Adam Miller (footballer)

Adam Edward Miller (born 19 February 1982) is a retired footballer. He began his career with Ipswich Town but failed to make the first team and played for several non-league teams before joining Queens Park Rangers, where he made his Football League debut in December 2004. He later joined Stevenage Borough, but followed manager Mark Stimson to Gillingham in late 2007. He represented the England National Game XI and played at Wembley Stadium in the final of the FA Trophy.

Adam Miller
Personal information
Full name Adam Edward Miller[1]
Date of birth (1982-02-19) 19 February 1982[1]
Place of birth Hemel Hempstead, England
Height 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)[1]
Playing position(s) Midfielder
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1999–2000 Ipswich Town 0 (0)
2000–2002 Canvey Island 59 (9)
2002–2003 Grays Athletic 26 (6)
2003 Gravesend & Northfleet 4 (1)
2003–2004 Aldershot Town 38 (9)
2004–2006 Queens Park Rangers 15 (0)
2005 → Peterborough United (loan) 2 (0)
2006–2008 Stevenage Borough 59 (11)
2007–2008 → Gillingham (loan) 7 (2)
2008–2010 Gillingham 82 (11)
2009–2010 → Dagenham & Redbridge (loan) 8 (0)
2010–2012 Cambridge United 5 (0)
Total 305 (49)
National team
Northern Ireland U18
2004 England National Game XI 1 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Early life

Miller was born in Hemel Hempstead, but grew up in the Monkwick district of Colchester, where his family still lived as of 2004. He attended The Stanway School in the town.[2][3] At the age of 16 he joined Ipswich Town as a trainee.[4][5] At around the same time he was called up to represent Northern Ireland at under-18 level, qualifying by virtue of the fact that his maternal grandfather was born in the country.[6]

Career

Miller proved unable to break into Ipswich's first team and was permitted to undertake a trial with Southend United in August 2000. He played for the Essex club's reserve team,[7] which led to him being offered a professional contract, but Alan Little was dismissed as the club's manager shortly afterwards, and the offer of a contract was withdrawn.[8] In October 2000, Miller was released from his contract at Ipswich and dropped into non-league football, joining Canvey Island of the Isthmian League.[4] In the 2000–01 season he made 36 appearances for the "Gulls" and helped the team reach the final of the FA Trophy, although he was an unused substitute for Canvey's victory over Forest Green Rovers in the final.[9][10] The following season, he was a key member of the team that finished second in the Isthmian League Premier Division, playing 48 times in total.[11]

In August 2002, after two final games for Canvey,[12] he moved to Grays Athletic in a swap deal which saw Jeff Minton go in the opposite direction.[4] Although he played 26 times for Grays in the 2002–03 season, scoring six goals,[13] he was made available for transfer at the end of the season.[14] He joined Gravesend & Northfleet in September 2003,[15] but played just four games for the club before moving on to Aldershot Town a month later.[16][17] His form at Aldershot won him The Non-League Paper's Young Player of the Year award for the 2003–04 season,[18] and also led to a call-up to the England National Game XI in February 2004, although it was to be his only cap for the semi-professional national team.[19]

In November 2004, Miller played for Aldershot against the reserve team of Queens Park Rangers, the team he had supported since childhood.[20][21] Rangers manager Ian Holloway, who had received promising reports about Miller from scouts, was sufficiently impressed to sign the player after watching him in person.[22] Although the exact amount was undisclosed, the transfer fee was the highest ever received by Aldershot Town.[21] Miller made his Football League debut on 4 December 2004 in a 2–1 defeat to Nottingham Forest, and played in more than half of the team's remaining league matches that season.[23] By late September 2005, he had made just one league appearances since the start of the season,[24] and was sent to Peterborough United on what was originally intended to be a three-month loan.[25] A month later he was recalled to Loftus Road,[26] but he was not to feature again in the Rangers team.[24] In January 2006, he had a brief trial with Oxford United but the following week he joined Stevenage Borough of the Conference National, initially on an 18-month contract.[27]

Miller featured regularly for Stevenage,[28] and was in the starting line-up for the 2007 FA Trophy final, the first competitive match at the new Wembley Stadium, in which Borough came back from two goals down to beat Kidderminster Harriers and win the Trophy.[29]

Stevenage manager, Mark Stimson, was appointed as the new manager of Gillingham in November 2007,[30] and quickly moved to sign Miller and his teammate John Nutter on loan.[31] Miller made his debut for the Kent club in the 2–1 home win over Hartlepool United on 24 November 2007,[32] and signed a permanent contract in January 2008, set to keep him at the club until 2010.[33] During the team's ultimately unsuccessful struggle to avoid relegation from League One in the 2007–08 season, Miller was identified as a key player and singled out for praise by Stimson, who said "If eight players play like Adam Miller we won't be in this position but if we've only got one or two we will be".[34] The following season, he remained a regular selection in Stimson's team, acting as captain in Barry Fuller's absence,[35] but injury kept him out of the team at the end of the season as Gillingham clinched a place in, and ultimately promotion through, the play-offs. In the 2009–10 season, however, he failed to hold down a regular place in the team, and in November 2009 went to Dagenham & Redbridge on a one-month loan.[36] Miller's debut for Dagenham came on 14 November in a 1–0 away win against Accrington Stanley.[37] He returned to Gillingham at the end of his loan spell, but Stimson announced that the club was considering paying off the remainder of the player's contract.[38] Despite this, Miller played regularly during the remainder of the 2009–10 season.[39] At the end of the season he left Gillingham and joined Cambridge United.[40] Miller played several times at the start of the 2010–11 campaign, but was seriously injured in early September against Eastbourne Borough.[41] Two years later, he announced his retirement from football as a result of the injury.[42] He subsequently set up a company leasing luxury cars to other footballers.[43]

