The Don – The Willie Miller Story

Willie Miller is the most successful club captain outside of the Old Firm, has played more times for Aberdeen than anyone else and retired from Scotland as the third most capped player of all time (as of current writing he is seventh equal).

He played under Alex Ferguson for his club and Jock Stein for his country, so got some great grounding in the game but was loved by both managers, his teammates, his own fans – if not the opposition fans.

The book opens with a foreword from Ferguson, who talks about Miller’s loyalty and also his worth to the team, while still having a small dig at Miller’s lack of pace for good measure.

Miller grew up in Bridgeton, stating the obvious about it being a notorious Rangers stronghold while being within close vicinity of Parkhead but has never had an affinity to either Old Firm team – he mentions the fights and violence in his local streets after Old Firm games was a deciding factor in not supporting either side – perhaps this also drove him on to his later performances against the same Old Firm teams he decided not to like!

In his early days, Miller was not a real football fanatic and actually admits it was the World Cup in England in 1966 that peaked his passion for the game – indeed it was the World Cup Willie mascot that caught his attention, but mainly the play of players like Eusebio who made him want to play the game more.

In his primary school team, Miller was actually a goalkeeper and the opening chapter of the book also talks about his first meeting with Jimmy Calderwood – which was when he was selected as in a squad of Glasgow primary school players (as a goalkeeper) which travelled to America on tour – mentioning how unbelievable that so many years later, Calderwood would be his choice for manager at Aberdeen.

The chapter is the interrupted by, what feels to me, an advert – it starts by Willie talking about growing up playing on red blaes and how painful it was, which I remember myself, but then it mentions how great it is that the SFA and Scottish Executive has invested £31 million in all-weather pitches and better support for grass roots football. While this is very valid, it just feels a little out of place in an autobiography, to me.

Back from the ad break and onto the story, in which a young Willie shifts from being a goalkeeper to being a striker – perhaps a little known fact and a long way from his final destiny as one of the Nation’s greatest defenders!

Unable to find a way into the first team at an early age, Miller was loaned out to Peterhead – still a Highland League team at the time – which was a common thing for Aberdeen to do in those days. Miller had a great season there, scoring 23 goals and winning the Aberdeenshire Cup.

Upon to returning to Pittodrie, Miller found himself in the Reserves but found scoring harder to come by – he puts this down to his lack of pace, which wasn’t such an issue in the Highland League – and therefore found himself playing less for the Reserves, until his big break came, via a ‘flu bug!

With lack of defensive resources available to the team, Willie found himself called upon to stand-in central defence – the rest we know is pretty much history…

That side, with Miller playing the second half of the season in defence rather than up front, won the 1972-73 Reserve League title, the Reserve League Cup and only lost in the Scottish Second XI Cup in a semi-final replay – this led to Miller being called up for the last few games of the first team’s League campaign and finally got his first team debut in the last game of the season – as a winger!

The book itself has been very well written so far, except for the previously mentioned advert obviously, with a few interludes that make for good reading – for example, in chapter 3, where he rips into Zoltan Varga, disagreeing with the fans for giving him cult status over the 13 months he was at the club.

The next few chapters cover Miller’s early seasons at Aberdeen, being an almost ever-present since getting his first chance, due to injury, early in the 1973-74 season – these read well and are detailed enough to give you a flavour of a young Miller’s exploits with the Aberdeen team on various trips, including their ‘World Tour’ in the summer of 74.

Willie then paints Ally MacLeod as a bit of a fruitcake in his short spell in charge in the North East but also enjoys the League Cup success of the 1976-77 season beating Celtic in the final, as well as MacLeod making him Aberdeen captain as a wedding present – which obviously helps with the fruitcake depiction!

Miller’s next manager at Aberdeen was also only there for little over a season as he talks about his relationship with Billy McNeil, a new defensive partnership with Alex McLeish, in a team that ran Rangers close in the League and also lost out to the same team in the Scottish Cup Final of the 1977-78 season – two managers, two finals in two seasons – and next up Alex Ferguson…

Through the next few chapters, the book takes you through the first few seasons with Ferguson in charge (another final defeat to Rangers in 1978-79, this time in the League Cup before the 1979-80 League Championship season – the first in 25 years for Aberdeen) and how, while it brought success, it was actually a tough time for Miller both personally and professionally – due to Ferguson’s strict/stubborn approach with the players, almost stripping Miller of the captaincy because he didn’t think he was up to it.

These chapters also give an insight into the mentality of the Aberdeen dressing room during this period, explaining how Ferguson used the Old Firm dominance and an anti-Glasgow feeling amongst the team (and fans) to spur them on to success. Even nowadays Ferguson is known for his mind tricks and it’s nice to see this from a player’s perspective, and Miller explains how these were used to instill a team mentality that drove them to beating the Old Firm in Glasgow, the hurdle that Ferguson told them was  preventing them from winning trophies.

At this point we are still less than half way through the book, therefore it’s time for the chapter dedicated to Aberdeen’s 1983 European Cup Winners’ Cup Final victory in Gothenburg is there in full glory (with some good quality pictures to accompany it), detailing each game in each round, and when Miller is saying he’s doing it straight from memory you can almost believe him, this chapter is written with an obvious pride added to the passion that he also showed on the pitch throughout his career.

The book continues with further successes, including the 1982-83 Scottish Cup Final, the 1983-84 European Super Cup, followed with further Scottish Cup success and then back-to-back league titles. In a previous chapter, Miller discussed turning down an offer to join Rangers and said he would have done similar with Celtic because he didn’t believe the Old Firm to be dominant in that period and that he fully believed in Alex Ferguson’s ability to deliver upon his promises – I believe these chapters and the trophies won, are more than proof he made the right choice.

Subsequent chapters then deal with the final years of Ferguson’s reign – inevitably more trophies – and then how the club tried to deal with replacing Ferguson, first with Ian Porterfield and eventually Miller himself – who rightfully describes his time in charge as relatively successful – in his first full season Aberdeen finished second to Rangers in the League and lost both Cup Finals to Rangers too!

Miller is obviously saddened at leaving Aberdeen after 20 years of service but, according to the book, he takes it well. I wonder if this would have been different if the book was written before he was taken back as Director of Football in 2004.

A good, long chapter is devoted to his time with Scotland – Miller was capped 65 times and played in two World Cup finals – so this was a big part of his life and is reflected. He continues with a chapter on his Director of Football role and the appointment of his old friend Jimmy Calderwood as manager – then the book finishes with an epilogue where Miller picks his dream teams of players he’s played with and against.

Overall, a very well written book, one that actually flows with time and remembers his relationships with many players and managers over the years he graced Scottish football both on and off the pitch.

I’d assume it was a must for any Aberdeen fan, but it’s also a compelling read for anybody who can remember the era of Scottish football when the Old Firm didn’t win everything!

Rating: 8 out of 10

Reviewed by Derek Harvie