Nick Montgomery

Nick Montgomery

Montgomery playing for Sheffield United in 2010
Personal information
Full name	Nicholas Anthony Montgomery
Date of birth	(1981-10-28) 28 October 1981 (age 42)
Place of birth	Leeds, England
Height	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) [1]
Position(s)	Defensive midfielder
Team information
Current team	Hibernian (head coach)
Youth career
	Leeds United
	Sheffield United
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2000–2012	Sheffield United	349	(9)
2012	→ Millwall (loan)	2	(0)
2012–2017	Central Coast Mariners	113	(3)
2017–2018	Wollongong Wolves	30	(3)
Total		494	(15)
International career
2003	Scotland U21	2	(0)
2005	Scotland Futures	1	(0)
Managerial career
2021–2023	Central Coast Mariners
2023–	Hibernian
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Nicholas Anthony Montgomery (born 28 October 1981) is a football coach and former player, who is head coach of Scottish Premiership club Hibernian.

A defensive midfielder, Montgomery spent the majority of his career with Sheffield United, making 398 appearances across twelve seasons. Towards the end of his time in England, he had a short spell on loan with Millwall. In 2012, he moved to Australia to play for Central Coast Mariners, and became club captain in 2015. After leaving the Mariners in 2017, he went on to play for Wollongong Wolves for two seasons.

Born in England, Montgomery represented Scotland at under-21 level and as part of a Scotland 'Futures' side. He obtained Australian citizenship in 2017.

After retiring as a player, Montgomery became an assistant coach at Central Coast Mariners. He became their head coach in 2021 and guided them to the A-League championship in 2023. Later that year he became head coach of Hibernian.

Club career

Sheffield United

Montgomery was born in Leeds, England. He supported Leeds United as a child and was at Leeds United's Academy for six years. ^[2] He then was offered a two-year scholarship at Sheffield United. He made his first team debut for the Blades at Carrow Road against Norwich City on 21 October 2000. ^[3] He subsequently established himself as a regular in the first-team where he became a mainstay of central midfield for the Blades. Montgomery had to wait until November 2001 before he scored his first goal for the club, coming in a 4–0 home victory over Birmingham City. ^[4]

Montgomery was an integral member of the 2005–06 squad that saw the Blades being promoted back to the Premier League. As a result of his hard work over the season, he was runner-up to Phil Jagielka in the club's Player of Year awards.

During the 2009–10 season Montgomery played a main role in an injury plagued Sheffield United squad eventually winning player of the season, including scoring his first league goal for four seasons in the Blades 3–0 home victory against Blackpool in March 2010. ^[5] With the club looking to reduce their wage bill, a few months of speculation followed as to whether he would leave United but he eventually signed a new 3-year deal in June that year after reportedly turning down an approach from Yorkshire rivals Leeds United, despite being a lifelong Leeds fan. ^[6]

For the 2011–2012 season the Blades found themselves in the third tier of English football for the first time in over 20 years and Montgomery found himself out of the first team picture for the first time in his United career. Losing his place in midfield to Michael Doyle he was confined to occasional substitute appearances as the season progressed. With first team opportunities limited Montgomery joined Championship team Millwall on loan in March 2012, agreeing a deal to remain there until the end of the season. ^[7] However at the end of the month Montgomery's loan spell came to an end after he sustained a calf problem, forcing him to return to Bramall Lane for medical treatment. He only had twenty minutes of game time with Millwall as substitutions against Doncaster Rovers and Leeds United. ^[8] Montgomery still went on to make appearances as a Sheffield United player, including playing in the play-offs, in which the team lost to Huddersfield Town in the final at Wembley Stadium on penalties.

Central Coast Mariners

Montgomery ended his 12-year stay at Sheffield United by the cancellation of his contract through a mutual agreement on 31 August 2012. This allowed him to join United's sister club Central Coast Mariners in the Australian A-League. ^[9]

He was a key part to the side that reached the 2013 A-League Grand Final but missed the grand final due to suspension. The Mariners went on to win 2–0. Montgomery was elected as vice-captain for the 2013–14 season, and made his debut as captain in a 1–0 win against rivals Sydney FC on 18 January 2014.

Wollongong Wolves

Montgomery signed for the National Premier Leagues NSW outfit Wollongong Wolves for 2017. ^[10]

International career

Born in Leeds, Montgomery was also eligible to play for Scotland. He made his debut for the Scotland under-21s in a 1–0 victory over Austria in April 2003, and his second and last appearance in another 1–0 victory over Croatia in November. He subsequently appeared for the Scotland “B” team which at that period was referred to as the Scotland Futures Team, featuring in a 2–0 defeat of Poland ”B” team in December 2005. ^[11]

Coaching career

Central Coast Mariners

After retiring as a player, Montgomery rejoined Central Coast Mariners as an assistant coach. ^[12] He became their head coach in July 2021, ^[13] and guided them to the A-League championship in 2023. ^[14]

Hibernian

Montgomery was appointed head coach of Scottish Premiership club Hibernian in September 2023. ^[15]

Personal life

Montgomery has a wife, Josie, and twin daughters. ^[16] He became an Australian citizen in 2017. ^{[17] [18]}

