Stan Montgomery


Stanley William Montgomery was an English professional footballer and first-class cricketer. He was the son-in-law of 1927 FA Cup winner Jimmy Nelson, who also played over 200 times for Cardiff City.

Football career

Montgomery began his football career playing for non-league Romford during World War II, also guesting on several occasions for Southend United. Following the end of the war he signed for Hull City, but only spent a short period there before returning to play at Southend. He remained at the club until 1948 when he joined Cardiff City for a fee of £6,000, on the recommendation of his father-in-law Jimmy Nelson who had played for Cardiff in the 1920s.
He made a goalscoring debut for Cardiff against Grimsby Town in January 1949 and played the remaining seventeen matches of the season. He missed very few games for the Blubirds over the next seven years and helped them to promotion during the 1951/52 season. He eventually left the club in 1955 and returned to non-league football with Worcester City before finishing is career in Wales with spells at Newport County, Llanelli and Ton Pentre. After his retirement he became a coach and was appointed by George Swindin as the Canaries' first team coach in 1962. Swindin tok over at Cardiff five months later and Montgomery followed him to Ninian Park, again to work as first team coach for the next two years. He subsequently worked as Sports Adviser to the Boys Clubs of Wales, and helped Bristol Rovers as a scout in the South Wales area, later having a spell as Rovers' Youth team coach. He later returned to Ninian Park on the request of manager Alan Durban to take charge of the clubs trialists.

Cricket career

Montgomery was also a first-class cricketer with Glamorgan from 1949 to 1953. He joined Glamorgan from Barry Athletic Club and made his first-class debut against Derbyshire at the Arms Park in 1949. He made his highest first-class score of 117, his maiden century, against Hampshire later that season, sharing a fifth-wicket stand of 264 with Maurice Robinson. This is still the fifth-wicket record partnership for Glamorgan.