Kevin Miller (footballer)

Kevin Miller

Personal information
Full name	Kevin Miller [1]
Date of birth	(1969-03-15) 15 March 1969 (age 54) [1]
Place of birth	Falmouth, Cornwall, England
Height	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) [2]
Position(s)	Goalkeeper
Team information
Current team	Exeter City (goalkeeping coach)
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
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Kevin Miller (born 15 March 1969) is an English former football goalkeeper who made more than 600 appearances in the Premier League and Football League.

Football career

Born in Falmouth, Cornwall, ^[3] 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.^{[ citation needed ]}

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.^{[ citation needed ]} During this time he also spent three seasons at Watford, earning the Player of the Season award twice.^{[ citation needed ]}

His move to Premiership side Crystal Palace from Watford in June 1997 saw the most expensive fee of his career being paid:^{[ citation needed ]} £1.5million. He had been expected to sign for Nottingham Forest but the East Midlands club failed to agree a fee. ^[4]

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. ^[5]

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.^{[ citation needed ]}

In January 2007, he signed a one-month loan deal with League Two strugglers Torquay United, ^[6] 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.^{[ citation needed ]} He returned to Southampton at the end of the loan spell and was released in May 2007.^{[ citation needed ]}

Returning to non-league football, Miller joined Bodmin Town in October 2007. ^[3] He retired from playing at the end of the 2014–15 season, aged 46, ^[7] then decided to do another season at the club.^{[ citation needed ]}

Miller was appointed as Exeter City's goalkeeping coach on 9 December 2022, to work under new manager Gary Caldwell. ^[8]

Career statistics

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			FA Cup		League Cup		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Exeter City	1988–89 [1]	Fourth Division	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0
	1989–90 [1]	Fourth Division	28	0	4	0	0	0	3 [lower-alpha 1]	0	35	0
	1990–91 [1]	Third Division	46	0	1	0	2	0	4 [lower-alpha 1]	0	53	0
	1991–92 [1]	Third Division	42	0	5	0	1	0	4 [lower-alpha 1]	0	52	0
	1992–93 [1]	Second Division	44	0	2	0	4	0	7 [lower-alpha 2]	0	57	0
	Total		163	0	12	0	7	0	18	0	200	0
Birmingham City	1993–94 [1]	First Division	24	0	0	0	4	0	2 [lower-alpha 3]	0	30	0
Watford	1994–95 [9]	First Division	44	0	4	0	3	0	—		51	0
	1995–96 [10]	First Division	42	0	2	0	3	0	—		47	0
	1996–97 [11]	Second Division	42	0	4	0	4	0	3 [lower-alpha 2]	0	53	0
	Total		128	0	10	0	10	0	3	0	151	0
Crystal Palace	1997–98 [12]	Premier League	38	0	4	0	2	0	—		44	0
	1998–99 [1]	First Division	28	0	1	0	1	0	2 [lower-alpha 4]	0	32	0
	Total		66	0	5	0	3	0	2	0	76	0
Barnsley	1999–2000 [13]	First Division	41	0	1	0	4	0	3 [lower-alpha 5]	0	49	0
	2000–01 [14]	First Division	46	0	1	0	5	0	—		52	0
	2001–02 [15]	First Division	28	0	2	0	2	0	—		32	0
	Total		115	0	4	0	11	0	3	0	133	0
Exeter City	2002–03 [16]	Third Division	46	0	3	0	1	0	2 [lower-alpha 2]	0	52	0
Bristol Rovers	2003–04 [17]	Third Division	44	0	1	0	1	0	1 [lower-alpha 2]	0	47	0
	2004–05 [2]	League Two	28	0	2	0	2	0	4 [lower-alpha 2]	0	36	0
	Total		72	0	3	0	3	0	5	0	83	0
Derby County (loan)	2004–05 [2]	Championship	0	0	—		—		0	0	0	0
Southampton	2005–06 [18]	Championship	7	0	0	0	0	0	—		7	0
	2006–07 [19]	Championship	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Total		7	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	7	0
Torquay United (loan)	2006–07 [19]	League Two	7	0	0	0	0	0	—		7	0
Career total			628	0	37	0	39	0	35	0	739	0

1. Appearances in Associate Members' Cup
2. Appearance(s) in Football League Trophy
3. Appearances in Anglo-Italian Cup
4. Appearances in Intertoto Cup
5. Appearances in First Division play-offs

Honours

Individual

• PFA Team of the Year: 1996–97 Second Division ^[20]
• Barnsley Player of the Year: 2000–01 ^[21]

References

1. "Player search: Miller, K (Kevin)" . English National Football Archive. Retrieved 5 November 2022.
2. "Games played by Kevin Miller in 2004/2005". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 4 November 2022.
3. "Kevin Miller". Bodmin Town FC. Archived from the original on 24 November 2015. Retrieved 16 May 2012.
4. Nixon, Alan (13 June 1997). "Doubts over the future of Kinnear". The Independent. London. Retrieved 16 May 2012.
5. "Saints keeper enjoys shock chance". BBC Sport. 31 March 2006. Retrieved 16 May 2012.
6. "Gulls sign Miller and Norwich duo". BBC Sport. 26 January 2007. Retrieved 16 May 2012.
7. 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.
8. Pilnick, Brent (9 December 2022). "Kevin Miller: Exeter City bring in former Premier League player as goalkeeper coach". BBC Sport. Retrieved 10 December 2022.
9. "1994/1995". Watford Football Club Archive. Retrieved 5 November 2022.
10. "1995/1996". Watford Football Club Archive. Retrieved 5 November 2022.
11. "1996/1997". Watford Football Club Archive. Retrieved 5 November 2022.
12. "Games played by Kevin Miller in 1997/1998". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 4 November 2022.
13. "Games played by Kevin Miller in 1999/2000". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 4 November 2022.
14. "Games played by Kevin Miller in 2000/2001". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 4 November 2022.
15. "Games played by Kevin Miller in 2001/2002". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 4 November 2022.
16. "Games played by Kevin Miller in 2002/2003". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 4 November 2022.
17. "Games played by Kevin Miller in 2003/2004". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 4 November 2022.
18. "Games played by Kevin Miller in 2005/2006". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 4 November 2022.
19. "Games played by Kevin Miller in 2006/2007". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 5 November 2022.
20. Hugman, Barry J., ed. (1997). The 1997–98 Official PFA Footballers Factfile. Harpenden: Queen Anne Press. p. 317. ISBN   978-1-85291-581-0.
21. "Barnsley Player of the Season". Barnsley FC. Retrieved 2 January 2024.

External links

• Kevin Miller at Soccerbase

• Cornwall portal