ST MIRREN boss Ian Murray has welcomed Alex Miller to his backroom team and admitted – he’s a better coach than me. Miller replaces Mark Spalding as Saints' assistant manager with Murray feeling he needed more experience in the dug-out as he tries to get the team away from the bottom half of the Championship table.
The 66 year-old Miller has a glittering CV that includes managing St Mirren, Hibs and various clubs overseas, and was also Rafa Benitez’s assistant when Liverpool won the Champions League in 2005. No timeframe has been set on how long he will stay with the Paisley club but Murray believes both he and his players can learn a huge amount from such a respected figure.
He said: “We felt we maybe needed to add some experience to the backroom staff over the short to medium-term and Alex certainly provides that for us. When you’ve got someone like that willing to come in and help – and at such short notice, too – then you have to move very quickly to get them. His style is totally different to Mark’s but hopefully it will bring about an upturn in fortunes. He’s worked with some really good, high-calibre players. He’s been around the block, working abroad as well, and his tactical knowledge of football is second to none. We had a good chat when we met up in Edinburgh. We met in the afternoon and it was concluded around teatime – that’s how fast it all moved.
“He was very keen to get involved in coaching, allowing me to dip in and out of it. That’s great for me as I can learn so much from his sessions. He has no intention of being a manager so it works well for all of us.
“I watched his team when he was Hibs manager. And I sometimes came across him on coaching courses and was always very impressed with his knowledge of football. He brings little things that should make our players better. He’s a better coach than me – no question. He’s been in the game 30 or 40 years, he’s double my age just about, and someone like that you can always learn from. If you can’t learn from a guy with his experience, with some of the clubs he’s been at and the managers he’s worked with, then I need to take a look at myself. But I think I can.”
Murray admits the pair won’t always see eye to eye but is happy with that. He added: “I think you need someone who will maybe disagree with you at times and stand up to you. Alex will certainly do that. He’ll tell you what he thinks and he’ll do that with the players as well. We’ll take his knowledge and try to use it to our advantage. Ultimately we all want the same thing which is St Mirren to win games. It’s just how Alex and I work together to make that happen. The decision ultimately still lies with the manager but the assistant has a huge say in things, too.”
Murray was sorry to see Spalding leave but felt it was for the benefit of the club. He added: “We’re all disappointed that Mark isn’t still here. It’s not about us falling out. But something had to change as results weren’t good enough. It was maybe just the wrong club at the wrong time for him. We felt we needed to have someone who has been there and done it and can relate more to the situation we’re in.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel