BRIAN MILLER 

Date and Place of Birth 19th January 1937 - Burnley died 7th April 2007   Transfers to and from Burnley amateur then pro - February 1954 retired - April 1968   First and Last Burnley Games Chelsea (a) - 1st February 1956   Aston Villa (a) - 22nd April 1967   Other Clubs none

Burnley Career Stats

Profile by Tony Scholes

Looking back at some of the players who have worn the claret and blue of Burnley you can find some great players, and some not so great, whilst some you probably believe we might have been better never having seen play for us at all.

Then you find some very special players. There aren't many of them, those who gave our club something extra special during their time with us. One of those players is undoubtedly Brian Miller who this year, if this world was a fair one, would be part of the fiftieth anniversary celebrations of our league championship win of 1960.

Brian, or Dusty to his team mates of the 1950s and 60s, sadly passed away in April 2007, the first member of that championship team to do so. Yet, his is a name that should not, and I'm sure never will be forgotten by those who share an interest in Burnley Football Club.

He was the local lad came good in every sense of the word. He played for Burnley, he captained Burnley, he coached at Burnley, he managed Burnley and he continued to support the club in the years after he finally left his last role as chief scout.

It's a wonderful story of a supporter of the club who went on to represent his country and also saw his son, and his two grandsons play in the same first team that he graced as a player on over 450 occasions.

Brian was spotted by a Burnley director playing in a schoolboy cup final in Blackburn of all places and was immediately recruited to the office staff at Turf Moor. That was in 1952 and two years later he signed his first professional contract.

His first team debut came as a replacement for the injured Les Shannon in the FA Cup marathon against Chelsea in 1956. Miller played the second and third of those five games and in the same ten day period made his league debut and his home debut against Manchester United and Sheffield United respectively. The home game against the Blades on 11^th February 1956 was won 1-0 - the goalscorer was Brian Miller.

They were his only appearances during that season but over the following three seasons Miller began to establish himself in the team either at centre-half or more usually at left-half. He made 61 league appearances in those three seasons and by the end of that 58/59 season had become first choice and was ready to play his part in our glory days.

Not many locally born footballers have really made it over the years, and very few at Burnley, but Miller was the local lad in the team that won the league title, played in the European Cup and represented Burnley in our third FA Cup Final.

Towards the end of the 1960/61 season he reached the pinnacle of his career with a full England cap in a friendly against Austria which was played in Vienna. He was forced to play right-half that day and he played well, but it proved to be his only full cap.

The full cap was added to three Under-23 caps and two appearances for the Football League, but few will argue he deserved more and certainly warranted more than the one England cap.

He might have missed out on a longer international career but he was irremovable in the Burnley side during the 1960s. From the start of that wonderful championship season he missed only sixteen league games in seven seasons.

The last of those, the 1965/66 season, proved to be the last he would complete. Again, just as he'd been as the title was lifted, he was an ever present as Burnley equalled their points total of six years earlier, but finished the season in third place behind the fast emerging Liverpool and Leeds United.

With the rules changed for Europe we were given our chance in the Fairs Cup and played four rounds, a total of eight games. Just as he'd done in the European Cup, Miller was an ever present and captained the Burnley team in some of the games. He was the only player to play in all twelve of our European games in those two seasons.

Some would say it was typical of Burnley that, in the quarter-final against Eintracht Frankfurt, we managed to draw the away leg 1-1 and then lost at home 2-1 to go out of the competition. Burnley's goals in both games were scored by Miller.

Despite now being past his 30^th birthday there was no sign of him relinquishing his place in the side. He was probably playing as well as he'd ever played and you sensed that he would be an automatic choice for some time to come.

Four days after that Fairs Cup defeat we travelled to Villa Park for a league game. It brought us a rare win at that ground, a 1-0 win courtesy of an own goal from Villa goalkeeper Colin Withers, but it wasn't a good day for Miller.

An injury just before half time forced him off and he was eventually replaced by Sammy Todd when it was deemed he wouldn't be fit enough to continue. As the coaching staff walked round for the second half, trainer George Bray was asked about his injury and said it was something and nothing and he'd be fit the following week.

Brian Miller wasn't fit when we entertained Arsenal a week later. He'd suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury (although I don't think anyone had actually heard of them then) and his playing career was over.