Career statistics

Club

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition ^{[19] [20]}

Club	Season	League			National cup		League cup		Continental		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Sheffield United	2000–01	First Division	27	0	1	0	1	0	—		—		29	0
	2001–02		31	2	1	0	0	0	—		—		32	2
	2002–03		23	0	3	0	6	1	—		0	0	32	1
	2003–04		36	3	4	0	1	0	—		—		41	3
	2004–05	Championship	25	1	5	0	3	0	—		—		33	1
	2005–06		39	1	1	0	0	0	—		—		40	1
	2006–07	Premier League	26	0	1	0	1	1	—		—		28	1
	2007–08	Championship	20	0	1	0	2	0	—		—		23	0
	2008–09		28	0	3	0	1	0	—		3 [lower-alpha 1]	0	35	0
	2009–10		39	1	3	0	1	0	—		—		43	1
	2010–11		35	0	1	0	1	0	—		—		37	0
	2011–12	League One	20	1	1	0	1	0	—		3 [lower-alpha 2]	0	25	1
	Total		349	9	25	0	18	2	—		6	0	398	11
Millwall (loan)	2011–12	Championship	2	0	—		—		—		—		2	0
Central Coast Mariners	2012–13	A-League	25	1	—		—		7 [lower-alpha 3]	0	1 [lower-alpha 4]	0	33	1
	2013–14		24	0	—		—		5 [lower-alpha 3]	0	2 [lower-alpha 4]	0	31	0
	2014–15		20	1	2	0	—		1 [lower-alpha 3]	0	—		23	1
	2015–16		22	0	1	0	—		—		—		23	0
	2016–17		22	1	1	0	—		—		—		23	1
	Total		113	3	4	0	—		13	0	3	0	133	3
Wollongong Wolves	2017 [21]	NPL NSW	12	1	0	0	—		—		—		12	1
	2018 [22]		18	2	0	0	—		—		—		18	2
	Total		30	3	0	0	—		—		—		30	3
Career total			494	15	29	0	18	2	13	0	9	0	563	17

1. Appearances in Championship play-offs
2. Two appearances in League One play-offs, one appearance in Football League Trophy
3. Appearance(s) in AFC Champions League
4. Appearance(s) in A-League Finals

Managerial record

As of match played 13 April 2024

Team	Nat	From	To	Record
				G	W	D	L	Win %
Central Coast Mariners [23]		4 July 2021	11 September 2023	63	32	11	20	050.79
Hibernian [24]		11 September 2023	Present	34	11	12	11	032.35
Total				97	43	23	31	044.33

Honours

Player

Central Coast Mariners

• A-League Championship: 2012–13

Individual

• Sheffield United F.C. Player of the Year: 2009–10
• A-League All Star: 2014 ^[25]

Manager

Central Coast Mariners

• A-League Men Championship: 2022–23 ^[14]

See also

• List of Central Coast Mariners FC players
• List of foreign A-League players
• List of Sheffield United F.C. players

References

1. "Official profile at SUFC". Archived from the original on 14 December 2007.
2. "Interview with former football player Nick Montgomery". Hyperabad United. Retrieved 20 June 2019.
3. "Norwich 4–2 Sheff Utd". BBC Sport. 21 October 2000. Retrieved 3 December 2007.
4. "Sheff Utd 4–0 Birmingham". BBC Sport. 17 November 2001. Retrieved 3 December 2007.
5. "Sheff Utd 3–0 Blackpool". Sheffield united FC Official Web Site. 16 March 2010. Archived from the original on 16 December 2014. Retrieved 26 August 2010.
6. "Switch of shirts now has Lowry facing new challenge". The Yorkshire Post. 19 March 2011. Retrieved 19 March 2011.
7. "Monty the Lion". Sheffield United FC Official Web Site. 19 March 2012. Archived from the original on 22 October 2014. Retrieved 19 March 2012.
8. "Montgomery Returns To Blades". Football 365. 29 March 2012. Archived from the original on 18 October 2014. Retrieved 3 April 2012.
9. "Monty down under". Sheffield United FC Official Web Site. 31 August 2012. Retrieved 31 August 2012.
10. "Nick Montgomery signs with Wolves". FourFourTwo. 12 April 2017. Retrieved 16 May 2017.
11. "Futures rosy as Scots sink Poland". The Scotsman. 6 December 2005. Retrieved 6 April 2013.
12. McPartlin, Patrick (31 August 2023). "Nick Montgomery keen on Hibs job as Central Coast Mariners boss makes contact with Easter Road chiefs". Edinburgh Evening News. Retrieved 31 August 2023.
13. "Montgomery is the new head coach at the Mariners". Central Coast News. 7 July 2021. Retrieved 30 January 2023.
14. Lynch, Joey (3 June 2022). "Central Coast Mariners shock Melbourne City to become A-League Men champions". Guardian Australia . Retrieved 4 June 2023.
15. "Hibernian: Nick Montgomery named new manager after leaving Central Coast Mariners". BBC Sport. 11 September 2023. Retrieved 11 September 2023.
16. "Mariners skipper set to become Aussie citizen". A-League. Football Federation Australia. Retrieved 21 April 2017.
17. Herd, Emma. "Mariners captain Nick Montgomery to become an Australian citizen". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 11 September 2023.
18. "No love lost between Nick Montgomery and Liam Reddy". The Sydney Morning Herald. 29 January 2017. Retrieved 21 April 2017.
19. "Nick Montgomery". Soccerbase. Retrieved 5 March 2014.
20. "A-League Stats Nick Montgomery". aleaguestats.com. Retrieved 31 January 2022.
21. "Statistics for Wollongong Wolves FC playing in 1st – PS4 NPL NSW Men's 2017" . Retrieved 30 May 2020.
22. "Nick Montgomery" . Retrieved 30 May 2020.
23. "Nick Montgomery". ALeague Stats. Retrieved 7 December 2022.
24. "Managers: Nick Montgomery". www.soccerbase.com. Retrieved 26 November 2023.
25. "A-League All Stars vs. Juventus 2 – 3". Soccerway. Retrieved 20 February 2015.

External links

• Nick Montgomery profile CCMariners.com.au
• Nick Montgomery at Soccerbase