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Ian Miller
British footballer

Ian Miller

The basics

Quick Facts

Intro
British footballer
Work field
Gender
Male
Place of birth
Perth, United Kingdom
Age
69 years
Sports Teams
Bury F.C.
Blackburn Rovers F.C.
Nottingham Forest F.C.
Doncaster Rovers F.C.
Port Vale F.C.
Scunthorpe United F.C.
Swindon Town F.C.
Stafford Rangers F.C.
The details (from wikipedia)

Biography

Ian Miller (born 13 May 1955) is a Scottish former footballer who played his football in England as a winger. He made 660 league and cup appearances in the English Football League over an eighteen-year professional career, scoring 48 goals. He was assistant manager to Simon Grayson at Blackpool between July 2019 and February 2020.

He began his career at Bury, helping the club to win promotion out of the Fourth Division in 1973–74. He was then at Nottingham Forest, but did not feature for the first team before transferring to Doncaster Rovers in 1975. Voted onto the Fourth Division PFA Team of the Year in 1975–76, 1976–77 and 1977–78, he moved on to Swindon Town in 1978. He switched to Blackburn Rovers in 1981, and spent the next eight years with the club, lifting the Full Members Cup in 1987. He then had brief spells with Port Vale and Scunthorpe United, before ending his career with non-league Stafford Rangers. He went into coaching straight after his retirement as a player, and worked behind the scenes at a wide variety of clubs in the Football League.

Playing career

Bury

Miller started his career with Scottish junior club Jeanfield Swifts, before turning professional with English club Bury in 1973. The "Shakers" won promotion out of the Fourth Division in 1973–74, with manager Bobby Smith playing Miller in fifteen league games.

Nottingham Forest to Doncaster Rovers

Miller then moved on to Nottingham Forest of the Second Division, then led by Allan Brown. He failed to play a league game for Forest in 1974–75, and instead moved on to Doncaster Rovers in a player exchange for Micky French in July 1978, who were in the Fourth Division and managed by Stan Anderson. He played 139 games for "Donny" in league and cup, scoring 15 goals, as the side posted mid-table finishes in 1975–76, 1976–77 and 1977–78. He was voted onto the PFA Team of the Year for the fourth tier in all three of his seasons at Belle Vue as his accurate crosses provided a huge amount of goalscoring chances for strikers Andy Rowland and Alan Mayes.

Swindon Town

He transferred to Third Division Swindon Town, in a move that reunited him with manager Bobby Smith. The "Robins" declined from fifth in 1978–79 to tenth in 1979–80 and then seventeenth in 1980–81 – just one point above the relegation zone. He played 159 games for Swindon in all competitions, scoring 14 goals.

Blackburn Rovers

Miller then signed with Second Division Blackburn Rovers, then managed by Bobby Saxton, who authorised a £60,000 fee. He went on to become a popular player with the club's fans. Rovers finished in the top-half of the table in 1981–82, 1982–83 and 1983–84, before missing out on promotion to the First Division by just one point in 1984–85. However they then plummeted in 1985–86, avoiding relegation by just three points. Saxton was replaced by Don Mackay halfway through the 1986–87 campaign. Rovers also won the Full Members Cup in 1987, as they beat Charlton Athletic 1–0 in the Wembley final after Miller set up Colin Hendry for the only goal of the game. He then led them to a play-off finish in 1987–88, though Rovers lost to Chelsea at the semi-final stage. They then reached the play-off final in 1988–89, but lost out to Crystal Palace 4–3 over the course of two legs.

Later career

Miller departed Ewood Park and joined Second Division Port Vale in June 1989, as manager John Rudge needed cover for an injured Gary Ford. He began the 1989–90 season as a regular, but lost his place by December and was released in August 1990, having played 24 games in all competitions, scoring once against Ipswich Town on New Year's Day. He moved on to Mick Buxton's Scunthorpe United, and helped them to the Fourth Division play-offs, where they lost to Blackpool at the semi-final stage. Miller then ended his career with Stafford Rangers in the Conference.

Style of play

Miller was a pacey right-winger with good dribbling and erratic crossing abilities, as well as a high defensive work rate.

Coaching career

Miller remained active in the game after retiring as a player. He returned to Port Vale as the Community Programme leader in August 1991 and became the youth development officer in May 1992. In November 1994 he left Vale Park to become the reserve team coach at Wolverhampton Wanderers. He later coached at Blackburn Rovers, Blackpool (assisting Colin Hendry), Bury, Leicester City and Manchester City before joining the staff at Leeds United in 2008. On 1 February 2012, chairman Ken Bates sacked manager Simon Grayson, his assistant Glynn Snodin, and Miller. He followed Grayson on to Huddersfield Town the next month, and later went with him to Preston North End and Sunderland. He also joined Grayson at Blackpool in July 2019, marking a return to Bloomfield Road after fourteen years. He left the club, along with Grayson, on 12 February 2020.

Statistics

Source:

ClubSeasonDivisionLeagueFA CupOtherTotal
AppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Bury1973–74Fourth Division1500011161
Nottingham Forest1974–75Second Division00000000
Doncaster Rovers1975–76Fourth Division4391050499
1976–77Fourth Division4652140526
1977–78Fourth Division3501020380
Total124144111013915
Swindon Town1978–79Third Division4434042525
1979–80Third Division40262110574
1980–81Third Division4342050504
Total127912220215913
Blackburn Rovers1981–82Second Division4231030463
1982–83Second Division3241010344
1983–84Second Division3631021394
1984–85Second Division3844020444
1985–86Second Division3813010421
1986–87Second Division2801041331
1987–88Second Division2300020250
1988–89Second Division3112070401
Total2641613023230018
Port Vale1989–90Second Division2110030241
Scunthorpe United1990–91Fourth Division1204020180
Career total5674033360566048
A. ^The "Other" column constitutes appearances and goals in the League Cup, League Trophy, Football League play-offs and Full Members Cup.

Honours

Individual
  • PFA Fourth Division Team of the Year: 1975–76, 1976–77 & 1977–78
Bury
  • Football League Fourth Division promotion winner: 1973–74
Blackburn Rovers
  • Full Members Cup winner: 1987
The contents of this page are sourced from Wikipedia article. The contents are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license.
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