This coming Saturday, June 15 is Alumni Night at BC Place, with approximately 75 members of the 'Caps family on hand to watch Whitecaps FC battle New England Revolution at BC Place (Tickets:ticketmaster.ca/whitecapsfc). Leading up to Saturday's match, we take a look back at a few of their careers and find out what they're up to now.
WHERE HE WAS: Colin Miller is a Scottish-born Canadian who grew up in Hamilton, Scotland, before moving to Canada when he was 10-years-old.
Miller’s professional career began at the age of 18 when he joined Toronto Blizzard of the old North American Soccer League (NASL) in 1982. After 23 games over three seasons with the Blizzard, Miller joined Scottish giants Glasgow Rangers where he would play for them from 1984 to 1986.
From there, Miller had two seasons with Doncaster Rovers in the Football league before returning to Canada to play for Hamilton Steelers in the Canadian Soccer League (CSL). He then moved back to Scotland to play 199 times in six seasons for Hamilton Academical.
A gritty defender, Miller played for a number of other Scottish clubs including St. Johnstone, Hearts of Midlothian, and Dunfermline. He would end up back with Hamilton Academial in Scotland in 1998 where he would become a player-manager until the year 2000.
WHERE HE WENT: Somewhat ironically, Miller made his national team debut for Canada against Scotland in June 1983 and would go on to captain the Canadian National team seven times, earning himself a total of 61 caps.
Miller became Canada’s assistant coach in the early 2000s and interim head coach in 2003 to 2004.
Colin has been instrumental in growing the game of soccer here in BC. He was the youth team coach with Abbotsford Rangers for three years (2005-2007). In 2008 he was introduced as the head coach and director of soccer operations for Victoria Highlanders of the USL Premier Development League.
In March of 2010 Miller joined Vancouver Whitecaps FC as an assistant coach and remained with the ‘Caps through the club’s inaugural season in Major League Soccer.
WHERE HE IS NOW: Miller is now about to embark on a new adventure as he becomes head coach of modern-day NASL (now second tier in North America) team FC Edmonton.
“I’m looking forward to introducing a new type of soccer into the City of Edmonton,” said Miller after his formal introduction at the press conference on Tuesday. “Something that’s exciting to watch, something that will bring the team good results and something that supporters can be proud of.”
Everyone at Whitecaps FC wishes the best of luck to Colin Miller, a true ambassador for soccer in Canada.
