A-Leagues great Nick Montgomery sits down with aleagues.com.au to talk about his role in Ange Postecoglou’s historic Tottenham triumph and the journey to that famous night in Bilbao, having made history at Central Coast Mariners.
Everything, as Nick Montgomery says, happens for a reason.
Rewind back to May last year. The Isuzu UTE A-League Championship-winning head coach was sacked by Hibernian only eight months into the Scottish Premiership project which featured a semi-final cup run, having inherited a club at the foot of the table.
Then, Ange Postecoglou called. A month later, Montgomery and his trusted number two Sergio Raimundo were at Tottenham. 12 months on, they are Europa League champions.
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“Ironically, I was in Turkey where I am now on holiday with the family, and sort of exchanged some messages with Ange,” Montgomery recalled to aleagues.com.au.
“Then he (asked) if I had time for a video call; ‘there could be an assistant leaving, and could be an opportunity. I know you’ve been a manager, I’m not sure you want to be an assistant, but I think it could be really good for you’.
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“We jumped on a video call the next day. The first time I had a proper conversation with Ange. (Assistant) Chris Davis was about to go to Birmingham City, and he just said ‘I could really do with someone like you that’s managed, that can support me’. He asked about Sergio and what happened. He said there may be an opportunity to bring Sergio in as well. I gave him Sergio’s number. He had a chat with Sergio, and within 24 hours, he said I want to bring you both in.
“If I hadn’t left Hibs, there’s no way this opportunity would have come. I’m a real believer that things happen for a reason.”
That conversation stemmed from a mutual admiration, born in the A-Leagues.
Aussie trailblazer Postecoglou transformed Brisbane Roar and how football was played in the Isuzu UTE A-League, while former Sheffield United midfielder Montgomery moved to Australia in 2012-13 and helped Central Coast Mariners win their maiden Championship as a player before ending the club’s title drought a decade later in his first senior managerial role.
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“I remember my first game in Australia when I came over, it was against Brisbane Roar,” Montgomery said.
“Knowing a lot about Ange and his team had just won the Grand Final the season before, beating the Mariners in that dramatic injury-time game at the Suncorp. I knew all about that because Arnie (Graham Arnold) had told me about it when I came to sign and how desperate he was that year to win the A-League. Being part of the playing group that won the first championship for the Mariners that season.
“That’s when I first came across Ange and his teams, loved the way that they played. We’d sort of been in touch. When he won the Asian Cup (with the Socceroos), I sent him a message to say congrats. From that point, we were sort of in contact. He followed me and I followed him.
“I remember winning the (2023) Grand Final, and Ange was probably the first person that text me to say congrats, and what you’ve done is amazing. Just shows the character of the guy, and fact that he’d sort of followed me and kept a keen eye on what I was doing.
“I think he really loved the amount of young players we developed and how we did it. I remember him saying how you did it was fantastic with young players that no one had heard of and it was obviously special for me.
“We’re all massive advocates of the A-League. To see young players still developing now and moving overseas and sort of getting international teams, it’s for the future of the Socceroos.”
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Linking up with Postecoglou meant some adjusting. Montgomery was switching from head coach to an assistant at Spurs.
“I think one thing that is so important in that role, is that you’re loyal, is that you’re supportive to the head coach and and you’re pulling in the same direction,” he said.
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“I’d seen with Sergio what a world class assistant looks like, and the support that you need to give the manager. Not just tactical but the emotional support as well, because it’s a high pressure job and especially in the Premier League, it’s the most scrutinised league in the world. It’s unbelievable. It’s crazy. It’s just so high pressure.
“Ange said I know you’ve been a manager, and I’ve obviously enjoyed following you, but I think it’ll great for you to come in and help me. We can do something special.
“The transition was strange because you’re not the main voice, you’re not the one making the decisions, you are the one supporting the decisions. But fortunately, I think quite the same way as Ange and even sort of the way that the team was playing, many things were sort of quite an easy transition, because he gives you the power and the trust to collaborate with the other coaches. In the end, we’re all in it together.
“At the start, it was hard and Ange told me it would be hard at the start. But I think he made it easy because he trusted in me. We became a tight-knit family.”
