Hibs man insists Centre would elicit further praise

LIAM MILLER reckons his old boss Sir Alex Ferguson would be even more impressed with Hibs as a shining light in the SPL if he ever had cause to visit the club's training base at East Mains.

Without any prompting whatsoever, the Manchester United manager heaped praise on the Capital club earlier this week, saying they had led the way in Scotland over the last few years when it came to developing and bringing through young players.

From afar, he's watched the likes of Kenny Miller, Scott Brown, Kevin Thomson, Steven Whittaker, Steven Fletcher, Gary O'Connor and Derek Riordan all come through the Easter Road ranks and is well aware of the work involved in nurturing young talent.

Ferguson. after all, watched his own golden crop of kids - the likes of David Beckham, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, Nicky Butt and the Neville brothers, Gary and Phil - emerge at Manchester United to play their part in the huge success he's enjoyed at Old Trafford.

Miller, who was signed by Ferguson from Celtic, believes his former manager is right to acknowledge the success Hibs have enjoyed in terms of home-grown talent and is confident that will continue thanks to the constant hive of activity at East Mains.

"I think it is important to any club to bring the youth through," said the 29-year-old Irishman. "We've certainly got plenty of players here who are capable of making the step up. David Wotherspoon came through last season and there are plenty of others in the squad who are training hard just waiting for their chance.

"It definitely helps when a young player can see light at the end of the tunnel. At Celtic, there was a group of us all in the same position and it was Mark Burchill, I think, who got the chance first. That gave the rest of us confidence as we felt that if he could do it, so could we.

"At that time I was there, the likes of Paul Lambert, Neil Lennon and Stilian Petrov were the players in the middle of the park for Celtic - all experienced players. But, when you see someone else making the step up and you are also involved in the first-team squad, it gives you the confidence to know you can get there yourself. It's just a case of waiting for your chance and making the most of that when it does.

"At Manchester United, I don't know if Sir Alex was lucky in a way but he brought through six or seven world-class players around the same time in the likes of Beckham, Giggs, Scholes, Butt and the Nevilles.

"That was great for the club and I also believe that fans love to see home-grown players pulling on the jersey. That was certainly the case with those players at Manchester United.

"There, of course, they have a great training base at Carrington - but we are pretty luck at Hibs as well with our facilities. I remember when I first came that I didn't expect anything like this. The club is definitely going in the right direction.

"If I'm honest, I wouldn't be aware of everything that goes on at Academy level but I am conscious of the fact there are always a lot of youngsters coming here. It's good for them to get the use of facilities like these at an early age."

Along with the rest of his team-mates, Miller is still hurting after feeling they dropped two careless points against Inverness Caledonian Thistle last Saturday. But the focus now has turned to this weekend's home clash against Hamilton - the side Miller faced a year ago on his debut for Hibs.

"Hopefully, this game will provide better memories this time around," he noted of a 2-0 defeat that day at New Douglas Park. "It is going to be a hard game. We need to defend well as a team and, hopefully, take our chances when they come along,

"Hindsight is a grand thing but, if we'd scored the second goal against Inverness, then that would have made all the difference. We had chances to do it and then defended badly for their goal.

"But we've just got to take that on the chin and learn from it really quickly. We're thinking about the Hamilton game now and, hopefully, we can put things right on Saturday.

"We are all working really hard in training and it's a case of trying to form a unit that can pull through together in games."

On the subject of unity, Miller is confident Edwin De Graaf will soon start converting his chances, the Dutchman having felt the ire of his club's fans after missing gilt-edged opportunity against Terry Butcher's side.

"I think Edwin will kick on once he gets a goal," said his fellow midfielder.

"Even if he misses the next one it's a case of carrying on and making sure you get the next one after that. It's gone now and we move on."

Miller was speaking as he helped launch a 'Family Fun Day' at Easter Road for this Saturday, when. Hamilton visit. The match is being sponsored by the Concept Group and the midfielder is encouraging fans to take advantage of an offer that will see an adult and two children get in to the Famous Five Family Stand for just 22.

"Anything like this has to be welcomed as it is a good environment to be around. It is great to encourage kids to come along because there's no doubt that football can bring people of all ages lots of fun.

"I remember going to my first competitive professional game. I just found everything about the occasion amazing - the atmosphere, the stadium etc. From where I was sitting everyone looked so small.

"I think you get caught up in the whole emotion of the game at that age and it is really good."