Ian Jonathan Miller (born 23 November 1983) is an English professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays for

Walsham-le-Willows Walsham le Willows is a village and civil parish in the Mid Suffolk district, in Suffolk, England, located around 3 miles (4 km) south-east of Stanton. Queen Elizabeth I granted Walsham le Willows to Nicholas Bacon, Lord Keeper of the Great ...

. As a player he was a defender. After starting his career in

non-League football Non-League football describes football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is specifically used to de ...

with Bury Town, Miller moved into

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

with

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. They play in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in 1878 but did not turn profession ...

. He also spent time on loan in the lower divisions of the Football League at

Boston United Boston United Football Club is a semi-professional association football club based in Boston, Lincolnshire, England. The club participates in the National League North, at the sixth tier of the English football league system. The club is known ...

and

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town. In the 19th century, Darlington underwen ...

, before joining Darlington on a permanent basis in 2008. He left that club in late 2011 and joined

Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that in the 2022–23 season will compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system, following the victory in ...

soon afterwards before a two-year stint with

Cambridge United Cambridge United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Cambridge, England. They compete in EFL League one , the 3rd tier of the English football league system. The club is based at the Abbey Stadium on N ...

. He remained with United as a community football manager whilst playing semi-professionally for

Braintree Town Braintree Town Football Club is a semi-professional football club based in Braintree, Essex, England. They are currently members of and play at Cressing Road. History The club was formed on 24 September 1898 as Manor Works, the works team o ...

Needham Market Needham Market is a town in Suffolk, England. The town of Needham, Massachusetts, was named after Needham Market. History It initially grew around the wool combing industry, until the onset of the plague, which swept the town from 1663 to 1665. ...

AFC Sudbury Amalgamated Football Club Sudbury is a football club based in Sudbury, Suffolk, England. The club was formed in 1999 by the merger of Sudbury Town and Sudbury Wanderers, the process giving rise to the name Amalgamated Football Club Sudbury. ...

and

Playing career

Bury Town

Born in

Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in Essex, in the East of England. It had a population of 122,000 in 2011. The demonym is Colcestrian. Colchester occupies the site of Camulodunum, the first major city in Roman Britain and its first capital. Colches ...

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

, Miller began his career with

Isthmian League Division One North The Isthmian League () is a regional men's football league covering Greater London, East and South East England, featuring mostly semi-professional clubs. Founded in 1905 by amateur clubs in the London area, the league now consists of 82 teams ...

team Bury Town, with whom he reached the semi-final of the

FA Vase The Football Association Challenge Vase, usually referred to as the FA Vase, is an annual football competition for teams playing in Steps 5 and 6 of the English National League System (or equivalently, tier 9 or 10 of the overall English footbal ...

. He signed a new one-and-a-half-year contract in January 2006, and was appointed as

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

at the start of the 2006–07 season. Ian Miller

Ipswich Town

He was signed by

on 22 September 2006 for a nominal fee on a contract until June 2007. Miller joined

League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

side

on a month-long

loan In finance, a loan is the lending of money by one or more individuals, organizations, or other entities to other individuals, organizations, etc. The recipient (i.e., the borrower) incurs a debt and is usually liable to pay interest on that d ...

in November 2006. This loan at Boston was extended until January 2007. He then joined another League Two side,

, on a month's loan in February 2007. The loan was extended until April 2007, but Miller was recalled in late March to cover for injuries in Ipswich's squad. He made his sole appearance for

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line r ...

on 31 March 2007, as a substitute in the 74th minute for

Jonathan Walters Jonathan Ronald Walters (born 20 September 1983) is a former professional footballer who played as a forward. Walters started his career at Blackburn Rovers but failed to break into the first team and joined Bolton Wanderers. He then went out ...

in their

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

fixture in the 3–1 victory over

Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. As of the 2021–22 season, the team are competing in League One, the third tier of English football. They have played at Home Park, ...

. Miller agreed a new one-year contract with Ipswich in June 2007 and subsequently re-joined Darlington on an initial month's loan. It was extended until January 2008.

Darlington

On 11 January 2008 Miller joined Darlington permanently on a free transfer, signing a one-and-a-half-year contract. On 10 May 2008, Miller came on as an 87th-minute substitute in the League Two play-off semi-final first leg against

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough ...

