to be able to oppose intelligence to these types of managers.

Martin's career speaks for itself. We all know his affection and his relationship with Nottingham Forest.

This team was built for promotion in the summer and January – and he will know it.

We have fought a different battle from this one, we are not up to par in terms of quality and investment. But as you have seen in the past in this type of game, we tried to approach it with a real appetite to prove that we can compete with this type of teams.

Summarize the transfer window?

It's unique, our window closed in the summer. I do not have much to fear.

Kerim was the final piece, we knew what we could do at that time.

The month of January is still a difficult market, not a big market to get the players to invest in the future.

It is a market that should be used most of the time as reinforcement if you really need it.

I think that summer should be your target for you to build a team.

January is a minefield – a horrible window. It is a necessity for some teams because you do not know in what situation you will find yourself.

It's great to know exactly what we can do, but from the point of view of building teams, it's been the same since the summer.

A new experience, but you will always learn as much.