Whatever Happened?

Every Friday we will be discovering what ever came of those promising young footballing sensations that failed to live up to the ultimate hype, descending into footballing wilderness. Our inaugural subject this week is Liam Miller. 

Liam Miller, now of Hibernian.

Miller was born in Cork, Ireland to a Scottish father and an Irish mother, and joined Celtic in 1997 as a youth player, and made his professional league debut against Dundee United on 21 May 2000. After six-month loan spell with AGF Aarhus, who considered making the deal permanent after impressing, Miller broke into the Celtic first team during the 2003-04 season and after proving himself in the Champions League, scoring in the 3-0 win against Anderlecht Miller was offered a long-term contract. Despite this signed a pre-contract agreement in January 2004 with Manchester United. A move which greatly disappointed Martin O'Neill, who had intended to build a new Celtic team around Miller. Miller also found himself at the end of much abuse from the Celtic supporters who seen miller as a figure of disrespect after Celtic had shown such faith in the Corkman’s talents.

 

After the start of his career for the Red Devils, he found first-team opportunities rare towards the end of the 2004–05 season. Miller later commented that "Man Utd didn't work out but I have no regrets about giving it a go”. In August 2006, he transferred to Sunderland linking up with new Sunderland manager and Ex-team-mate Roy Keane. He left Manchester United after playing just nine league games in two seasons^. After being sent off for the second time in his Sunderland career against Chelsea in December 2007 Manager Roy Keane placed him on the transfer list on 27 February 2008 due to a 'lack of discipline' and 'poor timekeeping', evidenced by his frequent lateness arriving to training sessions. A six month spell with QPR followed however Miller was left without a club after the summer transfer window in 2009, training with clubs in Ireland to maintain his fitness.He offered his services to Hibernian manager John Hughes, who was surprised that Miller was available to him on a free transfer, offered a two year deal, which Miller signed in September 2009. Miller has since established himself in the Hibs first team, with Graham Spiers describing him as the "king of Hibs" after a 1–1 draw against Rangers. He has made 55 appearances for Hibs, netted 5 times.