Kevin Miller (footballer)

Kevin Miller (born 15 March 1969) is an English retired football goalkeeper who last played for Bodmin Town in the South West Peninsula League.[1]

Kevin Miller
Personal information
Date of birth (1969-03-15) 15 March 1969
Place of birth Falmouth, Cornwall, England
Height 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Position(s) Goalkeeper
Youth career
1985–1986 Falmouth Town
1988–1989 Newquay
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1989–1993 Exeter City 163 (0)
1993–1994 Birmingham City 24 (0)
1994–1997 Watford 128 (0)
1997–1999 Crystal Palace 66 (0)
1999–2002 Barnsley 115 (0)
2002–2003 Exeter City 46 (0)
2003–2005 Bristol Rovers 72 (0)
2005 → Derby County (loan) 0 (0)
2006–2007 Southampton 7 (0)
2007 → Torquay United (loan) 7 (0)
2007–2016 Bodmin Town
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Football career

Born in Falmouth, Cornwall, Miller was a product of the Falmouth Town youth scheme playing mostly in midfield before being persuaded to take up goalkeeping in the Combination League team by then manager Keith Rashleigh as a 15 year old. Miller joined Newquay and enjoyed great success including breaking the South Western League goals conceded record under manager Trevor Mewton.

Miller was then signed by Terry Cooper (ex Leeds and England) for Exeter City where he was a key figure in their Fourth Division Championship winning team, before following Cooper to Birmingham City, Crystal Palace, Barnsley, Bristol Rovers and Derby County (on loan), over an eighteen-year period. During this time he also spent three seasons at Watford, earning the Player of the Season award twice.

His move to Premiership side Crystal Palace from Watford in June 1997 saw the most expensive fee of his career being paid: £1.5million. He had been expected to sign for Nottingham Forest but the East Midlands club failed to agree a fee.[2]

He initially retired from football in August 2005, but in February 2006 he was signed by Southampton manager George Burley, whose side was short on goalkeepers, with Bartosz Białkowski out with an injury, Miller was seen as cover for Paul Smith.[3]

Miller displaced Smith in the first team and played the final seven games of Southampton's 2005–06 season, helping the team to five wins and a draw. This form was appreciated and the club offered him a one-year extension on his contract, which he accepted.

In January 2007, he signed a one-month loan deal with League Two strugglers Torquay United,[4] making his debut on 26 January 2007 in the 4–1 win at home to Grimsby Town, United's first win in 20 league games. He returned to Southampton at the end of the loan spell and was released in May 2007.

Returning to non-league football, Miller joined Bodmin Town in October 2007.[1] He retired from playing at the end of the 2014–15 season, aged 46 then decided to do another season at the club.[5]

References
  1. "Kevin Miller". 1st team players. Bodmin Town FC. Retrieved 16 May 2012.
  2. Nixon, Alan (13 June 1997). "Doubts over the future of Kinnear". The Independent. Retrieved 16 May 2012.
  3. "Saints keeper enjoys shock chance". BBC Sport. 31 March 2006. Retrieved 16 May 2012.
  4. "Gulls sign Miller and Norwich duo". BBC Sport. 26 January 2007. Retrieved 16 May 2012.
  5. Marriott, Kevin (27 April 2015). "Brilliant St Austell clinch South West Peninsula League title". Cornish Guardian. Archived from the original on 5 May 2015. Retrieved 20 November 2015.
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