Nick Montgomery

[Since452]

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I think this is a really good summary of his time here.

The only thing I can say in his defence was that his team had a terrible run of awful decisions going against it with zero help from VAR. But then on the flip side he didn't deal with that well in the press IMO ( ie said nothing) when other more experienced manages would have called out early on some of the shocking decisions. It allowed those decisions to slip under the radar.

From listening to Monty and Maloney on TV interviews, I have no idea how the club managed to think those two would be good appointments for a manager's position at Hibs.

Totally agree. It's no surprise that our best communicators in recent years have been out most "successful" managers over a season (Ross and SDG). Not just communication but a presence. Maloney and Montgomery didn't have that combination.

[500miles]

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We did and then also switched to a 352 for Celtic away in the league cup. I think the “hand forced” line is a bit mythical.

I have a concern for next season that we went with 451/ 433 because that is what Black Knight teams play, which makes the “not listening” tantrum even sillier. There was certainly talk of having the BK teams playing similar systems so players can progress through the group.

Of all the BK teams, we are the club with the most expectation and the least margin of error. We need to be Hibs first, and part of the BK group in very small writing.


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[we are hibs]

He got a lot of leeway early doors simply because he wasn't the slavering gob***** he had replaced.


After a while it became obvious it wasn't going to work and it was Maloney mk2.


I want to see Hibs try and play football and don't mind us building from the back but you've got to do it with purpose and a bit of energy. Keeping possession for the sake of it is one of the worst things to happen to football in my lifetime. Everything under Maloney and Montgomery was so slow, dull and frustrating.


The st.mirren game where we were 3 down at half time was one of the worst halves of football I've ever seen from a Hibs team. Young Whittaker had a nightmare and anyone with half a brain would've taken him off at half time to protect him but Montgomery decided to leave him on. Terrible management to leave a struggling young player out there when it had turned completely toxic in the stadium.

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[Centre Hawf]

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He got a lot of leeway early doors simply because he wasn't the slavering gob***** he had replaced.


After a while it became obvious it wasn't going to work and it was Maloney mk2.


I want to see Hibs try and play football and don't mind us building from the back but you've got to do it with purpose and a bit of energy. Keeping possession for the sake of it is one of the worst things to happen to football in my lifetime. Everything under Maloney and Montgomery was so slow, dull and frustrating.


The st.mirren game where we were 3 down at half time was one of the worst halves of football I've ever seen from a Hibs team. Young Whittaker had a nightmare and anyone with half a brain would've taken him off at half time to protect him but Montgomery decided to leave him on. Terrible management to leave a struggling young player out there when it had turned completely toxic in the stadium.

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That day utterly infuriated me mostly because me and a pal said at half-time we'll leave if they score again and the *******s turned it into a training match instead and we had to sit and suffer the second 45 minutes.

[matty_f]

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I have a concern for next season that we went with 451/ 433 because that is what Black Knight teams play, which makes the “not listening” tantrum even sillier. There was certainly talk of having the BK teams playing similar systems so players can progress through the group.

Of all the BK teams, we are the club with the most expectation and the least margin of error. We need to be Hibs first, and part of the BK group in very small writing.


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I don't think that'll come into it at all. It doesn't work to prescribe a formation across different teams in different leagues with different challenges. If there are to be consistencies between teams in the group it's far more realistic to apply that to principles of play - ie pressing style, counter attacking, etc. Things that can be done no matter the formation.

[Smartie]

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i

Good points again. On the young player thing, given that Whittaker struggled to make any impact at Spartans this season and Mayenda tore up the Championship with Sunderland, it seems crazy that he put so much faith in Whittaker and so little faith in Mayenda. Be interested to hear what senior players like Boyle and Newell thought of that. Maybe Mayenda just didn't show anything in training, but who knows.

Also I think Monty (like Maloney) was terrible at making substitutions. He disrupted the team a number of times with wacky subs - costing us points several times. Changing centre halves causing chaos on the defence, leaving Youan on when we were a goal up (only for Youan to switch off and for us to concede), bringing on Landers at St Mirren, taking off a visibly angry Marcondes at Tynecastle when he was having his best game for us...

Probably worth making the point (again) about how good Gray is at making substitutions - he gets them on point almost every time.

