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Liam Miller

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Liam Miller
Personal information
Full name William Peter Miller
Height 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m)
Position(s) Central midfield
Team information
Current team
 Sunderland
Number 12
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 24 January 2008

William Peter "Liam" Miller (born 13 February 1981)[1] is a professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Premier League club Sunderland. He previously played for Leeds United, Manchester United, AGF Aarhus and Celtic.

Miller began his career with Celtic; he then moved to Aarhus on loan in 2001,[1] and debuted for Ireland in 2004 against Czech Republic. In 2004, he joined Manchester United,[2] where he was later loaned to Leeds United during the 2005–06 season and joined his latest club, Sunderland in 2006.

Background

Miller was born in Cork, Ireland,[1] and he attended Coachford College.[3] He revealed in a web chat that his family has been his biggest influence in football, and that Martin O'Neill and Sir Alex Ferguson were also very influential in his career.[4] He is married and has a young son.[5] Miller is a strong, hardworking midfielder with good pace and stamina, which brought a comparison to his idol Roy Keane who is also from Cork.[6]

Club career

Celtic

Miller joined Celtic in 1997 as a youth player, and made his professional league debut against Dundee United on 21 May, 2000.[6] His UEFA Cup debut came against Luxembourg based club Jeunesse Esch on 24 August, 2000 in a 7–0 win and came close to scoring in the 64th minute.[7] During his time at Celtic Park, he had been on a six-month loan spell with Danish football club, AGF Aarhus, during the 2001–02 season. They also considered signing him permanently, for £300,000.[8]

His first Scottish Premier League goals came in a 5–0 win over Hearts on 18 October, 2003, his first goal came after 9 minutes when Stilian Petrov drilled the ball in low and Miller finished it off, and completed the scoring in the 50th minute with five yard finish.[9]

Martin O'Neill offered Miller a long term contract following his goal against Lyon as Celtic won 2–0, in order to keep him at the club, O'Niell said "I am going to make sure that we get him on a new contract as soon as possible - a 35-year deal if I can manage it.". Miller said about the match "It was a great team performance, but that is the highlight of my career so far".[10] In his time at Celtic the Cork born midfielder scored 2 goals in 26 appearances with Celtic.[1]

Manchester United

He joined Manchester United for free on 1 July, 2004, after signing a pre-contract agreement in January that year,[2] after negotiations with Celtic, over a new contract, fell through. This caused an outcry amongst the Celtic support, who perceived Miller to be showing a distinct lack of loyalty to the club, which had supported him through long-term injury.[11]

He scored his first goal for Manchester United on 26 October, 2004 against Crewe Alexandra.[12] However, after an initial fairly promising start for the Red Devils, he found first-team opportunities rare towards the end of the 2004-05 season, making only 22 first-team appearances since arriving from Celtic.[1]

On November 4 2005, Miller joined Leeds United, initially for three months,[13] but this was later extended to the end of the 2005-06 season.[14] He scored one goal during his time at Leeds - the winning goal in the 4-3 away win, against Southampton on 19 November, 2005,[15] and also helped Leeds to reach the Championship play-off final with a 3–1 on aggregate over Preston North End. Miller featured in the play off final, however, Leeds failed to overcome Watford, being beaten 3–0 and so were not promoted to the Premier League.[16]

In July 2006, it was reported that Miller would be allowed to leave Manchester United, should the Red Devils receive a suitable offer.[17] It was made clear that Miller was not part of Alex Ferguson's plans, as, despite the huge number of senior players missing, he was still only a substitute, in the opening game of the Red Devils' tour of South Africa against Orlando Pirates on 16 July, 2006.[18] On 31 August 2006, he moved to Sunderland, for free, on a 3-year deal,[19] joining up with new Sunderland manager, and former Manchester United and Ireland captain, Roy Keane.

Sunderland

Miller playing against Bohemian FC in Sunderland's pre-season tour of Ireland.

Miller made his debut for Sunderland in a 2–1 win over Derby County on 9 September, 2006 at the Stadium of Light,[20] and scored his first goal in the following game against Leeds United on 13 September, 2006 in a 3–0 win shooting across the goalkeeper from 14 yards.[21]

On 6 January, 2007 he was sent off in a FA Cup match against Preston North End in the 37th minute after receiving his second yellow card for a foul on David Nugent, Sunderland went on to lose the match 1–0.[22] He scored his first Premier League goal for Sunderland on 22 September, 2007 against north-east rivals Middlesbrough in the 89th minute with a 20 yard left foot shot, the game being the 125th Tees-Wear derby.[23] He was sent off for the second time in his Sunderland career against Chelsea on 8 December, 2007 for a push on Claudio Pizarro and Sunderland went on to lose the game 2–0.[24]

Miller was since been placed on the transfer list by manager Roy Keane on 27 February, 2008, due to a 'lack of discipline' and 'poor timekeeping' shown in his frequent lateness for training sessions.[25] He was linked with a move to Toronto, the Canadian club have ties with Sunderland having had former Sunderland players Danny Dichio, Carl Robinson and Andy Welsh appeared for them.[26]

International career

Miller in action against Brazil.

