Paul William Millar (born 16 November 1966) is a Northern Irish former footballer, who was a former assistant manager to

Mick McDermott Michael McDermott (born 1974 in Belfast) is a Northern Irish former professional football player, and is currently the assistant manager to Carlos Queiroz at the Qatar national team. Dermott has held various coaching roles in professional footbal ...

NIFL Premiership The NIFL Premiership, known as the Danske Bank Premiership for sponsorship purposes, and colloquially as the Irish League or Irish Premiership, is a professional association football league which operates as the highest division of the Northe ...

club

Glentoran Glentoran Football Club is a professional football club that plays in the NIFL Premiership. The club was founded in 1882. History Early history In 1914, Glentoran won the Vienna Cup, becoming the first United Kingdom team to win a European t ...

. As a player, he played in

midfield Midfield is the part of a sports field that lies approximately in the center. In American football, association football (soccer) and field hockey, it is the area in and around the center circle, as well as the players who occupy that region. In ...

and attack. He started at

, moving on to

Portadown Portadown () is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The town sits on the River Bann in the north of the county, about southwest of Belfast. It is in the Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council area and had a population of a ...

, before signing with

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in . Vale are the only English Football League club not to be named after a place; their name being a reference to the valley o ...

in 1988. Three years later he transferred to

Cardiff City Cardiff City Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Dinas Caerdydd) is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1899 as R ...

, and helped the Welsh club to top the Third Division in 1992–93. In 1995, he left 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 ...

to return to Ireland, signing with Linfield and later returned to Wales to play for Bangor. He won youth caps for his country, and also earned a Northern Ireland B cap. As a manager, he was appointed manager of Bangor, before moving on to

Ballymena United Ballymena United Football Club is a semi-professional football club from Northern Ireland. Based in Ballymena, County Antrim, the team competes in the NIFL Premiership and plays home matches at the Ballymena Showgrounds which is owned by the Mi ...

. In 2005, he was made manager of

Newry City Newry (; ) is a city in Northern Ireland, divided by the Clanrye river in counties Armagh and Down, from Belfast and from Dublin. It had a population of 26,967 in 2011. Newry was founded in 1144 alongside a Cistercian monastery, although ...

, moving on to

the next season, and then returning to the management position at Bangor in 2007. In 2008, he was appointed manager at

Larne Larne (, , the name of a Gaelic Ireland, Gaelic territory) is a town on the east coast of County Antrim, Northern Ireland, with a population of 18,755 at the United Kingdom census, 2011, 2011 Census. It is a major passenger and freight Roll-on/ro ...

, before he left the club in April 2012.

Playing career

Millar started his career with

, after scoring 15 goals in 28 appearances, he moved to

. The young

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

was selected as the Irish Young Footballer of the Year in 1986, and scored the winning goal in the final of the

Irish Cup The Irish Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly referred to as the Irish Cup (currently known as the Samuel Gelston's Whiskey Irish Cup for sponsorship purposes) is the primary football knock-out cup competition in Northern Ireland. Ina ...

. He joined

in the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

Third Division for £20,000 in December 1988. After playing just one

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players under contract to a club but who do not normally play in matches for the first team. Reserve teams often include back-up players from the first team, young players who need playing time to i ...

game he seriously damaged his knee ligaments in training and after recovering finally made his debut at

Vale Park Vale Park is a football stadium in Stoke-on-Trent, England. It has been the home ground of Port Vale F.C. since 1950. The ground has seen its capacity go up and down, its peak being 42,000 in 1954 against Blackpool, although a club record 49, ...

in a 1–1 draw with

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

on 30 October 1989, coming on as a substitute. With Vale now competing in the

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

he struggled to gain a place in the first team and was loaned to

Fourth Division Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music), a musical interval * ''The Fourth'' (1972 film), a Sovie ...

side

Hereford United Hereford United Football Club was an association football club based in Hereford, England. They played at Edgar Street for their entire history. They were nicknamed 'The Whites' or 'The Lilywhites', after their predominantly white kit, or 'The ...

in October 1990, returning to Vale the next month after two goals in five games at

Edgar Street Edgar Street is a football stadium in Hereford and was the home of Hereford United Football Club from the club's formation in 1924 until December 2014, when the club was wound up. It is now the home of Hereford FC, a phoenix club formed to rep ...

. Overall, he made 44 appearances for

John Rudge John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second E ...

's "Valiants", though most of these were as a substitute. He was sold to

for £60,000 in August 1991. He made over 100 appearances in four years under "Bluebirds" manager

Eddie May Edwin Charles May (19 May 1943 – 14 April 2012) was an English football player and manager. May was born in Epping, and played for Dagenham, Southend United, Wrexham and Swansea City. The burly, affable May loomed large in the modern hist ...

