Sitting in the Cleveland Browns’ stadium last July watching an execrable friendly between Celtic and Boca Juniors, the talk among the Scottish reporters was that Liam Miller had developed significantly over the second half of last season. They reckoned his consistently brilliant performances for the club’s under-21s would be rewarded with a few chances in the first XI. Fortunately, he’s seized every opportunity that’s come his way since. Still, between his goal against Lyon six weeks ago and his strike against Anderlecht the other night, the reaction to Miller has been a small bit over the top.
“He is probably the best 22-year-old in the world,” said Celtic goalkeeper Magnus Hedman. “I rate him as highly as anybody at that age I’ve seen over the years. It doesn’t take a genius to say that it is important we keep him. I think the manager is wise enough to know what he [Miller] is doing.”
Unless Hedman has an encyclopedic knowledge of the world game, it’s some pronouncement to declare his colleague to be currently the best player in his age group on the entire planet. Dangerous talk about a guy who’s made as many substitute appearances as he has starts so far in this campaign. Alex Ferguson might well have been at Parkhead specifically to run his eye over the Corkman this week, but nobody except the United manager knows that for sure. Isn’t it a little early and a tad unfair to be declaring Miller the new Roy Keane?
In what is a tough time for Irish soccer fans, every feel-good story we can find is welcome. However, even if Miller’s progress to this point suggests the 22-year-old may become the most heartwarming tale of all — and fingers crossed he does — it behooves everybody to go easy on the hype for now. Just because beyond him and Andy Reid, the landscape looks kind of bleak, we shouldn’t be heaping undue expectations on both of them. Although the fact they are goal-scoring midfielders does make it easy to get carried away. Especially given the continuing dearth of striking options available to Brian Kerr.
In recent weeks, the search for somebody capable of partnering Robbie Keane upfront has reached down the divisions as far as Swansea City’s Liverpudlian goal machine Lee Trundle. Arguably the most interesting candidate to emerge, though, is 23-year-old Watford striker Scott Fitzgerald. Having been plucked from the obscurity of Ryman’s League football just over a year ago, Fitzgerald has scored five league goals already this season. With a mother from Galway making him eligible, the Londoner is routinely described as a late developer in the Kevin Phillips mold.
Given that he’s playing in Div. I, a level where the not-quite-up-to-international-standard David Connolly is prolific, Fitzgerald represents a longshot, but desperate times require desperate measures. There’s a reason why the same week Kerr named his first squad of the so-called new era, he chose to once more lament the premature retirement of Roy Keane.
“He’s playing an awful lot of matches at the moment, so there’s a disappointment for me,” Kerr told the Irish News. “Manchester United can still make the case that he needs those breaks during international matches, but there’s a frustration for me and I would imagine for many other Irish people. There’s only a few games a season — the qualification matches. In the total percentage of matches per season, it’s not a fierce number of games. I just can’t understand it. I have difficulty in my own mind as someone who never got to play one international match. I have a huge problem with dealing with somebody saying, ‘I want to concentrate on my club career.’ “
Kerr knows that much like United, Ireland without Keane are seriously diminished. Difficult as it is to envisage the former captain rescinding his decision, maybe the passage of time and the disappearance of so many of the players and officials he took umbrage with will cause a change of heart. More and more of the peers who turned their backs on him in his darkest hour are fading from the scene, and Fran Rooney’s new-look FAI would surely do everything in its power to show him they’ve learned the lessons of past regimes.
If it ever came to it, we presume Kerr would offer Keane a sweetheart deal, excluding friendlies, and allow him to turn up on Tuesday mornings for Wednesday games at Lansdowne Road. Given his own corporate background, Rooney could do his part by securing a private jet to fly him back from away fixtures within an hour of the final whistle. Whether some multi-millionaire will step in to help with that, the cost of hiring a private plane sort of pales next to the money the FAI missed out on by failing to qualify for Euro 2004.
Of course, all the special privileges in the world might not be enough if Keane doesn’t feel his body is up to the extra half a dozen games per year. And none of this factors in Alex Ferguson’s dislike of international football and his powerful hold over his favorite player. Apart altogether from his ability to singlehandedly win games in the next qualifying campaign, though, the influence Keane could have on the likes of Miller and Reid would be invaluable in terms of their future development. Something to wish for over the long winter nights ahead.