Montgomery Receives First Scotland Call-Up as Pocognoli Revamps Squad

Kristi Montgomery has been thrust into the senior Scotland set-up for the first time, as Sebastien Pocognoli’s first Nations League squad takes on a very different look.

The Blackburn Rovers midfielder, 22, steps up from the Under-21s after Kieran Tierney and Kenny McLean pulled out of the squad. Scotland face Slovenia home and away, plus fixtures against Switzerland and North Macedonia in a crucial early test of the new head coach’s reign.

Montgomery has quietly built her case in England. She has started all eight Championship matches for Tony Mowbray’s side this season, anchoring the Blackburn midfield and forcing her way into Pocognoli’s thinking just weeks into his tenure.

Tierney and McLean leave a sizeable hole. Between them, the Celtic defender and the Norwich midfielder boast 119 caps, the kind of experience any new manager would lean on. Yet Pocognoli has already been forced into a rethink, with seasoned campaigners Scott McTominay, Che Adams and Lawrence Shankland all unavailable before he even named his original squad.

So the door has swung open. Montgomery becomes the eighth uncapped player in a bold 27-strong group, joining Luke Graham, Robbie Ure, Luis Binks, Colby Donovan, Jon McCracken, Josh McPake and Stephen Welsh. It is a squad that looks deliberately fresh, a clear signal that reputations alone will not guarantee a place.

There is a sense of reunion too. Oli McBurnie, Scott Bain, Kieron Bowie, Josh Doig, Lennon Miller and James Wilson are all recalled, while Napoli midfielder Billy Gilmour returns after the frustration of missing the World Cup through injury. His comeback nudges Manchester United teenager Tyler Fletcher back to the Under-21s, where he had stepped in for Gilmour during the USA trip.

Not everyone survives the reshuffle. Dominic Hyam, Lyndon Dykes, George Hirst, Grant Hanley, Anthony Ralston and Ross Stewart are among those left out as Pocognoli stamps his authority on the group.

For Montgomery, though, this is the moment. From Championship ever-present to international newcomer, she now walks into a Scotland camp in transition, with a manager unafraid to gamble on fresh legs and untested nerves in a Nations League campaign that could define his early tenure.