John Miller
John Miller
John Miller
● John Miller, 1922 (AFC)

born in Scotland

John Galloway Miller was born on Tuesday, 12th March, 1895, in Motherwell, North Lanarkshire.

The 5' 9 (11st 12lbs) forward signed for George Easton's Thistle on Thursday, 23rd October, 1924, having most recently been with Aberdeen.

Aged 29, he made his debut appearance on Saturday, 1st November, 1924, in a 4-0 defeat away to Rangers in the SFL First Division.

Amazingly, John scored his first 5 goals for Thistle in the same match! His hat-trick + 2 was delivered on Saturday, 22nd November, 1924, in a 6-1 win at home to Cowdenbeath in the SFL First Division.

He scored the last of his 36 goals on Saturday, 27th March, 1926, in a 3-3 draw at home to Morton in the SFL First Division.

He played his last game for the club on Tuesday, 27th April, 1926, in a 5-2 defeat at home to Glasgow Select in a Benefit match, having appeared as a Jag on 62 occasions.

His club-list included Larkhall United, Larkhall Thistle, Mossend Hibernian, Ardrossan Winton Rovers, Blantyre Victoria, Hamilton Academical, St Mirren, Glasgow Highlanders, Liverpool, Aberdeen, Partick Thistle, Clyde, Dunfermline Athletic, Prescot Cables, Barrow and Carlisle United.

John died on Thursday, 21st June, 1951, in Stonehouse, South Lanarkshire, aged 56.

Bio Extra

Centre forward John had a long list of clubs before he joined Thistle as a 29-year-old in November 1924 from Aberdeen. He joined Hamilton Academical in 1915, having played for a number of junior clubs in the West of Scotland area. He played for the Accies between 1915 and 1918, but only made a small number of appearances. War interrupted his career, and with his brother Tom (who was to become a Liverpool player and Scotland international after the end of the conflict) joined the Glasgow Highlanders in November 1915. John did play for the Glasgow Highlanders football team during his time in the military. There were two further Miller brothers who played senior football, William and Adam.

At war end he joined his brother at Liverpool from 1919 to 1921. John managed to play in the same Liverpool side as his brother on 3 occasions. He then moved to Aberdeen, where he played on around 90 matches between 1921-24 scoring just under 50 goals. As mentioned above in November 1924 he joined a Thistle team that was undergoing change. The Scottish Cup winning team were moving on, with Tom Crichton and Willie Salisbury still playing regularly. Jimmy McMullan missed the Cup Final through injury, but later moved on to a glittering career with Manchester City (and also became a Wembley Wizard in 1928). New faces were appearing. Sandy Hair had joined the club prior to John’s recruitment. John Torbet was another recruit. John made 62 appearances for Thistle over the two seasons. When he opened his scoring account, he did so in style, scoring 5 goals in a 6-1 demolition of Cowdenbeath in an SFL 1st Division match at Firhill on 22 November 1924. John scored 36 goals for the Jags over his period at Firhill.

He went back to Aberdeen, and then had spells with Clyde and Dunfermline, before ending his career in England. John passed away in Stonehouse in June 1951 aged 56.

On account of his service during WWI, John is included in our feature piece, The Partick Thistle returned →.

(DMAC)



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