BRING IT ON
Miller relishing the pressure of a nip-and-tuck title race with Celtic
KENNY MILLER is about to begin his 20th league season as a senior professional, yet exudes the excited enthusiasm of a hormonestrewn teenager.
The reason is obvious. For this arch-competitor, the imminent prospect of top-flight football, trading blows with Celtic in pursuit of the Premiership title, is a thrill like no other.
Miller knows every line of the manual that covers such contests. He has won them in the colours of both clubs but it is with Rangers, where he is now in a third spell, that the 36-year-old has so often thrived. Between 2008 and 2011, he played a key role in the acquisition of three successive crowns.
Following a four-year top-tier absence in the wake of the Ibrox financial meltdown, tomorrow’s lunchtime visit of Hamilton sees Miller and his colleagues make their return to this arena.
As far as the veteran is concerned, the intensity of the championship quest starts with the first whistle. There is no prelude. No dress rehearsal.
That was how it always was when Glasgow’s twin powers jousted for the prize that matters most. And how Miller believes it must be again.
To be honest, he wouldn’t want it any other way. In his eyes, there is an opportunity to lay a marker ahead of Celtic’s visit to Hearts on Sunday afternoon.
‘For me, the big change this season is with Rangers and Celtic in the top flight,’ said Miller. ‘You might get five or six games in the course of a season when we play at the same time, and four of them are when we are playing against each other.
‘So there is an element of pressure there straight away. There is pressure every week when you play for these clubs. You are either playing catch up, or you have a chance to assert pressure and go ahead.
‘There is always something on the games. You will play earlier, or a day later, an early kick-off, or a late kick-off. There’s that added pressure of having to play catch up or maintain a lead.
‘If you have been over it, it is something you enjoy. There is a real focus on the games which maybe hasn’t been there for a few years.’
Miller doesn’t try to play down the value of a positive start to the season. With Celtic taking next weekend off to play Inter Milan in the International Champions Cup, Rangers would guarantee a lead going to Parkhead on September 10 if they could beat Hamilton, Dundee, Motherwell and Kilmarnock.
‘Listen, it’s something we have definitely looked at,’ admitted Miller. ‘There is an opportunity there to get your nose in front.
‘You try not to look too far ahead. It’s a huge game on Saturday and, if we can get off to a good start, then there is a real possibility we can go into that game ahead.
‘I think it’s crucial we start well, not just to make a statement that we are back in the top league and going to be competitive. It’s for the sake of this team building confidence just like we did last year.
‘We won 10, 11, 12, 13 games in a row and the belief within the group went through the roof.
‘You always want to make a good start to the season but, when you’re at home — if you want to win the league — then you’re going to have win these games.’
Miller rejoined Rangers in the summer of 2014, staying in the Championship for a season longer than anticipated.
He also spent time training at Murray Park in the two years before — as Ally McCoist’s side came through League Two and League One — and knows exactly what it will mean to see the Ibrox club restored in the top division.
‘It will be emotional,’ said Miller. ‘Big Waldo (Lee Wallace) has spoken about the journey he has been on, he has been every step of the way.
‘There are a few lads left, not many, that have been here over the four years. But for people involved in the club, they know what it means.
‘They all know how important it was that we got back into the top flight — to challenge again at the top level of Scottish football and get those amazing European nights back to Ibrox.
‘This is the start of that journey. The first step is done with promotion last year and now we can look forward to the season opener this weekend and what, hopefully, will be another successful season.’
Nine new additions have been made following last term, from experienced figures such as Joey Barton, Niko Kranjcar and Clint Hill to the youthful promise of Jordan Rossiter, Josh Windass and Joe Dodoo. All are about to undergo a crash course in the expectations at Ibrox.
‘We needed strengthening, considering all the lads who left and the loan players who went back to their clubs,’ Miller recognised.
‘Looking at the Scottish Cup Final, four of the five players on the bench have gone and the other was young Liam Burt.
‘So it was important that we did sign a number of players — but not just for the sake of it. We needed real quality to come in and improve it and we have done that.’
MRangers have Family Section season tickets on sale priced £295 for adults and £50 for kids, via www.rangers.co.uk, 0871 702 1972 or the Rangers Ticket Centre.