Nicholas Anthony Montgomery (born 28 October 1981) is a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

coach and a former player. He is was recently an assistant coach at English

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

club

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tottenham (, , , ) or Spurs, is a professional Association football, football club based in Tottenham, North London, England. The club itself has stated that it should always ...

. A

defensive midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

, Montgomery spent the majority of his career with

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history ...

, making 398 appearances across twelve seasons. Towards the end of his time in England, he had a short spell on loan with

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Poplar, north of Greenwich and Deptford, east of ...

. In 2012, he moved to Australia to play for

Central Coast Mariners Central Coast Mariners Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Gosford, on the Central Coast of New South Wales. It competes in the A-League Men, under licence from the Australian Professional Leagues (APL). The Mar ...

, and became club captain in 2015. After leaving the Mariners in 2017, he went on to play for

Wollongong Wolves Wollongong Wolves Football Club is an Australian semi-professional soccer club based in Wollongong, in the Illawarra region of New South Wales. The club currently competes in the National Premier Leagues NSW, the second-tier of soccer in Austral ...

for two seasons. Born in England, Montgomery represented Scotland at under-21 level and as part of a Scotland '

Futures Futures may mean: Finance *Futures contract, a tradable financial derivatives contract *Futures exchange, a financial market where futures contracts are traded *''Modern Trader'', formerly Futures, an American finance magazine Music * ''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 A-League Men, also known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional soccer league in Australia and New Zealand and the highest level of the Australian soccer league system. Established in 2004 as the A-League by the ...

championship in 2023. Later that year he became head coach of Hibernian, but he was sacked from that position after eight months.

Club career

Sheffield United

Montgomery was born in

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

, England. He supported

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The team compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league system. Leeds United have won the League Championship th ...

as a child and was at Leeds United's Academy for six years. He then was offered a two-year scholarship at

. He made his first team debut for the Blades at

Carrow Road Carrow Road is a association football, football stadium in Norwich, Norfolk, England, and is the home of EFL Championship club Norwich City F.C., Norwich City. The stadium is east of the city, near Norwich railway station and the River Wensum. ...

against

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club is a professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was founded in 1902. Since 1935, Norwich have played their h ...

on 21 October 2000. 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 Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. The team compete in the ...

. Montgomery was an integral member of the 2005–06 squad that saw the Blades being promoted back to the

. As a result of his hard work over the season, he was runner-up to

Phil Jagielka Philip Nikodem Jagielka ( or ;, ; born 17 August 1982) is an English former professional Association football, footballer who played as a centre-back. He is primarily known for his lengthy tenures at Sheffield United and Everton. Jagielka cam ...

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 Blackpool is a seaside town in Lancashire, England. It is located on the Irish Sea coast of the Fylde peninsula, approximately north of Liverpool and west of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. It is the main settlement in the Borough of Blackpool ...

in March 2010. 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 three-year deal in June that year after reportedly turning down an approach from Yorkshire rivals Leeds United, despite being a lifelong Leeds fan. 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 In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

team Millwall on loan in March 2012, agreeing a deal to remain there until the end of the season. 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 Bramall Lane is a association football, football stadium in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which is the home of Sheffield United F.C., Sheffield United. The stadium was originally a cricket ground, built on a road named after the Bramall ...

for medical treatment. He only had twenty minutes of game time with Millwall as substitutions against

Doncaster Rovers Doncaster Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The team currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system after winning the 202 ...

and Leeds United. Montgomery still went on to make appearances as a Sheffield United player, including playing in the

play-offs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

, in which the team lost to

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. They compete in , the third tier of English football league system, English football. Huddersfield Town we ...

in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium, currently branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE Limited, EE for sponsorship reasons, is an association football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Sta ...

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

in the Australian

. 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 Sydney Football Club, commonly known as Sydney FC, is a professional association football, soccer club based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. They compete in the top-tier men's league in Australia, the A-League Men. Established in 2004, ...

on 18 January 2014.

Wollongong Wolves

Montgomery signed for the

National Premier Leagues NSW The National Premier Leagues NSW is a semi-professional soccer competition in New South Wales, Australia. The competition is conducted by Football NSW, one of the two organising bodies in New South Wales (the other being the National Premier L ...

outfit Wollongong Wolves for 2017.

International career

Born in

, Montgomery was also eligible to play for

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. He made his debut for the Scotland under-21s in a 1–0 victory over

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

in April 2003, and his second and last appearance in another 1–0 victory over

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

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 Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

"B" team in December 2005.

Coaching career

Central Coast Mariners

After retiring as a player, Montgomery rejoined

as an assistant coach. He became their head coach in July 2021, and guided them to the

championship in

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

Hibernian

Montgomery was appointed head coach of

Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, also known as the William Hill (bookmaker), William Hill Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Scotland and the highest level of the Scottish football league system. Th ...

club Hibernian in September 2023. He was sacked in May 2024, after the club had finished in the bottom half of the

2023–24 Scottish Premiership The 2023–24 Scottish Premiership (known as the cinch Premiership for sponsorship reasons) was the eleventh season of the Scottish Premiership, the highest division of Scottish football, and the 127th edition overall of the top national league ...

Tottenham Hotspur

On 25 June 2024, Montgomery was appointed an assistant coach at

where he won the Europa League. On 12 June 2025, it was announced he had departed his role of Assistant Coach at

Personal life

Montgomery has a wife, Josie, and twin daughters Clohe and Zoe. He became an Australian citizen in 2017.

Career statistics

Club

Managerial record

Honours

Player

Central Coast Mariners *

Championship:

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

Individual * Sheffield United F.C. Player of the Year: 2009–10 * A-League All Star:

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

Manager

Central Coast Mariners *

A-League Men A-League Men, also known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional Association football, soccer league in Australia and New Zealand and the highest level of the Australian soccer league system. Established in 2004 as ...

Championship:

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

References

External links

Nick Montgomery profile
CCMariners.com.au * {{DEFAULTSORT:Montgomery, Nick 1981 births Living people Footballers from Leeds English people of Scottish descent Scottish emigrants to Australia Scottish men's footballers Scotland men's B international footballers Scotland men's under-21 international footballers Men's association football midfielders Sheffield United F.C. players Millwall F.C. players Premier League players English Football League players Central Coast Mariners FC players A-League Men players A-League Men All-Stars Wollongong Wolves FC players National Premier Leagues players Naturalised soccer players of Australia Central Coast Mariners FC non-playing staff A-League Men managers Central Coast Mariners FC managers Expatriate men's soccer players in Australia Hibernian F.C. managers Scottish Professional Football League managers Tottenham Hotspur F.C. non-playing staff 21st-century Scottish sportsmen

Club career

Sheffield United

Central Coast Mariners

Wollongong Wolves

International career

Coaching career

Central Coast Mariners

Hibernian

Tottenham Hotspur

Personal life

Career statistics

Club

Managerial record

Honours

Player

Manager

See also

References

External links