Sheffield Wednesday manager Garry Monk’s scathing opinion of Birmingham City counterpart Pep Clotet

The pair worked closely together at Swansea City, Leeds United and Birmingham. Clotet was Monk’s assistant at St Andrew’s.

But the Spaniard replaced Monk as boss after Monk was harshly sacked last June.

Monk, who has claimed he was sacked by text at St Andrew’s, says he no longer speaks to Clotet.

He said: “In terms of the, I don’t know what it is… is it interim, caretaker, head coach? I’m not sure what his title is but I don’t speak, I don’t speak with him.

“I think what’s most important to me is when I’m assembling a staff around me to work with me, the key for me is to give them opportunity.

“It is to show them that complete trust and you hope that they repay that trust with hard work and loyalty.

“Sadly, not everyone has those values in their character. Some choose to pursue their own opportunities in the worst possible way.

“But I think the most important thing for me is that you live and you learn. Unfortunately for me, I didn’t listen to a lot of people in football circles who warned me about the type of character he is.

“But, yeah, that’s an error in judgement from myself. It’s a mistake that I won’t be making again in the future.”

Wednesday will be looking to halt a run of four without a win when they welcome the mid-table Blues to Hillsborough.