Could now be the time to prise Nick Montgomery back to the Isuzu UTE A-League?
It is a genuine question with a couple of coaching vacancies in Australia and ongoing speculation across the competition.
Timing is everything in football and if there was a moment to try to convince him to come back Down Under, it is now. As it stands Montgomery is available after leaving Premier League club Nottingham Forest with Australian legend Ange Postecoglou.
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A UEFA Europa League-winning assistant with Tottenham last season, Montgomery has not been short of offers after leaving the City Ground, but it is all about the project for a bona fide A-Leagues legend, who transformed Central Coast Mariners not too long ago alongside trusted right-hand man Sergio Raimundo.
It is Montgomery’s remarkable work with Central Coast that earned him a move to Hibernian 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.
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The English-born Australian citizen 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, despite limited resources.
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.
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“It’s one of the best things I’ve achieved in my career,” Montgomery told aleagues.com.au previously. “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.
“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.
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“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 obviously that was the beauty in that, was the enjoyment that you get from seeing players and humans develop and 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.
Balard, Nisbet and Kuol have gone on to play for the CommBank Socceroos.
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, having helped Spurs end their 41-year wait for a European trophy alongside Postecoglou in 2024-25.
“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.
“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.
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“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 (estimated to be in excess of $4million), also through the sales of Alou and Garang Kuol and then Marco Tulio.
Montgomery’s Mariners also turned down $1million for Angel Torres.
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.
Montgomery’s fingerprints are still all over the Mariners.
Montgomery scouted first-team Central Coast young guns Nathan Paull, Miguel Di Pizio, Bailey Brandtman and Nicolas Duarte, who were all brought to the club on his watch.
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“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.
“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.”
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