Nick Montgomery

Nicholas Anthony Montgomery (born 28 October 1981) is an English-born Scottish former professional footballer who played as a midfielder.

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
Place of birth Leeds, England
Height 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)[1]
Position(s) Defensive midfielder
Youth career
Leeds United
Sheffield United
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2000–2012 Sheffield United 349 (9)
2012Millwall (loan) 2 (0)
2012–2017 Central Coast Mariners 116 (3)
2017–2018 Wollongong Wolves 30 (3)
Total 497 (14)
National team
2003 Scotland U21 2 (1)
2005 Scotland Futures 1 (0)
Teams managed
2018– Central Coast Mariners (assistant)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Born in Leeds, England he started his career with Sheffield United where he spent twelve years as a professional, making 399 appearances. Towards the end of his time in England, Montgomery 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.

Montgomery represented Scotland at under-21 level and as part of a Scotland 'Futures' side. He obtained Australian citizenship in 2017.[2]

Club career

Sheffield United

Montgomery supported Leeds United as a child and was at Leeds United's Academy for six years.[3] He then was offered a two-year scholarship at Sheffield United. He made his first team début for the Blades at Carrow Road against Norwich City on 21 October 2000.[4] 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.[5]

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.[6] 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.[7]

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.[8] 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.[9] 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.[10]

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

On h1h May 2017 it was announced Montgomery had signed for the National Premier Leagues NSW outfit Wollongong Wolves, and on 1h May made his debut for the Wolves in a round 10 2–0 victory against Rockdale at WIN Stadium.[11]

International career

Despite being born in Leeds, Montgomery is eligible to play for Scotland although turning down an opportunity to play for England after interest from Sven-Göran Eriksson. He then made his début for the Scotland U21 side in April 2003 in a 1–0 victory over Austria, scoring from 50-yards and his second and last appearance in another 1–0 victory, this time over Croatia in November of the same year. He subsequently appeared for a team of Scotland Futures in 2005, featuring in a 2–0 defeat of Poland in December.[12]

Career statistics

For the English league section 'Other' includes games played in the Football League Trophy and Football League play-offs.

As of 29 May 2017.[13]
Club Season League National Cup League Cup Continental Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Sheffield United 2000–01 First Division 2701010 290
2001–02 3121000 322
2002–03 230306100 321
2003–04 3634010 413
2004–05 Championship 2515030 331
2005–06 3911000 401
2006–07 Premier League 2601011 281
2007–08 Championship 2001020 230
2008–09 280301030 350
2009–10 3913010 431
2010–11 3501010 370
2011–12 League One 201101030 251
Sheffield United total34992501826039811
Millwall (loan) 2011–12 Championship 200000 20
Central Coast Mariners 2012–13 A-League 26170 331
2013–14 26050 310
2014–15 2012010 231
2015–16 2201000 230
2016–17 2211000 231
Mariners total116340130 1353
Wollongong Wolves 2017[14] National Premier Leagues NSW 1210000121
2018[15] 1820000182
Wolves total30300000000303
Career total 497152901821306056517

Honours

Club

Central Coast Mariners

Individual

Personal life

Montgomery has a wife, Josie, and two twin daughters Leah and Chloe.[17] In parallel to his football career, Nick also runs a company called MP Sports in Australia that sells football related products. Montgomery possesses UEFA/AFC B and A coaching licences.[18]

See also

References

  1. "Official profile at SUFC". Archived from the original on 14 December 2007.
  2. "No love lost between Nick Montgomery and Liam Reddy". Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 21 April 2017.
  3. "Interview with former football player Nick Montgomery". Hyperabad United. Retrieved 20 June 2019.
  4. "Norwich 4–2 Sheff Utd". BBC Sport. 21 October 2000. Retrieved 3 December 2007.
  5. "Sheff Utd 4–0 Birmingham". BBC Sport. 17 November 2001. Retrieved 3 December 2007.
  6. "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.
  7. "Switch of shirts now has Lowry facing new challenge". The Yorkshire Post. 19 March 2011. Retrieved 19 March 2011.
  8. "Monty the Lion". Sheffield United FC Official Web Site. 19 March 2012. Archived from the original on 22 October 2014. Retrieved 19 March 2012.
  9. "Montgomery Returns To Blades". Football 365. 29 March 2012. Archived from the original on 18 October 2014. Retrieved 3 April 2012.
  10. "Monty down under". Sheffield United FC Official Web Site. 31 August 2012. Retrieved 31 August 2012.
  11. "Nick Montgomery signs with Wolves". FourFourTwo. 12 April 2017. Retrieved 16 May 2017.
  12. "Futures rosy as Scots sink Poland". The Scotsman. 6 December 2005. Retrieved 6 April 2013.
  13. "NIck Montgomery". Soccerbase. Retrieved 5 March 2014.
  14. "Statistics for Wollongong Wolves FC playing in 1st - PS4 NPL NSW Men's 2017". Retrieved 30 May 2020.
  15. "Nick Montgomery". Retrieved 30 May 2020.
  16. "A-League All Stars vs. Juventus 2 – 3". Soccerway. Retrieved 20 February 2015.
  17. "Mariners skipper set to become Aussie citizen". A-League. Football Federation Australia. Retrieved 21 April 2017.
  18. Herd, Emma. "Mariners captain Nick Montgomery to become an Australian citizen". The Daily Telegraph. News Corporation. Retrieved 21 April 2017.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.