Miller played for the Ireland under-21 team where he was a regular.[2] He was bizarrely played in a game against Albania, even though he was suspended after receiving two yellow cards in a UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship game against Switzerland. The Irish FA admitted the mistake and apologised to UEFA.[27] Miller's debut for the first team came on 31 March, 2004 against Czech Republic in a 2–1 win, he came on as a substitute for Matt Holland.[28]

He scored his first goal for Ireland in a 3–0 win over Sweden on 1 March, 2006 where he had made a run and a 25 yard shot rifled into the top of the net.[29]


References

  1. ^ a b c d e "Liam Miller". Soccerbase. Retrieved 2008-04-10.
  2. ^ a b c "Man Utd clinch Miller deal". BBC Sport. 2004-01-09. Retrieved 2008-04-10.
  3. ^ "Life after Coachford College - Past Pupils". Coachford College. Retrieved 2008-04-10.
  4. ^ "Webchat with John O'Shea & Liam Miller" (Web Chat). Eircom. Retrieved 2008-04-10.
  5. ^ Dunphy, Eamon (2008-03-03). "Dunphy slams "disgraceful" Sunderland chief". Eleven a side. Retrieved 2008-04-10.
  6. ^ a b "Liam Miller". Manutd zone. Retrieved 2008-04-10.
  7. ^ "Celtic hit a magnificent seven". BBC Sport. 2000-08-24. Retrieved 2008-04-11.
  8. ^ Fisher, Stewart (2003-11-09). "Time is right for Miller's tale to unfold; Celtic may have unearthed". Daily Herald. Retrieved 2008-04-10.
  9. ^ "Five-star Celtic crush Hearts". BBC Sport. 2003-10-18. Retrieved 2008-04-11.
  10. ^ "Miller to win new deal". BBC Sport. 2003-10-01. Retrieved 2008-04-11.
  11. ^ Brennan, Robert. "Miller time is nearly up". Irish abroad. Retrieved 2008-04-11.
  12. ^ "Crewe 0 - 3 Man Utd". Soccernet. 2004-10-26. Retrieved 2008-04-11.
  13. ^ "Miller makes Elland Road switch". BBC Sport. 2005-11-04. Retrieved 2008-04-11.
  14. ^ "Miller extends loan deal at Leeds". BBC Sport. 2005-01-06. Retrieved 2008-04-11.
  15. ^ "Southampton 3-4 Leeds". BBC Sport. 2005-11-19. Retrieved 2008-04-11.
  16. ^ "Leeds 0-3 Watford". BBC Sport. 2006-05-21. Retrieved 2008-04-11.
  17. ^ Ogden, Mark (2006-07-18). "Solskjaer back on target as Ferguson chases Torres". The Telegraph. Retrieved 2008-04-11.
  18. ^ "Orlando Pirates 0-4 Man Utd". BBC Sport. 2006-07-16. Retrieved 2008-04-11.
  19. ^ "Irish trio make Sunderland switch". BBC Sport. 2006-08-31. Retrieved 2008-04-10.
  20. ^ "Derby 1-2 Sunderland". BBC Sport. 2006-09-09. Retrieved 2008-04-11.
  21. ^ Walker, Michael (2006-09-14). "Calls for Blackwell's head as Keane's men stride on". The Guardian. Retrieved 2008-04-11.
  22. ^ "Preston 1-0 Sunderland". BBC Sport. 2007-01-06. Retrieved 2008-04-11.
  23. ^ McKenzie, Andrew (2007-09-22). "Middlesbrough 2-2 Sunderland". BBC Sport. Retrieved 2008-04-11.
  24. ^ Mercer, Nathan (2007-12-08). "Chelsea 2-0 Sunderland". BBC Sport. Retrieved 2008-04-11.
  25. ^ "Championship - Miller alerts Championship sides". Eurosport. 2008-02-27. Retrieved 2008-04-10.
  26. ^ "Toronto eye Miller swoop". Eleven a side. 2008-03-05. Retrieved 2008-04-11.
  27. ^ "Irish admit U21 blunder". BBC Sport. 2003-06-10. Retrieved 2008-04-10.
  28. ^ "Rep of Ire 2-1 Czech Rep". BBC Sport. 2004-03-31. Retrieved 2008-04-10.
  29. ^ "Rep of Ireland 3-0 Sweden". BBC Sport. 2006-03-01. Retrieved 2008-04-10.


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