Tony Walmsley has condemned comments made in the media about Central Coast Mariners captain Nick Montgomery in wake of the club’s 2-1 loss to Western Sydney Wanderers at the weekend.
Montgomery was given his marching orders for an ugly challenge on Wanderers attacker Golgol Mebrahtu, who is still finding his feet after spending months sidelined with injury.
The tackle prompted controversial comments from Fox Football pundit Mark Rudan, who suggested that Montgomery would have known about the 25-year-old’s lengthy injury history.
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Central Coast filed an official complaint to both Fox Sports and FFA on Wednesday after receiving a flood of complaints about the comments from unhappy members and supporters.
Walmsley came out in defence of his captain, fiercely rejecting the “incredibly disrespectful” comments.
“I get that people have opinions, but to publicly have an opinion about what somebody’s thinking, and the intent that somebody went into a situation with, that affects another person on the pitch, I think it’s appalling,” Walmsley said.
“Nick Montgomery, he’s had two red cards in his career, he got a red card for a late tackle, it was probably a little bit reckless and he got a one-match ban for it.
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“We cop it on the chin but to even contemplate, let alone speak publicly, about him doing that with intent to hurt somebody, is incredibly disrespectful.
“It impacts on the integrity of one of our players publicly, which is not on. I support Monty to the hill on that.”
Montgomery was handed a one-match suspension and will miss the Mariners’ trip to Christchurch to tackle Wellington Phoenix on the weekend.
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