Honours
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References
  1. Hugman, Barry J. (ed) (2008). The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2008–09. Mainstream. ISBN 978-1-84596-324-8.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
  2. "Soccer: Miller's living the dream". Chelmsford Weekly News. 10 December 2004.
  3. "Soccer: Miller eyes a cup shock". Chelmsford Weekly News. 13 November 2003.
  4. "Ryman clubs swap players". Non League Daily. 26 August 2002. Archived from the original on 4 June 2012. Retrieved 22 April 2008.
  5. "Adam Miller". Pride of Anglia. Retrieved 22 April 2008.
  6. "Adam Miller's delight at grabbing Gillingham goal". Belfast Telegraph. 29 March 2010. Retrieved 10 October 2010.
  7. "Soccer: Late mistake costs Blues' reserves". Braintree and Witham Times. 31 August 2000.
  8. "Soccer: Mixed views of Gulls-Blues clash". Basildon Recorder. 3 August 2001.
  9. "Canvey Statistics at a Glance (2000–01)". Canvey Island F.C. Retrieved 22 April 2008.
  10. "FA Trophy Final 2000–01". Soccerbase. Archived from the original on 11 September 2012. Retrieved 22 April 2008.
  11. "Canvey Statistics at a Glance (2001–02)". Canvey Island F.C. Retrieved 22 April 2008.
  12. "Canvey Statistics at a Glance (2002–03)". Canvey Island F.C. Retrieved 22 April 2008.
  13. "Player Details: Season 2002–2003: Adam Miller". soccerfactsuk. Archived from the original on 24 July 2011. Retrieved 23 April 2008.
  14. "News & features archive – May 2003". Grays Athletic F.C. Archived from the original on 7 July 2003. Retrieved 23 April 2008.
  15. Williams, Mike; Tony Williams (2007). Non-League Club Directory 2007. Tony Williams Publications Ltd. p. 144. 1-8698-3355-4.
  16. "Games played by Adam Miller in 2003/2004". Soccerbase. Archived from the original on 10 September 2012. Retrieved 23 April 2008.
  17. "Shots make double swoop". BBC. 20 October 2003. Retrieved 22 April 2008.
  18. "News from Deva Stadium 2004". Chester City F.C. 30 May 2004. Retrieved 22 April 2008.
  19. Williams. Non-League Club Directory 2007. p. 859.
  20. "QPR sign Shots midfielder Miller". BBC. 16 November 2004. Retrieved 22 April 2008.
  21. "Miller bids fond farewell to Shots". Farnborough News and Mail. 16 November 2004. Retrieved 23 April 2008.
  22. "It's Miller time!". Aldershot News and Mail. 27 January 2005. Retrieved 23 April 2008.
  23. "Games played by Adam Miller in 2004/2005". Soccerbase. Archived from the original on 11 September 2012. Retrieved 23 April 2008.
  24. "Games played by Adam Miller in 2005/2006". Soccerbase. Archived from the original on 2 February 2013. Retrieved 23 April 2008.
  25. "Posh beat Millers to sign Miller". BBC. 22 September 2005. Retrieved 22 April 2008.
  26. "Peterborough extend Hand's loan". BBC. 25 October 2005. Retrieved 22 April 2008.
  27. "Stevenage swoop for QPR's Miller". BBC. 24 January 2006. Retrieved 22 April 2008.
  28. "Adam Miller – All time playing career". Soccerbase. Retrieved 22 July 2010.
  29. Ian Hughes (12 May 2008). "Kidderminster 2–3 Stevenage". BBC. Retrieved 22 April 2008.
  30. "Gills unveil Stimson as new boss". BBC. 1 November 2007. Retrieved 22 April 2008.
  31. "Gillingham capture Stevenage pair". BBC. 23 November 2007. Retrieved 22 April 2008.
  32. "Games played by Adam Miller in 2007/2008". Soccerbase. Archived from the original on 10 September 2012. Retrieved 23 April 2008.
  33. "Miller & Nutter make Gills switch". BBC. 4 January 2008. Retrieved 22 April 2008.
  34. "Time to do the basics – Stimson". BBC. 9 March 2008. Archived from the original on 13 March 2008. Retrieved 23 April 2008.
  35. "Aston Villa Relieved Villans survive thrills spills Gills". London: Daily Mail. 5 January 2009.
  36. "Miller joins the Daggers". Gillingham F.C. 10 November 2009. Archived from the original on 26 March 2012. Retrieved 10 November 2009.
  37. "Accrington Stanley 0 – 1 Dag & Red". BBC. 14 November 2009. Archived from the original on 17 November 2009. Retrieved 16 November 2009.
  38. "Gillingham look to pay off Adam Miller". BBC. 14 January 2010. Archived from the original on 17 January 2010. Retrieved 19 January 2010.
  39. "Games played by Adam Miller in 2009/2010". Retrieved 23 May 2010.
  40. "Midfielder Adam Miller makes Cambridge move". BBC. 23 June 2010. Archived from the original on 26 June 2010. Retrieved 23 June 2010.
  41. "Cambridge United's Miller positive following surgery". BBC. 19 October 2010. Retrieved 7 August 2011.
  42. "Cambridge's Adam Miller retires after long fitness battle". BBC. 11 September 2012. Retrieved 11 September 2012.
  43. Hammond, Stuart (23 September 2012). "Hugh'd do very well to follow Mac's lead". The Non-League Paper.
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