i would never treat my worst enemy the way rangers treated me
Striker claims he and Lee Wallace “hung out to dry” by club officials Insists he “wouldn’t treat worst enemy the way we were treated”
FORMER Rangers striker Kenny Miller has opened up on his “disgusting” exit from the Ibrox club.
Miller, now at Partick Thistle, was suspended for an alleged dressing-room bust-up in April 2018 with caretaker boss Graeme Murty, along with former captain Lee Wallace.
The pair were later cleared of any wrongdoing after an SPFL appeal but Miller insists there
were some “unforgivable” actions he will never forget.
He told the Football Daft Podcast: “A lot of things happened in my last six months at that football club that were unforgivable. Unforgivable actions by people.
“It’s not about forgiving or looking for retribution, the word more than any is disappointed. I would never treat anybody the way both myself and Lee Wallace were treated.
“I’d never treat my worst enemy like that. People at the football club wanted to make scapegoats of people to mask their own deficiencies and Lee and I were hung out to dry.
“It was shameful and like I said unforgivable. It’s disgusting, it’s actually disgusting what happened with me and Lee.
“Even the following season, Lee was stuck there. I had to leave the club I love and not in the way I wanted.
“I don’t even mean having a big ‘thanks Kenny for your service’, I’m talking about staff members you’ve had a relationship with since 2000. There are still people working there now I knew from 2000 so you’re talking an 18-year span.
“I never even got to say bye to them and I know that potentially I’m not even welcome back.”
Before the alleged incident Miller was having a difficult time forcing his way into the plans of Murty’s predecessor Pedro Caixinha.
The veteran striker was far down the Portuguese manager’s pecking order but the former Celtic forward says he was never given a reason why he was being left out the team.
He said: “Pedro behaved the same way because I think it was people behind them who were making decisions. Pedro has his issues, normally on the back of Old Firm defeats was when the issues came.
“So I was out of the team – by the way, training every day, no issue with the manager. He had a culture of shaking everybody’s hands in the morning, every morning I shook his hand.
“I just wasn’t getting selected for squads but with no reason behind it. It was just, ‘You’re not in the squad’.
After Caixinha’s sacking, Murty took charge and Miller says he has no idea what happened to his relationship with the manager.
Murty initially brought him back into the fold as the team started picking up points before he was left out in the cold. He said: “I’m out the team, Pedro’s relieved of his duties, Murty takes over again, first order of business, I’m back in the squad.
“I scored two and captained the team for the next eight games, six we won and two we lost. Two horrendous losses, one was Hamilton and one was Dundee.
“I always believed I could bring something to the group then I got injured at Easter Road. We win the game 2-1, it’s a hamstring injury and it’s reported as a real bad one.
“It didn’t feel that bad. It was painful but it never felt as bad as what was getting reported. We knew I’d be back sooner rather than later and it came at a not bad time because we had the winter shutdown as well.
“So I think I missed maybe three or four games going into the winter shutdown.
“After that break I was always going to be back but in that time ... I don’t claim to be anything special but I have got a fair read on people and within a few days there was a change in atmosphere.
“Then towards the end I was told we were going to Florida but I wouldn’t be going. I actually burst out laughing because I knew it was coming. I knew
what was going on in the background. Graeme and I’d actually had a decent enough working relationship and for some reason overnight it just went. There were injured players there (in Florida) but me and Lee were left back.
“That season it had happened to me twice and even the season before Mark Warburton had been trying to get me a new contract from November, December time. I never signed a new contract until after the Aberdeen game where I scored two goals up there and we won 3-0 under Pedro.
“I thought I was done at that point, I didn’t think I was going to get a new deal. I’ve been at the place long enough and I know how these people are operating.
“I still love the place but there are people within it who for me are not the right people. I’ve had to live through and work with some of these people and I know they’re not right.
“I still feel, even now, that I could have given something to that group. Even if that was as a back-up player or even just having an influence off the field.
“I’m not saying I should be there right now. I’m 39, I probably shouldn’t be there as a player, but I felt I could have had a role.”