Fast forward to that famous night in Bilbao a couple of weeks ago, and Montgomery was by Postecoglou’s side as a pair of A-Leagues greats helped Tottenham shed their ‘Spursy’ tag against Manchester United amid an unprecedented injury crisis.
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While Postecoglou and his team have since departed Tottenham, it is a feat that is still taking time to “sink in”.
“It was just adversity after adversity with the amount of players we had injured, the length of time the players were out injured. You’re talking big players,” Montgomery said.
“It shows you the magnitude of what we went through with a really small squad, considering the amount of players missing and that sort of carried on through the season.
“One thing that we all really believed in, obviously, coming from Ange and the coaching staff, through the players and the rest of the staff, was even during the most difficult times, we really believed that if we stick together and we keep believing, then we can do something special.
“The Europa League, we knew that we could do something special. We knew at the end of it, the prize was Champion League football, the Super Cup, a European Cup, and Tottenham have longed for that for over 40 years, and they’ve only won one to show for it since then.
“We knew what it meant to the fans and the players. We knew we really could do something special. I think within the camp, we knew it, and probably from the outside, everybody doubted. Which is no doubt what Ange loved, what I loved and Sergio and Mile and the rest of the coaches because we’ve been in that before. We know that it feels even sweeter when you do achieve something special.
“I think that journey still seems a little bit unreal now.”
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There were wild celebrations in Bilbao and back in London as Tottenham claimed a first European trophy in 41 years.
Montgomery only slept for 45 minutes before Spurs got on a flight back to the UK.
“When the final whistle went, you saw what it meant to the fans,” he said.
“Even the amount of fans that just travelled to Bilbao without a ticket was just unbelievable. They’re the moments in football where you just think, wow. Then you go on to the parade back in London, around the Tottenham stadium, and 250,000 fans just crying, hanging off lamp posts. It’s just amazing memories.
“I did that at the Mariners, I remember the streets lining down at Erina Fair, but the magnitude of this was just something really special.
“It’s probably going to take a while to settle in. Just for everyone involved in it, we’re always going to be connected. That’s something Ange talked about a lot, like a big family. Once you create those environments, no matter what you go through, with a self belief that the manager has been and the coaching staff had, that went through the players.”
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“You’ve got some players like Ben Davies and Son (Heung Min), who’ve been at the club for over 10 years, and they’ve always been tagged with, Spurs never win anything,” Montgomery continued.
“I think that’s why I got into football. I love coaching and managing and just seeing what you can bring to the players is amazing.
“It’s a shame Ange wasn’t in there for the celebrations, but he came in after, we had some pizza, we had a couple of beers, we just sort of sat there and then when we got back to the hotel, it was like a big nightclub downstairs.”
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That memorable Tottenham triumph had Isuzu UTE A-League fingerprints all over it.
From Postecoglou and Montgomery, to Portuguese coach Raimundo and legendary Socceroo and ex-Mariners captain Mile Jedinak.
“I think the beautiful thing about football is it brings (together) people from all over the world,” said Montgomery.
“We’re all massive advocates of the league. We know what a fantastic league the A-League is, for many different reasons.
“We were there watching most games in the morning. The A-League’s on before we go out to train. We’re always following, always watching we have big, big love for the league as everybody knows.”
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The Tottenham chapter is all part of Montgomery’s incredible coaching journey – one that started on the New South Wales coast in Gosford.
It is Montgomery’s remarkable work with Central Coast Mariners that earned him a move to Hibs almost two years ago. He was prised from Australia to replicate what he did with the Mariners at Easter Road, where he inherited the oldest team in the Scottish top flight before handing debuts to five academy graduates, including history-making 16-year-old debutant Rory Whittaker as part of a planned rebuild.
He was behind Central Coast’s stunning renaissance in 2022-23, which was capped by an extraordinary 6-1 Grand Final demolition of Melbourne City.
It was the club’s first championship in a decade having languished at the foot of the table previously.
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From cellar dwellers to the toast of Australian football, it was the result of a vision dating back to Montgomery’s work with the Mariners’ academy side a couple of years earlier, and a vision centred on belief with a focus on youth.
