YOU could hear him before you could see him. The fog that clung stubbornly to the St Mirren training ground over Tuesday lunchtime meant visibility was limited, especially for those peering nosily through the metal perimeter fence hoping for a better look. The noise, though, echoed clear as day, the repeated peep of a whistle guiding and directing the players like a sheepdog rounding up an errant flock. And then came the unmistakeable voice offering further instruction. Alex Miller was back at work.

Football is an addiction to some people and Miller has got it bad. It is the only rational explanation behind a man of pensionable age opting to forego a winter spent soaking up the sun in Spain and playing golf, to stand in in a field in miserable conditions coaching a struggling SPFL Championship side. Throw in the added hassle of the commute from his Edinburgh home to Paisley and back every day, and the phrase “labour of love” begins to seem like a massive understatement.

“I’ve just joined a golf club and my wife will be going daft as it’s quite expensive and I won’t be seeing much of it,” he tells Herald Sport. “I get in on December 1 and I don’t have a handicap so I was looking forward to getting that down. So I won’t be seeing much of the winter greens. And our Spanish holiday is away, bye-bye birdie. We normally go for three or four weeks in January so we’ll have to delay that. Hopefully, though, these are sacrifices worth making. Training again every day will definitely be a culture shock at the start but I enjoy football so much. I love football. “

Miller has not had a frontline coaching role for three-and-a-half years now but it would be a huge mistake to think he had somehow tired of the game. Anything but. For years he has been turning up at grounds all over Scotland, paying at the turnstile, then intently studying whatever unfolds in front of him. While a partisan supporter may care only whether their team wins or loses, Miller, as a neutral, would be there solely to absorb tactics, formations and other nuances of the game.

“I go to a lot of first and second division games and just pay at the gate,” he reveals. “And people say, “who you scouting for today?” and I’m not doing it for anyone. So I’ve been to Livingston, Hearts, Stenhousemuir, Falkirk, Stirling Albion, Raith Rovers – anywhere really. I go to study the game. Football is evolving so you have to try to keep up with the latest trends. I watch football most nights on the TV and I also get a block of 10 games on a memory stick and study the tactics. I can get in the head of a coach if I just keep watching, watching, watching. I can understand what he’s doing, what he’s trying to do and what his next move may be. I still like to do that. That’s my forte.”

In agreeing to become Ian Murray’s assistant at St Mirren, Miller did not sign a contract. He could walk away at any point, or Murray could decide it isn’t working and terminate their verbal agreement. The hope is it won’t come to that and the pair can feed off each other in a mutually beneficial relationship. There is something of the Mel Gibson and Danny Glover in Lethal Weapon about this union; Murray, at 34, one of the youngest managers in the country, now assisted by the 66 year-old Miller. Murray used to watch Miller’s Hibs teams from the Easter Road terraces but that is as far as their previous relationship went beyond the odd nod of recognition whenever their paths happened to cross.

Murray’s arrival from Dumbarton in the summer was seen as a real coup for recently-relegated St Mirren but the early months have been a struggle, with the team just outside the relegation play-off spot rather than pushing for promotion as had been expected. Miller has replaced Mark Spalding, who was “mutually consented” the day before, with the club evidently believing that Murray needed a more experienced figure by his side. Miller, though, hopes he brings more than just the wisdom of his years.

“I was keen to help a young manager,” he adds. “The other thing was St Mirren’s situation. I felt slightly obliged to help them as they gave me my first chance in the Premier League as a young manager. I like to think as well as experience I bring tactical knowledge, why we should train in a certain way, the recovery of players and such like. I’ve worked at the top level and all these things are important.”

The move brings Miller back to St Mirren after a 29-year absence. As manager he led the club into Europe and is credited with forming the backbone of the side that would go on to win the 1987 Scottish Cup a year after he had moved on to Hibs. With the old Love St stadium now a pile of rubble and the club playing out of a custom-built training ground in an upmarket suburb of the town, Miller conceded a lot has changed.

“We trained at the old Anchor Mill when I was the manager here, and also the Abbotsinch pitches near the airport. The Anchor Mill was a stretch around 42 metres wide and 150 yards long of astroturf and that was it. One of the directors, Allan Marshall, is still on the board but I can’t imagine there will be too many others around.”

He has clearly retained a fondness for the club. When Tommy Craig was removed as manager last December, Miller contacted St Mirren to offer to help in their fight against relegation. That offer wasn’t acted upon but Miller has belatedly made it back. Already he looks at home.