ian1964 10,409 Posted July 13, 2014 Share Posted July 13, 2014 ....and beat Celtic to one last Premiership title before I go. Kenny Miller has revealed his wish to retire as a Rangers player, ideally with the parting gift of one last top-flight winners’ medal as he plans to plunder more prizes before hanging up his shooting boots. The 34-year-old is back with the club for a third spell this summer and would like to make his return signing the 10th and final move of his nomadic career. Miller flew out to Los Angeles on Saturday as Ally McCoist’s squad embarked on a four-game North American tour that will take the striker back to Canada, where he starred for Vancouver Whitecaps in a previous pit-stop. For Miller, though, there is no place like the football home that he regards as Ibrox. Yet this is no comfort zone for the former Scotland international, who stresses his ambitions stretch further than helping hoist Rangers into the Premiership next May. He would love to finish his playing days with his current employers and, feeling fresh into a new pre-season, has no interest in setting a time limit on that. So he still has a top-flight title challenge within his career compass and a desire to add to the three Scottish Premier League medals he won for Rangers back in stint two under Walter Smith. Miller’s motivation on the first step towards that goal is to contribute sufficiently to a successful promotion campaign against former club Hibernian and Hearts so that he earns the optional year on his new Rangers contract. He’ll then take aim at bigger prizes. ‘You never know because if they kick me out of the door at Rangers after a year, I’d imagine I’ll still want to play on,’ said Miller. ‘But it would be my intention to finish up here. I’ve got a year with a year option, depending on games. So it’s pretty much on me. ‘As long as I’m fit, playing and performing then, hopefully, it will turn into another year. It’s going to take a good season this year for us to get there and then obviously some serious competition next year to get back challenging. ‘But that’s the aim for me anyway — to be back at the top of Scottish football where we belong. To top things off would be to win the league back in the Premiership. ‘Rangers shouldn’t go in to any competition thinking of accepting second best, so that’s what we’ll be aiming for next year if we get there. ‘I hope to be around for that. I want to play as long as I can. I feel strong and fit right now. Of course, only time will tell if the performances follow but, if I do that, then there’s no reason why I can’t be around for a bit longer.’ The highlights of Miller’s 67 goals in 147 appearances so far for Rangers were in SPL and Champions League competition. The second tier of the Scottish game, though, is nothing new to him. As an Easter Road teenager, he played seven games either side of a loan spell at Stenhousemuir as Hibs bounced back at the first time of asking in 1998/99. Franck Sauzee, Russell Latapy, Paul Hartley and Mixu Paatelainen were among the heroes of Alex McLeish’s team that year as crowds flocked back to Leith to see a team canter to the First Division title. Not since that campaign has there been such a buzz about the division now known as the Championship. As Miller recalls the year that one of the traditional top-flight teams had to claw their way back up, he admits he can’t wait to sample the curiosities of a season like no other as three giants of the game collide in an unfamiliar environment. ‘I made my debut the season Hibs got relegated and made a few appearances while the team was promoted,’ he said. ‘It was a big season for me. They brought Latapy and Sauzee — that pair must have sold 5,000 tickets alone each week, given the standard of players they were. ‘Hibs had a fantastic season. To draw those players to the club was phenomenal and what they went on to do was amazing. ‘A winning team on the pitch can create a fantastic atmosphere within the club and the crowds were up. I can see big crowds and huge games in this division. It’s going to be a fantastic season and one I’m really looking forward to. ‘To come back to Rangers not in the top division is incredible in itself but for Hearts and Hibs to be there also is phenomenal. I never thought I’d be back playing against them in the Championship. ‘It will be a competitive league and a big challenge for us. But it’s a challenge I feel this squad probably needs after the last couple of years. ‘No disrespect to the opposition Rangers have been facing but I feel the challenges coming our way this year will really raise the standards of the players we’ve got.’ Miller and strike partner Kris Boyd were reunited last weekend as both players got off the mark on a two-game Highland tour. The next phase of pre-season will involve the long-haul journeys to which he was accustomed as a Vancouver Whitecap. After games on the west coast of the United States against Ventura County Fusion and Sacramento Republic FC, Miller returns to British Columbia for a game against Victoria Highlanders a week tomorrow, before the final game with Ottawa Fury on July 23. He called Vancouver home for two years after joining the Major League Soccer side from Cardiff City midway through their 2012 season. Under the Scottish coaching team of Martin Rennie and ex-Scotland international defender Paul Ritchie, Miller helped guide Whitecaps to a first-ever appearance in the MLS Cup play-offs that year. However, he admits there were facets of professional life in Canada that he found difficult to embrace. ‘If you are a guy like myself who if he doesn’t win the weekend is ruined, then that side is not there so much,’ explained Miller. ‘You see others who don’t have that. It’s not that they don’t care — far from it — but just not as much as I did. ‘In Scotland, you lose and you don’t want to go out. It’s straight home on a Saturday, a Chinese and the X Factor. Here we live, breathe and eat football. Across there, it’s not quite as life or death as it is for us. I found that mentality towards it a bit hard to get used to. ‘This is not any slight on anyone I played with. It’s just the way they are brought up. This has been my life since I was four. Ever since I could walk, I had a ball at my feet. ‘I’d argue till the cows come home that it doesn’t mean as much to them, whereas it’s a way of life for us. That’s what I’ve come back to at Rangers. ‘Vancouver is a beautiful place and there are amazing cities to live in or visit for players going to MLS. ‘There’s a more relaxed lifestyle, so I can understand why people want to do it. I’d just say it’s a very different attitude to football. ‘I was grateful for the opportunity as it was something I’d always talked about trying. I enjoyed some aspects but not others. I was fortunate that there were British guys as coaches, we had good people in charge. ‘Being so far from home and away from friends and family is always tough, though. ‘Towards the end, I had an eye on moving home somewhere — and Rangers was always that No 1 option.’ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2690178/Kenny-Miller-exclusive-I-want-finish-career-Rangers-win-one-Premiership-title-I-go.html 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
der Berliner 3,239 Posted July 13, 2014 Share Posted July 13, 2014 Great to hear and good to see ambition in those "Klose-old" legs. It won't go down well over in the glue camp. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
buster. 4,808 Posted July 13, 2014 Share Posted July 13, 2014 ............................................. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
buster. 4,808 Posted July 13, 2014 Share Posted July 13, 2014 Great to hear and good to see ambition in those "Klose-old" legs. It won't go down well over in the glue camp. It's a puff 'feel good' piece. What shouldn't be confused is KM's ambition to win a top tier title and the present reallity that says he won't. The piece would like you to forget the reallity and a whole load of other things, then go buy a ST. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super Cooper 0 Posted July 13, 2014 Share Posted July 13, 2014 Winning the top tier title whilst Kenny Miller is still playing is about as unlikely as me pumping Michelle Keegan, it's just not going to happen. That's stuff our staff should not be talking about in public, especially when we are at least a full year away from even competing in that league. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
the gunslinger 3,366 Posted July 13, 2014 Share Posted July 13, 2014 Winning the top tier title whilst Kenny Miller is still playing is about as unlikely as me pumping Michelle Keegan, it's just not going to happen. That's stuff our staff should not be talking about in public, especially when we are at least a full year away from even competing in that league. Handsome chap like you has a better chance than Kenny. Christ more chance of me pumping Michelle than Kenny winning the spfl with greenco in charge. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super Cooper 0 Posted July 13, 2014 Share Posted July 13, 2014 Handsome chap like you has a better chance than Kenny. Christ more chance of me pumping Michelle than Kenny winning the spfl with greenco in charge. Lol, thanks very much mate. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
the gunslinger 3,366 Posted July 13, 2014 Share Posted July 13, 2014 Lol, thanks very much mate. Rumour has it she's thinking of going nude to get a part in game of thrones. There's always that. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ser Barristan Selmy 222 Posted July 13, 2014 Share Posted July 13, 2014 You two need to get a room I think 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
compo 6,122 Posted July 13, 2014 Share Posted July 13, 2014 at 34 your almost there Kenny 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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