“It’s one of the best things I’ve achieved in my career,” he said. “I can say that because of the effort that went into it, from the people that I brought in to help me, to what we built.
“I took over the academy that had failed for many years, hadn’t produced players, start at a club that has the lowest budget. I always thought to myself, one day I’ll get the managers job, and I’ll prove all the managers and coaches that’ve been in before.
“They used to say the Mariners can never compete, don’t have the budget. I witnessed it first-hand. Even when I’d stopped, virtually all I used to hear was the Mariners can never compete with the other teams, they don’t have marquee players, they can’t pay their wages. I never believed in that. I never agreed with it.
“My vision was to take over the academy, sort of rebuild that. I didn’t do that alone. I did that with some great people. I brought Sergio over from meeting him on a coaching course, and we sort of set about developing a program that would make people proud of the academy. We implemented a lot of things. It wasn’t with money, it was with love, it was with good people that probably never had an opportunity to be involved in professional football at any level.
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“We brought in strength and conditioning via students from around the Central Coast. We brought in a medical side where we sort of linked with physios, where the parents could take the kids. I brought a sports psychologist in who was a good friend of mine that I’d met previously. He’s just a great guy, and he’d never been in football.
“What I needed was people willing to give up their time, and with the promise that myself and Sergio would help develop them and give them an insight into what it’s like in England, in Europe at professional academies, at professional clubs.
“Then we set about bringing coaches and creating a game model that I convinced the club to fund a little bit more towards the academy, not a lot, but just enough to pay expenses of some people. We created a game model that we help the coaches deliver sessions and structured sessions.
“We tried to help some kids that possibly couldn’t afford the fees and stuff as well. That’s something that we did, through the club. It took a lot of effort, and in the end, we built something that we were really proud of. At the same time, me and Sergio were coaching the U20s, U23s at 6:30 in the morning. Look back now on Max Ballard, Dan Hall, Josh Nisbet, Garang Kuol…
“The fact is, they’re at the Mariners because none of the other A-League teams in Sydney or Melbourne would take them on in their Academy because they felt they were too raw, not good enough. That’s fine. Football’s about opinions, but I suppose myself and Sergio really believed in developing young players and believing in the young players, and I genuinely believe if the players got the right mentality and the right attitude and willing to work then you can achieve amazing things.
“Let’s get this group of players now, let’s give them a real identity in terms of how we’re going to play. Let’s go on this journey, and the journey is going to be pushing them into the first team. When I got the job, I was confident that I would at some point and we set up a scouting network around the country through contacts, again, not funded just through good contacts, who I’d met in Adelaide, in Brisbane, in Melbourne. Then really what it was about, let’s try and bring in some players that would feel we can push along with the local players.
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“I suppose the magic of being a manager and a coach is putting people together, putting a team together. The fact that none of those players were wanted from other A-League teams is a powerful thing because you’re giving them an opportunity. Then it was about mentoring them, developing them physically, mentally, tactically, emotionally and and obviously that was the beauty in that, was the enjoyment that you get from seeing players and humans develop and into into fine players.
“I think the success that we had in the U20s and U23s and that was winning the league, winning the Grand Final in both age groups. It was an unbelievable journey.”
The likes of Max Balard, Josh Nisbet, Dan Hall, Garang Kuol and Jacob Farrell were all unearthed by Montgomery and emerged through the academy with him before making the step up to first-team football and playing a key part in the Mariners conquering the A-Leagues.
Those young stars were complimented by unheralded recruits Jason Cummings, Brian Kaltak, Beni Nkololo, Marco Tulio, Nectar Triantis, Sammy Silvera – a group of players unified by Montgomery’s vision and belief.
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“I saw it as an opportunity to push Alou Kuol, Max Balard, Josh Nisbet, these players that I’d worked with for two years, into the first team, and to help the first team,” he reflected.
“They really helped the first team that season. Alou Kuol came in and scored plenty of goals and was sold to Stuttgart over in Germany. I think that was the first case where you go, wow, we’ve just done something really special, and we’ve created a platform now for for all these players to push on.
