Kenny Miller not ready to give way as he eyes move up the charts

NATIONAL team manager Craig Levein said recently that Scotland would continue to grow in the years ahead because his entire squad would be available to him for the next two qualifying campaigns.

In that equation he included Kenny Miller. “Does Craig know how old I am?” the Cardiff City striker, who turns 32 next month, offered when presented with that proposition in Limassol yesterday, where Levein’s squad are stationed ahead of Friday’s friendly with Cyprus.

Age, however, seems to have bettered rather than withered Miller, even if he turned up for Scotland duty this week with 20 stitches in a head wound sustained in scoring as his club claimed a 2-0 victory over Crystal Palace.

Scotland’s principle goal threat, with 15 strikes in 57 internationals, accepts there is a balancing act between coping with the punishing physicality of a 46-game Championship season and sustaining an international career. But he has no intention of giving up on his hopes of lifting himself further into the upper echelons of Scotland’s all-time scorers.

“I’d love to keep going as long as I can,” Miller said. “As long as I’m fit and able I want to play as long as I can. I wasn’t happy at missing the last three Euro 2012 qualifiers [through injury and suspension] because I felt that the way we were playing I could get among the goals against Liechtenstein and Lithuania. After the Czech game I moved up to joint sixth on the list, I think, and I felt we’d create chances in the final three qualifiers. I thought we could nick goals and that was a disappointment for me. I was spewing that I missed the Spain game and devastated that I didn’t play in any of the last three. But on top of that I enjoy coming away with the boys and representing my country. If I’m performing I’m available for Scotland.”

In Miller’s absence, Craig Mackail-Smith took the opportunity to scorer in Liechtenstein and prove himself a serious rival for the solitary strikier role to a man who has played under six Scotland managers since his debut in 2001. Miller accepts it is an either/or and that Mackail-Smith can more than equal him for his famous grafting presence.

“That’s the manager’s choice,” he said. “You can only do your best whenever you get the call. People say I work hard. I think he works harder. He always comes away when he has wee niggles and wee knocks and he gets these because the amount of effort he puts into games is nothing short of ridiculous. And we’ve seen that in the last two games. He gave the Spain defenders a right hard time and it doesn’t get any harder than that. In Liechtenstein he was rewarded with the goal, which was great. There is a lot of competition for places. That’s Jamie Mackie back as well. And we’ve got Goodie [David Goodwillie].”

Miller’s status as a senior figure in the Scottish game makes him a natural for offering opinions on the various issues swirling round at the moment. As a player who started with Hibernian he has an opinion on former Hearts manager Jim Jefferies being linked with the vacaant berth at Easter Road. “Billy Brown is already there and I don’t see why Jim couldn’t go,” the forward said. “Even the staunchest of Hibs fans would maybe understand that they might not get a better manager than Jim Jefferies. The jobs he’s done over the years in the SPL have been fantastic and if he was to get the job then I’m sure he’d be accepted.”

And Miller doesn’t see the possiblity that adminstration-haunted Rangers could be forced to sell former strker partner Nikica Jelavic as potentialy fatal to their hopes of a fourth consecutive title. Perhaps not least because the Ibrox club lost him to Turkey last January with him on 22 goals and still claimed the SPL...six months after Kris Boyd’s loss was supposed to create an unfillable hole in their goals for column.

“It would be a blow to sell him, but Rangers have had to do that over the last few years when players who score goals have been sold,” he said. “He’s fantastic footballer and not just a goalscorer. He brings the full package. It would be a massive blow to lose him, so they should try all they can to hold onto him.

“But a team like Rangers has to deal with transfer issues every season at the same time as winning titles. Even last season when I was sold I said at that time that I believed Rangers would go on and win the league. It’s never about one player, it’s about the team. The players at Rangers know what it takes to win leagues and I’m sure if anyone does go then the others will step up and score the goals.”