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Opinion
Heading into the current A-League Men season, a discussion with a rather well-respected academy coach in New South Wales headed in the direction of new Central Coast manager Nick Montgomery.
The Leeds-born 40-year-old was in the process of taking over the reins at the Mariners after Alen Stajcic had brought about the club’s resurrection over the prior season and a half.
Stajcic had taken Central Coast from the depths of despair to an eventual third place on the A-League Men ladder in 2021-22. He built something that looked sustainable from the outside, with good recruitment and positive play at the cornerstone of the work he had done.
After a slow and steady start, it all happened rather briskly under Stajcic when the switch was flicked, and surely a sensible new mentor would work off the basis he had laid and continue to nurture some of the bright young talent that the Central Coast region continues to produce year on year.
Yet not according to the academy coach I was speaking to at the time.
When I mentioned the positive talk around Montgomery as both a manager and a man, he belly-laughed loudly and smiled from ear to ear, with a head shake thrown in to ensure that I had well and truly received the message.
Knowing Montgomery well and after undertaking some coaching badges with him some years back, his blunt assessment of the former Sheffield United stalwart was that he simply had no idea about coaching a top-flight professional team on his own and that the Mariners were in for a disaster, with his position untenable in the long term.
Well, he certainly got that one wrong.
(Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
Central Coast have had a challenging season, like many clubs. Fixturing and COVID isolation placed Montgomery’s team under immense pressure mid-way through the season. Prior to that, the team had performed well, sat fourth on the ladder and seemed likely semi-finalists.
With resources stretched, players unavailable and a few appalling refereeing decisions that also denied them points, the team slumped to 11th by Round 15 and were in danger of wasting what had been such a promising start to their season.
Since, the Mariners were unbeaten in the month of March, have lost just once in April and subsequently have clawed their way back into contention, just two points outside the top six.
All the while, Montgomery has remained on task, resisted the temptation to whinge or complain about different situations potentially worthy of it and kept driving his team to the best of his ability.
He has coached well tactically and produced positive football most weeks. He should be commended for that and those who questioned his credentials should now be chomping on a bit of humble pie.
However, Montgomery is not the only A-League Men manager proving a doubter or two wrong.
John Aloisi took the job at Western United as an unproven coach, with stints at Melbourne Heart and Brisbane Roar that ended in disappointment and professional embarrassment for a man universally liked and appreciated by Australian football fans.
Few suggested he would fail at Western yet many, like me, wondered why the club had taken a chance on Aloisi and not someone with a track record that would eliminate any doubt over the capabilities of the coach.
The club needed a rebound after a disappointing 2020-21 season when they won just eight games and finished tenth on the A-League Men ladder.
This season, Aloisi has already guided the club to 12 wins, lost on just five occasions, and with two games in hand on the ladder-leading Melbourne City, could well snatch a premier’s plate in his first season at the club.
(Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)
While that would be a brilliant achievement, Western are already locked into the top four with the finals looming and they are certain to prove a tough nut to crack when it comes to knock-out competition.
Some feel a certain defensive negativity in United’s play, yet 36 goals in 22 games belies that somewhat. A string of 1-0 wins built that reputation across the middle of the season, yet recently things have been different and conceding too often is now a key area of concern for Aloisi as he heads into the final weeks of the season.
Both Aloisi and Montgomery have done sterling jobs in 2021-22 and while the Mariners may fall short of the semi-finals by a whisker, it would be great to see both coaches involved.
That would remind us all to not write off quality men too quickly and also to understand that coaching is a journey where learnings improve the ability to draw the best from players and a team as a collective.
Despite undertaking slightly different apprenticeships to this point, both men have arrived at a rewarding place in their professional coaching careers, despite the doubts of others.