Ross County full back Gary Miller returns to his former Livingston home this weekend for the first time since leaving as a player after a season of drama in 2008/09.
Miller made his bow in football as a Lion and he returned to star there after loan spells in the west and north of Scotland however, after a turbulent season where he and his team-mates battled through great uncertainty, he decided to move to County where the promise of a three year deal was just too good to turn down.
The 24-year-old played with St. Mirren Boys Club before moving to the youth set-up at West Lothian where he first met up with his County colleague Scott Boyd and former team-mate Martin Scott, as well as future Scottish Internationalists Robert Snodgrass and Graham Dorrans.
Miller said: “We were a really good youth side that did well for Livingston. There were always good youth teams there and the year ahead of us, there was James McPake who is now playing at Coventry.”
Paul Lambert, who is now in charge of Norwich City, gave an 18-year-old Miller his debut in a SPL game in October 2005 when he brought him on, ironically for his now Dingwall boss Derek Adams, with four minutes to go and the Lions a goal down.
You could say that the move worked with Miller explaining: “ 'Snoddy' scored just after I came on and we earned a 1-1 draw. Paul picked me for other SPL games against Motherwell and Falkirk and in total, I played four games for him in the top division.”
Lambert was not Miller’s first Manager as he explained: “Richard Gough was my first boss and I had another seven or eight after that. It was always an up and down experience at Livingston with things like Administration so it was not always a great time to be a player there.”
After Gough, Lambert and Caretaker Manager Alex Cleland, Miller was sent out on loan by new boss John Robertson to Ayr United and he remains grateful to the now East Fife Manager for sticking to his word about the move.
“John said I needed to get more first team experience and that if I went out and got it, I would get into the first team at Livingston,” said Miller before adding, “I went there for three months and played in 15 games. I really enjoyed it and had the satisfaction of scoring my first ever senior goal on my debut.
“It was the winner against Forfar at Station Park with a shot from the edge of the box and that was a brilliant start. When I came back, John was as good as his word and gave me a shot in the first team. I really respect the honesty that he displayed.”
Another loan move, this time for a season and arranged by Mark Proctor who came in to replace Caretaker Manager David Bowman who replaced Robertson, saw Miller gain more first team football and don the colours of County for a first time.
Miller said: “George Adams had identified me as a player and he arranged to take me up there for season 2007/08 which was going to be in the Second Division following relegation the previous season. It was brilliant for me as a player and a person as I was living on my own for the first time and I played in over 20 matches and picked up a League Championship winners' medal.
“I missed out on the Challenge Cup Final later on that year as I had moved back to Livingston by that time.”
The Livingston he moved back to had unearthed the talented Leigh Griffiths in Miller’s absence and had also brought in Italian Roberto Landi to be their Manager for season 2008/09 that could best be described as a rollercoaster.
The season started well with six wins in the opening eight games however, Landi’s boasts of Champions League football started to fall apart after a 6-1 reverse at Queen of the South with Miller saying: “Roberto was a very colourful character and he used to tell us all sorts of stories. It was all falling apart off the field and the boys that were there deserve great credit for keeping the club in the First Division through their performances.
“It reached silly levels with people coming in with briefcases of money to pay wages and some boys getting paid in cash and some others not getting paid. It was very different to the environment I had seen at Ross County.”
At the end of that season, Miller was offered the opportunity to return to the relative calm of Ross County and with Livi facing an uncertain future after going into Administration, it was not too difficult a choice to make.
“I was offered a three year deal and was delighted to sign it," said Miller before adding, “It has proven to be a great move.”
Whilst Dingwall may have seemed a quieter place in the summer of 2009, over the next 12 months Miller and County made a lot of noise in Scottish football.
He said: “That was a great season and I played in over 40 games which of course, culminated in the Scottish Cup Final against Dundee United. The Cup Final was a great experience but looking back, I prefer thinking about the 2-0 success over Celtic in the Semi-Final.”
The full back has one special memory saying: “I made a block against Georgios Samaras when we were one up and the ball hit a post and bounced away. It was great to win through but I am still a bit disappointed about the Cup Final.”
Last season did not reach the heights of Miller’s first season as a permanent player in the Highlands although he did pick up another winners’ medal saying: “Last season was a bit up and down where we did not do as well in the League as we should have but we did win the ALBA Challenge Cup by defeating Queen of the South 2-0 in the Final.”
This Sunday, the last one in November, had frequently been the day for the Challenge Cup Final however, the bad weather that caused last season’s meeting to be moved to April has done everyone a favour according to Miller who said: “It was much better holding it on a nice sunny day in April than it would have been at this time of year.”
The Dingwall side head to Miller’s old stomping ground on the back of an eight game winning League and Scottish Cup run that has seen them move from seventh place in the table to leaders with a six point gap over second placed Falkirk.
No-one in the north is getting carried away with Miller saying: “So far it has been a great season although we had a poor start when we lost hold of The Challenge Cup in the First Round to Elgin City. We were not playing great but we started grinding out results. Things are going better now and it would be fair to say that we have responded well to Derek Adams coming back as the Manager in the summer.
“We are really enjoying ourselves but we will not get ahead of ourselves as there is still plenty of room for things to slip. There are plenty of teams that have been doing well in November and not won anything.”
Adams’ message of keeping feet firmly on the ground has been well understood by his players with Miller saying: “The Manager keeps us focussed on the next game only and that will not change until the end of the League season.”
That next game is at the Braidwood Motor Company Stadium and County head down to Livingston on the back of a 4-0 Scottish Cup success over Albion Rovers and a 3-1 League win over Falkirk that featured Miller’s first goal of the season and indeed, only his third goal since his duck was broken in his Ayr United days.
Miller thumped in the clinching goal against Steven Pressley’s side just seconds after he felt he had been brought down for a penalty with the defender saying: “I felt I had been clipped and was looking for a spot kick and then I looked up and the saw the ball rolling in front of me. My old mate Michael McGovern was running out of his goal and two defenders were at my side so I just hit it and it went in like a rocket. I saw Michael afterwards but I won’t tell you what he said to me.
“The funny thing is that I was in line to miss that game because I had been suffering from the flu but the Manager asked me to give it a go and I actually got stronger the longer the game went on.”
Miller is not sure he will recognise too many faces this weekend as he explained: “This is my first trip back but it will just be another game. There have been a lot of changes there over the last few years and it is only really Keaghan Jacobs that I know from my time there.
“They have done really well this season and seem far more settled than my last season there.”
