Nick Montgomery breaks silence on Hibs stint and the phantom VAR penalty that still has him baffled to this day
The former Easter Road boss opens up on his short tenure in the capital that lasted just eight months
Nick Montgomery knows he went to Hibs at the wrong time.
The current Tottenham assistant head coach decided to finally break his silence on his time at Easter Road in an exclusive interview with Record Sport.
He had just come off the back of winning the A-League with Central Coast Mariners when he was headhunted by the capital club back in September 2023.
The 43-year-old didn't even get a full season at Easter Road and it was fair to say not much went his way when he was in Leith.
He inherited a squad that was bottom of the table, was bloated and a wage budget that had been well blown.
'Monty' had to slash the wage bill and when he did get Hibs going again he then lost some of his top star players to the Asia Cup and African Cup of Nations.
A string of wrong decisions also went against Hibs, including the phantom goal against Hearts. The writing was on the wall when the Edinburgh side lost out in the top six in the final minutes before the split.
Montgomery said: 'Going in, I saw it as an opportunity to go and rebuild the team and build my own team moving forward. But, I look back on it now, and so I went in after a pre-season, which was never easy.
'The team was bottom of the league in the relegation places in the SPL. The first remit was to go in and get the team off the bottom of the league, out of the relegation spots and try to get a start on rebuilding for the following season."
There was next to no money to sign players because of poor recruitment, big wages and the fact Lee Johnson had spent a lot of money on so-called development players.
Montgomery had to wheel and deal and come the January window he was able to bring in quality in the shape of Emiliano Marcondes, Myziane Maolida, Nectarios Triantis and Nathan Moriah-Welsh.
He claimed: 'It's well documented but the recruitment over the last few years before I'd gone in there was, in the club's own words, wasn't fantastic.
'There were a lot of players out on loan. I worked with some good players, but yeah, it was a difficult season in terms of coming in after pre-season, like I mentioned.'
Hibs were on the rise but the Asian Cup saw Hibs lose Australian pair Martin Boyle and Lewis Miller for several weeks, while Rocky Bushiri and Jojo Wollacott were away with DR Congo and Ghana, respectively, for the Africa Cup of Nations.
That was on top of several other injuries in the Hibs' squad. Montgomery, who now assists Ange Postecoglou, added: 'After a good run, we were in the top four and then we lost a lot of players.
'Mid-season, there was an African Cup of Nations and the Asia Cup. We lost a few of the starting team for a couple of months.
The former Scotland B cap got the feeling that he wasn't going to his day when Hearts were handed a phantom penalty that earned them a controversial point.
The former Hibs boss recalled: 'The famous VAR, you know, documented that. The Hibs are the worst-treated team in the league.
'I look back on some of those decisions, especially the Hearts' phantom penalty that was given against us at Tynecastle in the derby.
'It should never have happened. Apologies came after it and an admission it had been a mistake.
'Obviously, things are not going to change.'
Hibs still had the top six in their hands but lost out on the final day after losing after Motherwell levelled with second to go and Dundee went into the top half. That was to be the final nail in his managerial coffin at Hibs.
Montgomery said: 'Yes, it's disappointing the way it ended. To miss out on the top split in the last minute of the game. 'From that moment, yeah, it was difficult.
'But I was still looking forward to rebuilding the team and that was a remit that I had from the ownership when I went in. So, yeah, again, football's football.'
Montgomery is delighted to see Hibs move in the right direction under his former coach Daid Gray and reckons the Black Knights getting involved in the transfer front has been a game changer.
'I know that the club has been through some difficult times,' he confirmed. 'When I left, I didn't want to put any negativity on the club.
'I'm happy to see that they've had a really strong second half of the season and a lot of players that I worked with have continued to sort of develop.
'I've followed the team this season and obviously, they had a difficult start, but I'm glad that they stuck with David as the manager.
'I think it just shows when you sort of stick with managers and give them time to build, which they did.
'I'm happy for a lot of people at the club, and especially Kit Gordon, who's a wonderful person.'
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Scotsman
4 hours ago
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6 hours ago
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Edinburgh Reporter
6 hours ago
- Edinburgh Reporter
Darren McGregor's career to be commemorated in a game against Bolton Wanderers
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