Just look at the appearances above. No less than 379 in the league and a total of 455 overall, and this in one of Burnley's finest teams. Losing Miller to the team was a massive blow that was changing. By the end of that season both Adam Blacklaw and Alex Elder had left, leaving John Angus as the only remaining member of our championship team.

That day in April 1967 might have ended Miller's playing career but it certainly wasn't the end for him at Turf Moor, far from it. He immediately joined the staff as reserve team coach/trainer and eventually moved up to the first team when George Bray retired.

He held those positions for over twelve years until he became manager during the last days of Bob Lord. It was in October 1979 that he became Lord's last managerial appointment with the club sliding down the table.

We were relegated that season, dropping into the third tier of English football for the first time, but two years later returned as champions of the third division. In the following January (1983) he was dismissed, but in the summer of 1986 he returned for a second spell in the hot seat with the club in its darkest hours.

He steered the club through the Orient game and then onto Wembley in the Sherpa Van Trophy Final before, in January 1989, standing down and taking the role of chief scout. He held that position until late 1996 after which, just before his 60^th birthday, he retired. You can read more of his time as manager in our MANAGERS section.

During his first spell as manager he'd given a debut to his son David, amazingly coming on as a substitute in a 4-1 win against Sheffield Wednesday and replacing Derek Scott who by then had become Brian's son-in-law after marrying daughter Gillian.

In retirement he sat and watched his two grandsons, Chris and Paul, reach the first team although neither were ever able to establish themselves.

His time at Burnley Football Club was never over and he was a regular at home games as a supporter. He'd supported Burnley before ever joining the club and that never changed.

At a supporters function in 2004 he was introduced as Mr Burnley. He laughed it off in a conversation with me at the end of the evening, almost embarrassed to be given such a title. I told him, and I believe it to be the case, that if anyone deserved that title it was him.

In early 2007 I learned that Brian wasn't very well. At the time the supporters clubs were preparing to introduce a new 'special achievement award' at the end of season awards night. Brian's name was the first one suggested but I warned that I didn't think he would be well enough to attend.

He spent his last days in hospital and I'm told that, despite his illness, on Saturdays he came to life when he could get himself ready for the football and at very least listen to the Burnley commentary on the radio.

Sadly, on the morning of Saturday 7^th April 2007, I was just getting ready for our away game at Birmingham when I received a text message from a friend of mine that simply told me Brian had passed away.

To be honest I was expecting it, I knew just how ill he was, but it was still a total shock to think that he'd left us. The talk on the way down to Birmingham was of Brian Miller as it was at St. Andrew's where many supporters first heard the news.

We won that day with a John Spicer goal, and manager Steve Cotterill dedicated the win to Brian Miller. Two days later we met Cardiff at home and ahead of the game Turf Moor stood as one in total silence in tribute to one of its own, and one of its best.

During his time with the club he'd been at the centre of the highs in 1960 and the lows in 1987. Somehow I prefer to remember him as a player because that was his most successful time at Burnley, but we should never forget his contribution as manager or indeed in any other role he performed at Burnley.

He was a very strong player, a good tackler and excellent positionally whether in the middle or on the left hand side. But he wasn't just a defender and he loved to storm forward to support the attack and he scored his fair share of goals, both with his head and with that powerful left foot that could hit shots into the top corner from distance. As a manager, he learned so much from his mentor Harry Potts, and who knows, given the chance he might well have proved to be a successful manager at the top level.

Brian Miller owned the shop that used to be right next to the ground for some years and that's when I got to know him and his family well. It was a privilege to know them, a real privilege. Brian was a good man and our shared passion of Burnley Football Club meant that at times we talked for hours about the club when I'd only called in for a packet of cigarettes.

I don't believe there will ever be another Brian Miller. I don't think there will ever be anyone again who will give our club such service, and how fitting it is that he was a local man and a Burnley supporter before and after his time at Turf Moor.

As a tribute to him, the 100 Club at Turf Moor is the Brian Miller Lounge. In the summer of 2009 it was refurbished and is now the home for a wonderful set of photographs that show Brian's Burnley career.

Down the corridor, the trophy cabinet in the Doctor Iven Suite house some of Brian's prized shirts, medals, caps and trophies, generously loaned by his family.

Mr Burnley - you should never have been embarrassed Dusty, you deserved that title.