Wilie Miller stepped out of the shadows of Parkhead and away from the hardships of Glasgow’s east end to take the first steps on his remarkable journey to becoming an Aberdeen and Scottish footballing legend.
It is 50 years this week since the Dons’ greatest ever player pulled on a red jersey for the first time. The legendary defender took to the field as a substitute as a 17-year-old in a 2-1 win over Morton at Cappielow. It is fair to say it sparked a two-way love affair which saw him captain Aberdeen to the European Cup Winners Cup, the Super Cup, three Premier Division titles, four Scottish Cups and three League Cups.
That was before he went on to become manager and then director of football at Pittodrie. Miller said: “You could probably see the ground (Celtic Park) from where I stayed now, but you could not see it then, because it was a lower stadium. It was about a quarter of a mile away. Probably in the shadow of it, just off London Road.
“Although I was very fortunate to be brought up in a good family, to get out of the east end of Glasgow in the late 1960s and 70s was something to look forward to. No disrespect at all to my upbringing, but hey, there’s better things in life.”
The young Glaswegian was more interested in playing football than following and it was enthusiasm that saw the Dons come calling. Miller explained: “I played three times a week in Glasgow – school, amateur, boys’ club. On a Saturday sometimes in the morning and afternoon, and then for the boys’ club on a Sunday. I genuinely was not a supporter of either Rangers or Celtic, it was more about playing the game.
"I was aware (of Aberdeen) because of Bobby Calder. He came chapping at the door to offer me the opportunity at the age of 14 to sign an S form for the club. The hope was I would come up here and have the opportunity to become a professional footballer. Fortunately it worked out that way.
“I had two years from a very early age with the knowledge that there was a possibility of being offered a contract, or at least being given the opportunity to impress whoever the manager was here at the time that I was worth that contract.”
Celtic had not long lifted the European Cup and they eventually came calling but his heart was already set on the North-east. Miller confirmed: “Celtic approached me before I came up here aged 16. I could have gone to them, but I had made my mind up at a very early stage that I was coming to Aberdeen if I got the opportunity and I got the opportunity.
“It felt comfortable up here. It was great! One of the things was just to get away from the east end of Glasgow. It’s difficult to describe. You might have read books about it. It was not a great area to be staying in at that age, so the opportunity to move was attractive but the opportunity to be a football was what I wanted and I thought it would probably be better getting away from Glasgow to do that.
“That is why when Celtic came in I said no, I am going to Aberdeen. I had made up my mind. I had been up here as well. I was up training when I was 15 and I enjoyed the city and how they treated you.
“Bobby Calder and Jim Carswell were the scouts and they looked after you and kept your family informed about what was going on. Everything was fine. There was no need to change my mind at that late stage. I followed that decision and came up here.”
Miller signed on in the North-east and grabbed his opportunity with both hands, although not in the position he first thought. He joked: “I did take it, yeah. I was very fortunate to be able to do that. It did not work out maybe the way I thought it was going to work out, having come up here as a striker and then ended up as a central defender, but it did work out. A bit of good fortune there again.
“I was not getting a game for the reserves as a striker and they did not have any centre backs so they asked me to play centre back and I was in the first team at the beginning of next season. That was November and I was in the first team by April the following year. It all worked out fine.”
Miller never looked back and he was a stalwart in the Aberdeen team before Alex Ferguson arrived and then took the Dons to a new level - as the kings of Europe and Scotland. He proudly recalled: “You have to remember, I had been playing for nearly ten years before we hit the 1980s and got the real success that we enjoyed then. I had a year in Peterhead but it was not that long until I was in the first team. ’73 I think it was.
“You then have different managers you have to deal with, different characters as a manager….Jimmy Bonthrone and Ally MacLeod and Billy McNeill came very close to it. Billy the year he had, and had very good players at that time, and then of course Alex Ferguson coming in, which was a different approach altogether.
“It is really trying to get to a point where the club is comfortable, the players are comfortable and the manager is comfortable when you think you are going to have a bit of success. And that really came at Easter Road, when we won the title (1980).
“That was the defining moment in my mind that the club was going to be successful. For five or six years in the 80s, well it’s all there, the amount of trophies we won. “That was the point that the belief was there something special was happening.”
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