A BULLISH Garry Monk last night insisted he was not concerned about the mounting speculation over his position as Middlesbrough manager, and expressed confidence his players would get their stuttering season back on track.

Monk’s position has been called into question after Boro slipped six points adrift of the play-off places in the wake of back-to-back defeats to Derby County and Bristol City. Having started the season as clear favourites to claim the Championship title, the Teessiders are a mammoth 16 points behind league leaders Wolves.

Monk was forced to apologise to Boro’s travelling fans in the wake of last weekend’s 2-1 defeat at Ashton Gate, but the former Swansea City and Leeds United boss retains the support of the Riverside hierarchy. Steve Gibson has established a long-held reputation for backing his managers, and while tomorrow’s result against Ipswich Town will clearly be hugely important, Monk is not under imminent threat of dismissal.

He accepts that both results and performances have not been good enough this season, but while he remains determined to turn things around, he is adamant he is not fretting about his own position.

“I don’t look at things about me,” said Monk, who was sacked as Swansea manager exactly two years ago tomorrow. “I have my responsibility, and I’m happy to take that.

“But I look at my job as being to help these players, the team and the club. That’s all I’m focused on, and it’s all I care about. I’m not worried about questions about me. I want this club to grow and improve, and I want our fans to enjoy that.

“There have been glimpses of where they can enjoy the type of football we want to play, and I think they can see what we can be. But of course, we need to give them that on a much more consistent basis, and produce a much higher standard on a consistent basis than we have been. We have to do much better, and that’s the focus.”

Given that Boro remain in the Championship’s top ten, it could be argued that a debate over their manager’s future is premature given that he was only appointed in June.

Monk inherited a squad that needed surgery in the wake of its relegation from the Premier League, and can rightly claim it remains early days in terms of his new-look side bedding in.

However, he is operating amid a backdrop of high expectations, where anything less than promotion will be regarded as a failure come May. Gibson ratcheted up the pressure when he spoke of “smashing the Championship” in the final weeks of last season, and sights were set even higher when Monk was granted more than £40m to spend in the summer.

He broke Boro’s transfer record to sign Britt Assombalonga, and was able to spend more in a single transfer window than any other Middlesbrough manager despite the club’s demotion to the second tier.

Such expenditure brings inevitable expectation, and while Monk claims transfer spending is a crude measure of a club’s position, he admits he and his players have underperformed markedly in their first 20 league games.

“Everyone automatically links things to money, and thinks if you’ve spent the most, you should be winning every week,” said Monk. “But it doesn’t always work out that way. We’ve tried to put something in place here that is not just for now, but has a longevity to it.

“Yes, we tried to recruit players who we expected to deliver right now, but we were also looking at what they could do two or three years down the line. Sometimes it’s a bit unfair because people just put a favourite’s tag on you because of the money. They don’t actually look at the full thought process of how that money was spent.

“Having said that, the criticism is fair. It’s all fair, and we have to accept it. That’s part of our job. We’ve tried to come in here and put a high standard in, and if we don’t reach it, then it’s quite right we should have criticism. We should be disappointed.

“We’ve seen what we’re trying to do in certain games or in certain periods, but it hasn’t been consistent enough. That’s not through a lack of effort, there are a lot of factors to consider. But there are no excuses. We should be reaching a higher standard than we are. It can change in a moment though, and we have to make sure it happens, starting this weekend.”

There are no new injury problems for Monk to contend with tomorrow, although it remains to be seen whether Grant Leadbitter returns to the squad after he was axed from the match-day 18 at Ashton Gate.

Daniel Ayala is available after serving a one-match ban last weekend, although given the Spaniard’s performance against Derby, when he was sent off and conceded a penalty, Monk might opt to stick with Dael Fry alongside Ben Gibson.

Either way, the Boro boss will be calling for a marked improvement from his side’s last two displays, and fully understands the mounting frustration that has accompanied back-to-back defeats.

“The fans have been amazingly supportive,” he said. “I totally understand their frustration, and we share it as players, coaches and myself. We want to see this team at its best week in, week out, in every single game. We haven’t done that well enough.

“We are underperforming at this moment in time, that’s clear. But we know we’re capable of much better than we are showing, and we need to start showing that straight away.”