Former Hibs boss shares twist of fate that resulted in Tottenham chance as key Ange Postecoglou chat detailed
The former Hibs boss has been talking his time at Tottenham and how he helped out a current Easter Road target plus club hero.
Former Hibs boss Nick Montgomery has been talking his move to Tottenham last season - and how he’s helped a key summer target at his ex side.
The Sheffield United hero was offered the chance to join Ange Postecoglou’s backroom team ahead of season 24/25, after lasting less than a year in charge at Easter Road. Postecoglou was well aware of Montgomery and assistant Sergio Raimundo’s impressive work in Australia though with Central Coast Mariners where they built an impressive team with the likes of current Hibs target Nectar Triantis and club favourite Jason Cummings involved.
Montgomery is now on the hunt for his next challenge after Postecoglou’s shock sacking. He has detailed how the chance came about and it is in part down to taking on the Hibs job just under two years ago.
Why Nick Montgomery ended up at Tottenham
He said in an interview with the A League: “Ironically, I was in Turkey where I am now on holiday with the family, and sort of exchanged some messages with Ange. 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’. We jumped on a video call the next day. The first time I had a proper conversation with Ange.
“(Assistant) Chris Davies 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. 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. 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.
Key role in Nectar Triantis development
“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.”
Having built a strong side at Central Coast, where he won the A League in term 22/23, Montgomery takes great pride in giving stars like Triantis and Cummings a chance when nobody else would. He added: “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. 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.”