Nick Montgomery looking ahead to Sheffield United reunion with Neil Warnock as Hibernian face Aberdeen

Former Sheffield United midfielder Nick Montgomery is looking forward to a reunion with his former Bramall Lane boss Neil Warnock when their Hibernian and Aberdeen sides go head-to-head this weekend. Warnock's long and varied managerial career took him north of the border earlier this year when he took over at Pittodrie following the sacking of another former Blade, Barry Robson.

The 75-year-old Warnock was Montgomery's boss at Bramall Lane for seven years and gave a teenage midfielder his debut, the pair winning promotion together to the Premier League in 2005/06. Montgomery was appointed Hibs boss in the summer after a successful spell in charge of Central Coast Mariners in Australia and is looking forward to locking horns with his former mentor for the first time on Saturday afternoon.

Follow the latest from the Blades with the The Star’s free football emails

“It’ll be a full circle moment for me," Montgomery admitted. "Neil gave me my debut at 17 at Sheffield United and I played a lot of games for him before he moved on. This will be in the first time I’ve seen him face to face in around 12 years. I’ve always stayed in contact.

“I’ve wished him a happy retirement about six times already, and wished him a welcome back into football six times too. It’ll be nice to see him and shake hands before and after the game. It’s good to see him in Scottish football."

Hibs are eighth ahead of kick-off, level on points with Warnock's Dons and with an identical record in terms of games played, wins, losses, draws and goals scored and conceded. "He’s been in football a long time; he’s worked at a lot of clubs and managed a lot of games," Montgomery added of Warnock. "His style has always been quite direct, and he likes his teams to fight tooth and nail from when the game kicks off.

“Depending on the players he’s had at his disposal he had has to adapt over the years, but when you come up against Neil’s team you know they’ll compete. Last night they were 3-0 down, which is a tough hill to climb, and fair play to them for doing that. It’ll be a difficult challenge and it’s a big game, but every game is a big game from until the end of the season.”