, replacing the injured Alan White. With the game tied at 1–1, Miller rose to head a 92nd-minute winner from a

Neil Wainwright Neil Wainwright (born 4 November 1977 in Warrington) is an English former footballer. Wainwright played most of his football on the wing or in more recent times at full back. His former clubs include Wrexham, Sunderland and Darlington. He ret ...

direct free kick A free kick is a method of restarting play in association football. It is awarded after an infringement of the laws by the opposing team. Direct and indirect free kicks Free kicks may be either direct or indirect, distinguished as follows: ...

, to give Darlington the lead heading into the second leg. After Darlington's players were asked to take a pay cut in November 2011, and Miller did not receive his wages for that month, he handed in his notice and left the club in December 2011.

Grimsby Town

Miller signed a 16-month contract with

Conference National The National League, known as the Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest level of the National League System and fifth-highest of the overall English football league system. It is the highest league that is semi-profes ...

club

and made his debut in the starting eleven as the "Mariners" beat Lincoln City 3–1 on 1 January 2012. On 17 February 2012 he scored the equaliser in the 1–2 away victory at

Southport Southport is a seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 90,336, making it the eleventh most populous settlement in North West England. Southport lies on the Irish ...

, which was also his first goal for

Grimsby Grimsby or Great Grimsby is a port town and the administrative centre of North East Lincolnshire, Lincolnshire, England. Grimsby adjoins the town of Cleethorpes directly to the south-east forming a conurbation. Grimsby is north-east of Linco ...

, a corner from Frankie Artus was met with a powerful header by Miller inside the six-yard box. Miller was ever present for Grimsby during the 2012–13 season and played in the

FA Trophy The Football Association Challenge Trophy, commonly known as the FA Trophy, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after the English Football Association and competed for primarily by semi-professional teams. The compet ...

final at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

which ended in a defeat on penalties to

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...

. The club had also led the Conference for a small part of the season but fell off towards the end and were eventually defeated in the play-offs by Newport County. Miller was released by the club on 3 May 2013.

Cambridge United

On 3 June 2013, Miller signed for

on a two-year deal. At the end of the 2014–15 season the club did not offer him a new deal when his contract expired. As captain of he led the team to a second-place finish and F.A Trophy glory at Wembley. During the play-off final Miller received a ruptured Achilles' tendon in the final minutes of the game, despite this he still lifted the trophy whilst in a wheelchair as they won 2–1 against

Gateshead Gateshead () is a large town in northern England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank, opposite Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle to which it is joined by seven bridges. The town contains the Gateshead Millennium Bridge, Millennium Bridge, Sage ...

, sending the club into the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

. The injury ruled him out for the majority of the next season. After playing very few games he was released on a free transfer.

Non-League

In 2015 Miller signed a short-term deal with The National League side

but only featured in one game before joining

. In August 2017 Miller became a coach at the

academy. He signed for the club as a player in December 2017. In August 2018, Miller returned to Bury Town as a player-coach. On 27 June 2019 it was confirmed, that Miller had joined

Coaching career

On 13 April 2018 Miller became a coach for the

women's team. Since retiring from playing, Miller has adopted the role of head coach at 442 Football Academy.

Personal life

He holds a degree in sports, health and exercise from

Anglia Ruskin University Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) is a public university in East Anglia, United Kingdom. Its origins are in the Cambridge School of Art, founded by William John Beamont in 1858. It became a university in 1992, and was renamed after John Ruskin in ...

Honours

Darlington *

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

Cambridge *

Conference Premier The National League, known as the Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest level of the National League System and fifth-highest of the overall English football league system. It is the highest league that is semi-profess ...

play-offs:

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

: 2013–14

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Miller, Ian 1983 births Living people Footballers from Colchester English men's footballers Men's association football defenders Bury Town F.C. players Ipswich Town F.C. players Boston United F.C. players Darlington F.C. players Grimsby Town F.C. players Cambridge United F.C. players Braintree Town F.C. players Needham Market F.C. players A.F.C. Sudbury players Walsham-le-Willows F.C. players National League (English football) players English Football League players Alumni of Anglia Ruskin University A.F.C. Sudbury non-playing staff