Rough Diamond

Football attracts people from all walks of life - but very few can match the story of Paul Montgomery, the flamboyant Geordie who went from running a floating nightclub to spotting some of the greatest British footballing talent of the last 40 years. Montgomery started out rubbing shoulders with 1970’s and 1980’s A-list celebrities such as Wham, Level 42, Bryan Ferry and Wet Wet Wet at the famous (some would say infamous) Tuxedo Junction nightclub and the Boat, Newcastle’s floating nightclub, before opening his own club and at the same time becoming a trusted lieutenant of footballing icon Sir Bobby Robson. Indeed, it was Sir Bobby himself - one of the game’s most beloved legends - who labelled Montgomery ‘my rough diamond’, because the Newcastle manager, alongside other footballing masterminds such as Jim Smith, Alex McLeish, Glenn Roeder, Sam Allardyce and Sir Alex Ferguson could trust Montgomery to deliver in a way no other scout could. Predicting - and picking - the best young talent available is very often an ephemeral and some would say impossible job but Montgomery simply had a knack for knowing who would make it - and who would flounder. In his remarkable, hilarious and deeply impassioned autobiography, he lifts the lid on his incredible career change, the highs and lows of his footballing journey to the top of the sport and how he still loves the game that has given him so much. Montgomery has run the rule over thousands of players in a career that has taken him from Hartlepool to Newcastle United, to Portsmouth, Derby County, West Ham United, Birmingham City, Aston Villa and Rangers and he’s still in the game today, advising Premier League clubs on who will make it big next. Put simply, there is no one else in football quite like Paul Montgomery - and his book describes that world in all its fascinating detail, both good and bad, thrilling and tragic.