We've emerged from tricky spells in games after half time that have been turned into comfortable victories with the right changes being made at the right time. It's easy to dismiss this as the games ended up being comfortable wins but there was a danger we could be pegged back or overcome had he dithered, made the wrong moves or made changes to the wrong part of the team.

They've sometimes been pretty bold too - taking of players who had had a good game in favour of players needed to provide a bit of energy (I'm thinking of a couple of Campbell for Hoilett changes). They don't always necessarily look right at the time but they always look right with hindsight.

He's probably only once or twice that I can remember (Rangers at home around Christmas, Dundee United away last October or so) that he's had to make early tactical changes or substitutions because we were clearly toiling. Both times we improved drastically.

Gray has shown up a few more experienced predecessors with this sort of thing already. Rarely do you get "wtf" moments with him and even when you do get an eyebrow raiser of a decision it ends up being vindicated. Plenty of times under Maloney, Johnson and Montgomery the "wtf" ended up being followed by consequences you could have seen coming a mile off.

[overdrive]

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Probably worth making the point (again) about how good Gray is at making substitutions - he gets them on point almost every time.

We've emerged from tricky spells in games after half time that have been turned into comfortable victories with the right changes being made at the right time. It's easy to dismiss this as the games ended up being comfortable wins but there was a danger we could be pegged back or overcome had he dithered, made the wrong moves or made changes to the wrong part of the team.

They've sometimes been pretty bold too - taking of players who had had a good game in favour of players needed to provide a bit of energy (I'm thinking of a couple of Campbell for Hoilett changes). They don't always necessarily look right at the time but they always look right with hindsight.

He's probably only once or twice that I can remember (Rangers at home around Christmas, Dundee United away last October or so) that he's had to make early tactical changes or substitutions because we were clearly toiling. Both times we improved drastically.

Gray has shown up a few more experienced predecessors with this sort of thing already. Rarely do you get "wtf" moments with him and even when you do get an eyebrow raiser of a decision it ends up being vindicated. Plenty of times under Maloney, Johnson and Montgomery the "wtf" ended up being followed by consequences you could have seen coming a mile off.

Now he is but at the start of the season, he was getting a lot of stick for his subs. It seemed as if it was making subs that was the catalyst of us throwing away leads and points in that difficult August-October spell. He's learned though which is what separates him out.

[LaMotta]

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Totally agree. It's no surprise that our best communicators in recent years have been out most "successful" managers over a season (Ross and SDG). Not just communication but a presence. Maloney and Montgomery didn't have that combination.

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Probably worth making the point (again) about how good Gray is at making substitutions - he gets them on point almost every time.

We've emerged from tricky spells in games after half time that have been turned into comfortable victories with the right changes being made at the right time. It's easy to dismiss this as the games ended up being comfortable wins but there was a danger we could be pegged back or overcome had he dithered, made the wrong moves or made changes to the wrong part of the team.

They've sometimes been pretty bold too - taking of players who had had a good game in favour of players needed to provide a bit of energy (I'm thinking of a couple of Campbell for Hoilett changes). They don't always necessarily look right at the time but they always look right with hindsight.

He's probably only once or twice that I can remember (Rangers at home around Christmas, Dundee United away last October or so) that he's had to make early tactical changes or substitutions because we were clearly toiling. Both times we improved drastically.

Gray has shown up a few more experienced predecessors with this sort of thing already. Rarely do you get "wtf" moments with him and even when you do get an eyebrow raiser of a decision it ends up being vindicated. Plenty of times under Maloney, Johnson and Montgomery the "wtf" ended up being followed by consequences you could have seen coming a mile off.

[Onion]

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Now he is but at the start of the season, he was getting a lot of stick for his subs. It seemed as if it was making subs that was the catalyst of us throwing away leads and points in that difficult August-October spell. He's learned though which is what separates him out.

Agreed. IMO sign of a good/great manager is his ability to read and effect games when change is needed. You can always tell the quality of manger in the timing and choice of subs. Almost all the garbage managers we've had have been shockingly crap at this. SDG has become excellent, so bodes well for this and our future.

Best example of this was GJP (Red Lex). His ability to time and choose subs was off the scale compared to previous managers - and he did ok.