Martin O’Neill: Liam Miller should have stayed that bit longer at Celtic
Martin O’Neill spoke yesterday with a very real poignancy about the chat he enjoyed with Liam Miller a couple of nights before the Cork man’s passing.
“He was still the handsome young man we had so fervently hugged in the dressing room at Celtic Park (when he made his European debut), his impish sense of humour still intact. We reminisced about many things until it was time for me to leave. That evening will stay with me,” O’Neill wrote in yesterday’s souvenir match programme for Miller.
O’Neill’s lingering sense that Miller might have been better in the long term if he had stayed a little longer in Glasgow was evident also yesterday before the game. Acknowledging the draw of Alex Ferguson and Man United, O’Neill mused: “Let’s be fair, Celtic at that time had reached the Uefa Cup final. We were housing 60,000 people every week. Liam was just beginning to learn the professional game, he was doing well in the environment of these players. That was a great learning period for him, and yes he wanted to go to Man United, I wouldn’t blame him for that.
“But perhaps if he had stayed with us a little bit longer, he would have picked up the game, whereas at Manchester United, he was competing against Paul Scholes and big, big players like that. At Celtic players like Stylian (Petrov) and John (Hartson) were helping him greatly.”
O’Neill confirmed Alex Ferguson’s account to the effect that the Miller move to Manchester “caused a bit of friction between the clubs for a little while, but that was Liam’s choice (and) I respected that.”
O’Neill added: “Liam was a really nice young man for a start, never mind anything else. I thought he was a really good footballer and hoped he would stay at Celtic for a wee bit longer. In retrospect, maybe he should have done.”
Miller’s friend and Irish colleague John O’Shea admitted yesterday that it’s still impossible to get his head around the fact that Liam’s no longer about, but added: “Let me tell you, he managed to pack so much living into his life.
“Liam and I practically began our international careers together. We first met with Ireland’s U15s and we got on great from almost the very first time we met,” he told manutd.com.
“I was very close to going to play with him at Celtic just before I joined United. We’d been successful with Ireland at U16 level, winning the European Championships, and I was very close to going up to Celtic after that, but in the end I chose United.
“Every time we used to meet up with Ireland, at whatever level, Liam used to bombard me with questions. He wanted to know about the United players. Asking about Roy Keane, asking about Paul Scholes, asking about midfield players because they were the ones he was mainly interested in. In late 2003 and early 2004, there were a lot of rumours that Sir Alex had been up to watch Liam playing for Celtic in the Champions League and that he was interested in signing him. I still vividly remember the day I heard for sure that he was coming to United. I was in the canteen at Carrington, having a bit of toast, and the manager came in.
“‘Your pal’s on his way down.’” “It was a great moment, hearing that. I have to say, it wasn’t just me, though; the whole dressing room tried to help him settle because it was that type of place. Whether you knew players in the squad or not, all the lads made you feel welcome.”
O’Shea added: “There’s a perception that Liam was always a quiet lad. In the dressing room he was very lively, great fun to be around, whether with club or country. Remember, it’s always the quiet ones you have to watch. He was always up to something. He always seemed to be able to get away with it, too! There’d have been some practical jokes going on in the dressing room and you’d be looking around to see who’d been behind it. You’d look at Liam and he’d just have that face that would make you think: “Ah, it’s definitely not Liam.”
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