Miller Tom Image 2 Liverpool 1913

Description

Motherwell, Lanarkshire born centre forward or inside left Tom Miller started in Scottish junior football with Larkhall Hearts in 1906, playing for Glenview in 1907 and Larkhall United in 1908. While with United he was a member of the side which won the Lanarkshire Cup and League. In one match against Dalziel Rovers he scored seven goals. He was chosen to play for Lanarkshire Juniors against their Irish counterparts before joining Scottish League Third Lanark later the same year. Hamilton Academical signed him in March 1911, with his Accies debut coming the same month at Heart of Midlothian, in an Accies side which included two of his brothers, Adam and William, the latter also making his debut, but less than a year later he was signed by First Division club Liverpool for £400 in February 1912, immediately making his Football League debut at home to Sheffield Wednesday.

At Liverpool Miller was both an FA Cup Finalist playing in their 1914 defeat to Burnley at The Crystal Palace, and after loan spells with Hamilton Academical in 1914 and Royal Albert in 1915 he was also embroiled in the famous 1915 Good Friday match fixing scandal when a match was lost 2-0 at Manchester United, as a result of which he was one of a number of players banned for life. He served in the Armed Forces with The Glasgow Highlanders during the First World War alongside his brother John, and during the War he played for Wishaw Thistle and Royal Albert before returning to Anfield after his Army service, which saw his life ban lifted.

In March 1920 he was in the Anglo Scots side which lost 2-1 to the Home Scots in an international trial match, and he scored 56 goals in 146 matches for Liverpool either side of the War before signing for Manchester United for £2,000 in September 1920, not before he’d been awarded the first of his three Scotland caps in April 1920, making his Scotland debut against England on 10th April 1920 at Hillsborough, scoring twice in an amazing game that England won 5-4. He then won two more Scotland caps over the next year while a United player. He scored 8 goals in 27 appearances for United before joining Heart of Midlothian for a fee of £550 plus Arthur Lochhead in July 1921 where he scored 9 goals in 29 appearances before returning to England to join non league Torquay United in 1922.

He returned to Scotland in 1923 re-joining Hamilton Academical for £100, and over his two spells with The Accies he scored 27 goals in 136 appearances, Miller scoring two goals in the 1924 Lanarkshire Cup Final against Royal Albert, before finally moving to Raith Rovers in December 1926 ahead of his eventual retirement. He remained at Stark’s Park for a year before being appointed trainer to Dunfermline Athletic. He was later briefly the manager of Barrow for five months in 1930, being sacked after losing 9 of their first 13 matches of 1930-31.

His younger brother John Miller played for a number of clubs including Liverpool immediately after the First World War, most notably for Aberdeen. Miller signed his brother to play for Barrow when he was their manager. They played in 3 matches together for Liverpool. His brothers William and Adam were also footballers, William playing a dozen matches for Hamilton Academical in 1911 in a short career and Adam playing more than 250 matches over a decade for The Accies as well as playing for Royal Albert, St Mirren and Johnstone.