Montgomery speaks on Staggies, Adams, and going direct

What did you make of Derek Adams' comments?

“It’s hard for me to comment other than I feel for Derek; conceding a goal in the last minute is never nice. I’ve been a player and now a manager, it’s not nice, you have a lot of emotion. He’s entitled to his own opinion and it’s probably his opinion only.”

Might he live to regret his remarks?

“You’d have to ask him that. Sometimes I say stuff then after the game I think maybe I shouldn’t have said this or  that. But when the camera is there and you’re asked a question and you answer it honestly then sometimes it reflects well on you and sometimes it doesn’t. Maybe he’ll regret it and maybe he doesn’t. I can’t answer for him.

“It’s not something I can agree with. I think the standard is very competitive.  You saw the Scottish teams in Europe last week getting results against big teams. Some weeks, games are highly competitive and the quality of football can be diluted but that’s what you have to deal with.”

Do you fear his comments could affect recruitment next month?

“I don’t think so. You only have to look at the teams in this league who are playing in the Champions League and in European competition. I don’t think players will look at that unless maybe they were being approached to sign for Derek at Ross County. Maybe that’s not somewhere you would want to go after hearing that!

“But there’s some very good clubs in the league and there’s a lot of players who would definitely want to come and play in Scotland. It’s not an easy league to play in. You have to be physically capable to start with. But it’s a great pathway, a development pathway to go on to the biggest leagues in the world which has been proven time and again.”

On a related note, how does Scottish football compare to the A-League?

“It’s different. Every league is different. I’m fortunate to have played in the Premier League, the Championship, in Australia, played against teams in China, Japan, Korea. Every country has its own culture and we know here it’s a very working class culture. People want to see their team play good football and compete week in week out. 

“It’s hard to compare but it’s still a round ball, the temperature is different, playing in 35C compared to -2C is different. You can run around more to keep warm! Every team has different tactics but football has evolved a lot over the last 10-15 years, the stadiums, the pitches are better. Everywhere is different and everywhere is competitive.

“You look at the Premier League and the money spent there and the Championship and overseas. Scotland is growing in that capacity and I think it’s going to continue to get better."

Are you fully expecting Ross County to play like prime Barcelona after their manager's rant?

“All we expect is a difficult game. They’ve got some decent players and are highly competitive. They are a physical team so it will be tough. I’m sure Derek has had chats and reviewed the game with them since last week. A lot of those conversations stay in the club. But you have professionals being paid to play for the club. You expect them to go out and perform for the club and the badge every week.”

A lot of teams go direct in Scotland. Does direct = bad?

"I think direct is direct. If you say long ball then it’s long but direct is teams who want to go from back to front really quickly and that’s the tactic that some teams have and you have to cope with that. There are a lot of tall players in this league and they are a real threat from corners and throw ins and set pieces into the box and you have to be prepared for that."

"I think, at times, you have to mix it up. We went direct against Aberdeen and scored a great goal with Dylan Vente's finish. It is about defending and making sure you are ready for any team you play against. There are a lot of similar teams that play a similar way, with a back five, in this competition. They recruit for that as well. Everybody has their own style."

Ross County nicked a point at Easter Road last time out by going direct...

"They did and I was disappointed to lose a two goal lead but we went through a spell where we conceded a lot of late goals and points but that is something we worked really hard to fix. It isn’t definitely a successful tactic for a lot of teams around the world and if that’s what you’re good at, why would you not do that. We didn’t have the tallest team. We have a lot of smallish players in that front third and that’s not something that we will have a lot of benefit from doing but that’s not to say it’s not a good tactic."