. Cardiff missed out on the play-offs by three points in 1991–92, before winning promotion to the

as Third Division champions in 1992–93. Avoiding relegation by two points in 1993–94, Cardiff were relegated in 1994–95 after finishing twelve points short of safety. At this point Millar returned to Northern Ireland, signing with Linfield and then

. He later became a

player-manager A player-coach (also playing coach, captain-coach, or player-manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the sq ...

, increasingly focussing on the management side of the game.

Management career

Millar had

roles at Bangor,

Ballymena Ballymena ( ; from ga, an Baile Meánach , meaning 'the middle townland') is a town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is part of the Borough of Mid and East Antrim. The town is built on land given to the Adair family by King Charles I i ...

and

Brantwood Brantwood is a historic house museum in Cumbria, England, overlooking Coniston Water. It has been the home of a number of prominent people. The house and grounds are administered by a charitable trust, the house being a museum dedicated to Jo ...

, where he gained his European A Coaching Licence. He took up a full-time managerial position at

IFA Premiership The NIFL Premiership, known as the Danske Bank Premiership for sponsorship purposes, and colloquially as the Irish League or Irish Premiership, is a professional association football league which operates as the highest division of the Northe ...

side

in November 2005, getting the club into the top six in his first season. Following the resignation of

Roy Coyle Robert Irvine Coyle (born 31 January 1946) is a former Northern Ireland international footballer. Coyle is the most successful manager in the history of the Irish Football League. He is the Director of Football at Glentoran. Playing career Co ...

, he was appointed as the manager of

in February 2006. Manager of the month in March 2006, he picked up the award for a second successive month after "Glens" secured second place in the league. The 2006–07 season started with Millar's side clear at the top, but a slump in the second half of the season saw them runners-up in the league for the second successive season. He was sacked in May 2007 after just 16 months in the job, he claimed he could "leave with his head held high" after securing a

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...

spot. A week later he returned to Bangor, but quit that post in May 2008 after claiming an eight-match suspension handed to him by the

Irish Football Association The Irish Football Association (IFA) is the governing body for association football in Northern Ireland. It organised the Ireland national football team from 1880 to 1950, which after 1954, became the Northern Ireland national football team. ...

hindered his ability to manage the club. He was appointed as manager of

IFA Championship The Northern Ireland Football League Championship (known as the Lough 41 Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the second level of the Northern Ireland Football League, the national football league in Northern Ireland. Clubs in the Championshi ...

side

in December 2008. He led the

Inver Park Inver Park is a football stadium in Larne, County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is the home ground of Larne F.C. The land was acquired by Larne in 1918 and has been in continuous use as a stadium ever since. In 2010 the official capacity was se ...

club to eighth and ninth-place finishes in 2008–09, 2009–10 and

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 ...

. On 16 January 2010, fighting broke about between Larne and

players and coaching staff, and Millar was sent off. An IFA Commission was set up to investigate the brawl, and Millar was handed a four-game ban, whilst the club were fined £1,200 and Larne player Anthony Lagan was suspended for the rest of the season. Newry chairman Paul McKenna condemned the lenient punishments, stating that the commission "bottled it", though the IFA ruled that they "acted fully in line with regulations and procedures". The fixture was abandoned and Newry were awarded a 2–1 victory. Larne finished tenth in 2011–12, and Millar resigned in April 2012 to take up the position as Gary Hamilton's assistant at

Glenavon Glenavon Football Club is a Northern Irish semi-professional football club that competes in the NIFL Premiership. Founded in 1889, the club hails from Lurgan and plays its home matches at Mourneview Park. Club colours are blue and white. Gar ...

. After seven years at the club, Millar departed Glenavon on 2 April 2019 and returned to Glentoran as new manager

's assistant. In January 2023 he was no longer assistant manager as Mick McDermott stepped down from being manager at Glentoran FC.

Personal life

His son, Philip, died from a drugs overdose in 2017.

Career statistics

Source:

Honours

as a Player

Individual *Irish Young Footballer of the Year: 1986 Glentoran *

: 1986 Cardiff City *

Football League Third Division The Football League Third Division was the third tier of the English football league system in 1920–21 and again from 1958 until 1992. When the FA Premier League was formed, the division become the fourth tier level. In 2004, following the f ...

: 1992–93

as a Manager

Individual *Northern Ireland Football Writers' Manager of the Month: March 2006, April 2006

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Millar, Paul Living people 1966 births Association footballers from Belfast Association football midfielders Association football forwards Association footballers from Northern Ireland Northern Ireland under-21 international footballers Northern Ireland youth international footballers Northern Ireland B international footballers Glentoran F.C. players Portadown F.C. players Port Vale F.C. players Hereford United F.C. players Cardiff City F.C. players Linfield F.C. players Bangor F.C. players Ards F.C. players Ballymena United F.C. players Brantwood F.C. players NIFL Premiership players English Football League players Association football coaches Association football player-managers Football managers from Northern Ireland Bangor F.C. managers Ballymena United F.C. managers Newry Town F.C. managers Glentoran F.C. managers Larne F.C. managers