There's more than one Willie Miller

man.

THERE'S only one Willie Miller, according to the regular chant of the

Pittodrie football faithful, but they're wrong. There are two Willie

Millers. The fans recognise the one they see performing passionately and

aggressively for club or country, yet away from the pitch he is a quiet,

articulate businessman dedicated to his family.

Even his mother doesn't recognise him as he marshalls his troops and

remonstrates with referees in the red of the Dons or the blue of

Scotland, and Claire, his wife of 14 years on Friday, has yet to meet

someone not taken aback by the off-the-park personality of her husband.

''When people get to know him he is just not what he seems on the

pitch,'' she says. ''He is exceptionally quiet and quite shy.

''Obviously the way he feels about football and how it should be

played means that the dedication, the aggressiveness, and the will to

win come out. But at home he is totally different and much more

relaxed.''

According to Claire the iron-hard Willie Miller who has repelled

strikers from every corner of the world is easily tackled by his

children Mark, aged five, and Victoria, aged nine, who can apparently

wind him round her little finger.

After helping Scotland secure their World Cup place on Wednesday, the

sweeper's thoughts were not of Italy or of his own painful injury but of

his daughter Victoria who had been ill that day.

The following morning, as always, he was up early to make breakfast

for Victoria and Mark before driving them to school on his way to

Pittodrie for treatment.

In a Rangers stronghold in Glasgow lives another of Willie Miller's

biggest fans, his mum, who confirms it is hard to imagine he's the same

person when he's playing.

''He is normally quiet and quite deep, but he is a different Willie on

the field.''

However, the mum of the Bridgeton boy established as one of Aberdeen's

best-loved adopted ''loons'' is proud of her son's achievements in

becoming Scotland's most successful player outside the Old Firm. ''I

tell everyone about him,'' she says, admitting that living only a kick

of the ball from Celtic Park, yet in a predominantly Rangers area, can

bring her a bit of friendly ribbing.

Perhaps one of the secrets of Willie Miller's success is that he takes

every game seriously, whether it be a World Cup final against superstar

opposition or a game against a lowly team on a dreich Wednesday night.

That could explain the depth of feeling in the player after a defeat.

''Even as a boy we knew to leave him alone if his team was beaten,''

said his mum, Mrs Mary Tough, who attends every game he plays in the

Glasgow area and was at Hampden on Wednesday night to see him win his

65th international cap.

''I remember when he started playing for Aberdeen I used to phone him

every weekend at his digs. One Saturday when he had just started we saw

his photograph on the television saying he had scored an own goal.

''I phoned him up to ask him what he had done that for, and he was

quite annoyed,'' she laughed.

Willie, the oldest of five, is not the only international star in the

family. His half sister, Mary Tough, represents Scotland at netball and

his other brothers and sisters were also athletic at school, although

neither of his brothers progressed beyond amateur football.

In the early 1960s no one in his Bridgeton family, not even the

youngster himself, imagined he had such a glittering future in soccer

ahead of him.

There was no background of footballers in his family and the young

Miller showed little interest in the game until his days at Dalmarnock

Primary School were nearing an end.

Even then it was as a keeper he established himself and was selected

for a three-week trip to America with a Glasgow primary school select.

His parents had to dig deep to help finance the trip which, it turned

out, inspired him to the success he has enjoyed.

The move to John Street Secondary School coincided with a move to the

outfield and the goalkeeper became a goalscorer notching 40 in one

season and 60 the next.

As well as playing for the school team he played for two boys' clubs

at the weekend, Annfield on Saturday afternoons and Morton on Sundays,

and from there he was asked to join the fledgling Eastercraigs amateur

side, now one of Glasgow's best.

Bristol City and Bury invited the teenager for trials, but around this

time Aberdeen's Glasgow scout Jimmy Carswell spotted his talent and it

was not long before the smooth-talking chief scout Bobby Calder arrived

at the Miller's tenement flat with a box of chocolates for his mum and

an invitation to her son to sign for Aberdeen.

