John Miller (c. 1870 in Dumbarton – 1933 in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

) was a Scottish

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 played in 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 ...

for

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...

, Derby County and The Wednesday.

Career

Miller began his career with his local club Union Dumbarton, before being signed by Dumbarton in 1891. He made his debut and scored on 2 May 1891 against St Mirren, which was the final league game of the season. He then played two weeks later and scored in the League Play-Off against

Rangers A Ranger is typically someone in a military/paramilitary or law enforcement role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called “ranging”. The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with protecting and ...

. In the 1891–92 season, Miller made 20 league appearances and scored 15 goals as the ''Sons'' won the title outright, having shared the championship the previous year. At its end, he played for the Scottish League XI against the rival

Scottish Football Alliance The Scottish Football Alliance was a football league football structure set up in Scotland in competition with the Scottish Football League. Its success in the early years of professional football in both England and Scotland made Alliance the bas ...

, scoring twice. In June 1892, Miller joined

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

in their first season. He made his debut and scored the sixth goal in Liverpool's first ever match, which was a 7–1 win

friendly Friendly may refer to: Places * Friendly, West Yorkshire, a settlement in Calderdale, West Yorkshire, England * Friendly, Maryland, an unincorporated community in the United States * Friendly, Eugene, Oregon, a neighborhood in the United States * ...

against Rotherham Town on 1 September. Miller was his league debut on 24 September against

Bury Bury may refer to: *The burial of human remains *-bury, a suffix in English placenames Places England * Bury, Cambridgeshire, a village * Bury, Greater Manchester, a town, historically in Lancashire ** Bury (UK Parliament constituency) (1832–19 ...

, in which he also scored. He went on to make a further 20 league appearances and score a further 21 goals, including 5 against Fleetwood Rangers on 3 December, helping Liverpool to win the Lancashire League. He also made 3 appearances in the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

in which he scored a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

against Nantwich on 15 October. Miller played all of Liverpool's matches in the Lancashire Senior Cup and Liverpool Senior Cup (4 and 3 appearances, respectively) and scored a total of 3 goals. At the end of the season, Miller wanted a pay rise of "£100 down and £3 per week" which was rejected by Liverpool, so after his contract expired in June 1893, he signed for The Wednesday, playing in the First Division. He played in the first match of the season, but was injured and on 8 December, he was granted a leave of absence to his home in Dumbarton due "ill-health and the injury". He returned a month later and in the season he made a total of 13 appearances, scoring 7 goals. He returned to Scotland to join

Airdrieonians Airdrieonians Football Club is a Scottish professional football team in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, who are members of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) and play in Scottish League One. They were formed in 2002 as Airdrie United ...

, before joining Clyde on 28 June 1894, playing in

Scottish Division One The Scottish Football League (SFL) was a league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is located approximately 4 km south ...

. He made 17 appearances and scored 12 times that season, finishing as the league's top goalscorer. On 13 June 1895, Miller joined Derby County. Over his 2 seasons at the club, he made 62 league appearances, scoring 20 goals. He also made 9 appearances in the FA Cup and scored 5 goals. In October 1897, Miller transferred to

for a fee of £100. He made 8 league appearances and 1 appearance in the FA Cup, but didn't score.

Honours

;Dumbarton *

Scottish Football League The Scottish Football League (SFL) was a league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is located approximately 4 km south ...

: Champions 1890–91; 1891–92 *

Dumbartonshire Cup The Dumbartonshire Cup was the championship trophy of the Dumbartonshire FA from its inception in 1884 until the organization disbanded in 1938. There was however an 'extra' playing of the competition in 1939, immediately after the outbreak of the ...

: Winners 1891–92 * League Charity Cup: Winners 1890–91 Liverpool * Lancashire League: Winners 1892–93 * Liverpool Senior Cup: Winners 1892–93

Career statistics

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Miller, John 1870s births 1933 deaths Dumbarton F.C. players Liverpool F.C. players Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players Airdrieonians F.C. (1878) players Clyde F.C. players Scottish men's footballers English Football League players Men's association football forwards Footballers from Dumbarton Scottish Football League players Scottish Football League representative players Derby County F.C. players Bolton Wanderers F.C. players Scottish league football top scorers