“That pre-season, we had players like Jacob Farrell, Harry Steele, players that had never even trained with the first team, and all of a sudden they’re on contracts in the first team. I think through that, we had some scholarship contracts that were funded by a great man called Anton Tagliaferro.
“I think the magnitude of what we built that second season, when we won the Grand Final, we were the youngest team in the history of the competition.
“We were the number one club in the whole of AFC (for) academy-developed players in the first team. I think that’s the moment we sort of realised what we’ve done, and to be the number one club in the whole of AFC of academy-developed players from an academy that was underfunded, that was in a regional town.
“For that stat to come out in that second year, for me, it’s one of the things we’re most proud about, because most of those kids had come through the academy, and I’d put them on two, three-year contracts, development contracts, and brought in along with Jason Cummings. Nobody wanted him in Dundee, they paid him to leave.
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“Brian Kaltak. Unbelievable story of the first-ever Vanuatu professional who’d been training in New Zealand for years… and nobody touched him. I just saw an unbelievable athlete, a human that was willing to learn, and the speed that that boy learned, and that accelerated in terms of becoming one of the top A-League defenders of all time for me within one year.
“Nectar Triantis, didn’t play at Western Sydney Wanderers. The partnership that he made with Brian and Dan Hall, those three were fantastic.
“Then to go and get players like Marco Tulio, who I think is probably one of the best A-League players of all time, if you look at talent. So many players that were unwanted, and again, brought in on free transfers, on small salaries, and we were the lowest budget team in the league. To do what we did, I thought was amazing.
“We’d sort of built this wave and the wave was coming up.”
While Montgomery was prised abroad by Hibs at the end of a fairytale 2022-23 season that defied the odds, he laid the foundations for a history-making treble the following season.
Cummings, Triantis, Silvera and James McGarry were all sold after the 2023 Grand Final as the Mariners generated millions in transfer income.
In Montgomery’s eyes, he handed over “the best A-League team of all-time”. His replacement Mark Jackson guided the Mariners to an unprecedented treble, comprising the Isuzu UTE A-League Premiership/Championship double and an AFC Cup crown.
“I did the pre-season after the Grand Final win and I’d sold Sammy Silvera, Nectar Triantis, Jason Cummings, but I’d replaced them, and we recruited (Mikael) Doka, who was an unbelievable player,” Montgomery said, having also brought in Nathan Paull and Will Wilson. “(Angel) Torres for me again, he was the best player in the league that season.
“That second season was really the peak of a lot of the players coming out of contracts, like Nizzy and Max Balard, who were going to be moving on into Europe. If you look at that team, it was a team of champions that were built from an academy, that were best friends, that were like a big family.
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“I followed them the second season, I had no doubt they would go on and win the league again, and the Grand Final in that second season, and qualifying for the AFC Cup was the first time in a long time. I always remember being in Thailand for pre-season, and we beat a Thai team really convincingly, and the manager said you guys are in the AFC next season, you’ll win the competition.
“I moved on and handed over I think probably what was the best A-League team of all time to Mark Jackson and he came in and did a wonderful job just steering the ship and to see the boys carry on and become back to back champions was no surprise to me.
“I look back on what we built there, and how we built it, and how pure it was. It was a great achievement, and something that that myself and Sergio are extremely proud of. We gave the Central Coast people a lot of joy which is really special.”
Montgomery added: “Since I left Australia, there have been a lot of coaches that have reached out to me from the A-League. I remember, without saying his name, a big, big head from Football Australia, just saying to me, thanks for what you’ve done. I think what we’ve done is we’ve really showed other coaches and managers that if you believe in youth, give them opportunities and develop them, you can win the A-League.
“I think that’s something that many doubted for many years, and then obviously spending big salaries and bringing a lot of foreign players on big salary and not giving the young players in Australia, who are as good as anywhere in the world, an opportunity.
“I think we showed people that you can and since we left, it’s been great to see so many more young players being given opportunities at clubs.
“It’s become a real development league. That can only bode well for the national team moving forward. You only have to see the amount of young players that have been given opportunities in the last few years.
“That’s something that I know Ange is really proud of, and we’re really proud of because we sort of probably changed the face of Australian football, and more people believing in young players.”