Young Miller needed little persuasion and, happy to leave a city

divided by religion, the 16-year-old moved north.

Initially he was farmed out to Highland League club Peterhead where he

struck the back of the net 23 times in a season to become their top

scorer and he also helped them win the Aberdeenshire Cup.

Goals did not come so readily when he lined up for the young Dons in

the 1972-73 season and it was the illness of his close friend Ian Hair

which prompted Aberdeen coach Teddy Scott to try him as a defender in

the reserves -- a role he filled like a veteran. His first-team debut

came in the final 37 minutes of that season when manager Jimmy Bonthrone

took him off the bench to replace Arthur Graham up front against Morton

in a side which included the gifted Zoltan Varga.

In the opening game of the following season against Motherwell Miller

had moved to sweeper wearing the No. 6 shirt which he has since made his

own. So far he has turned out 912 times for the Dons and expects to be

close to 1000 before he even thinks about hanging up his boots.

He also hopes his family will be holidaying in Italy next summer to

see him play in his third World Cup finals. Whatever the future holds he

has no aspirations to be a referee, although opposition fans have

suggested he has been practising for several years. He does, however,

seem keen on moving to the managerial side when his playing days are

over as he reveals in his autobiography, The Miller's Tale, published

later this week by Mainstream Publishing.

Dedication and determination have played a major part in making Willie

Miller the most successful footballer in Scotland outside the Old Firm,

not least because he has had to persuade most managers, including Alex

Ferguson and Billy McNeil, that he deserved a place in their team.

Alex Ferguson has admitted he was initially unenthusiastic about the

man he now describes the finest player he has ever managed.

The determination which helped him win the respect of a series of

managers from Eddie Turnbull to Alex Smith was instrumental in his

fightback from a knee operation last season. His hunger for further

honours, and to reach Italy next year, spurred him on to full fitness

after the worst injury of his 18 years with Aberdeen. The effort has

been worthwhile, for under his captaincy Aberdeen won last month's

League Cup final adding a third winners medal in that competition to

Miller's trophy cabinet which also includes winners medals from the

European Cup Winners' Cup, the European Super Cup, three league

championships, and four Scottish Cups.

The League Cup victory also made him the first and last Scottish

captain to raise a domestic trophy in the eighties having started the

decade by winning the championship.

For a man so intent on his football during a match it is surprising to

learn that the subject is scarcely mentioned in his home. Indeed it is

Claire who is the armchair fan collecting videos of all his Scotland

matches since his first under-23 cap in 1974.

''He never talks about football in the house and only watches the

occasional European match or a video if he wants to see a controversial

incident,'' said Claire.

Although he likes to socialise with their friends, who include Rangers

captain Terry Butcher and his wife Rita, Willie is happy to sit quietly

reading a book or play a round of golf in the spare time his football

and business interests allow. He and Claire are also regular theatre

attenders and they enjoy browsing round antique shops and fairs.

He has something of a reputation for being able to sleep anywhere at

any time and a friend who shared ''Ma Maxwell's'' digs with him in

Aberdeen's Constitution Street in his early playing days said: ''He

never seemed to be out of his bed. It was always a struggle to get him

going.''

Nowadays, with a large Aberdeen pub and an interest in a residential

and nursing home, the catnaps are few and far between. He does,

apparently, still manage a snooze on the club bus on the journey south

he has made so often.

Alex McLeish has formed a unique partnership with Willie Miller at

club and international level and they have forged a solid friendship

based on mutual respect.

Over the years they have developed an instinctive understanding on and

of the pitch.

''I think I know what makes him tick and when he needs peace,'' said

the other half of the famous partnership who shares a room with him on

club and international trips.

''He's quiet, but he has a subtle sense of humour.

''He is the man at Aberdeen Football Club. It doesn't matter whether

I, or anyone else, is jealous of that, it is a fact, and he is probably

their greatest ever player.''