Source :- PERTH NOW NEWS
The feud between former A-League identities Marko Rudan and Nick Montgomery that erupted on the sidelines of a match in China dates back 10 years to an incident that led to Central Coast Mariners lodging a formal complaint to Football Australia and Fox Sports.
Former Western Sydney Wanderers coach Rudan, now an assistant coach at Chinese Super League club Dalian Yingbo, has reportedly been banned by the Chinese Football Association for three games and fined $6200 after appearing to grab the throat of Beijing Guoan coach Montgomery during a sideline melee last Friday night.
“You might be able to see from the video that someone from the opposing coaching staff came over and put me in a chokehold,”former A-League title-winning coach Montgomery alleged after the game, which finished in a 1-1 draw.
“I could have fought back, but I didn’t, and that action is very hard to accept.”
The bad blood between Rudan and Montgomery stems from January 2016 from an A-League match between the Mariners and the Wanderers.
Still playing at the time for Central Coast, Montgomery was sent off for a tackle on then Wanderers winger Golgol Mebrahtu.
Rudan, who was an analyst at the time for then A-League broadcaster Fox Sports, said Montgomery’s challenge was “about as bad a tackle as you will see, especially against a fellow professional (Mebrahtu) who’s just come back from a long-term knee injury”.
Rudan also said that Montgomery would have “absolutely” known about Mebrahtu’s injury history.
The Mariners subsequently complained to Fox Sports and FA, the known as Football Federation Australia, saying the Rudan had questioned Montgomery’s “integrity”.
“The Mariners have been inundated with members expressing their concerns and demanding that the club takes appropriate steps to ensure that the integrity of the Mariners and its players are protected against unwarranted and totally unfounded comments,” the club said in a statement.
Rudan was also banned for three games, one match of which as a suspended sanction, by FA in February 2024 for breaching of the national code of conduct and ethics during his time as Wanderers coach after a post-match tirade against referee Adam Kersey.
