Former Celtic academy graduate, Liam Miller passed on Friday was honoured by James Forrest during the win over Patrick Thistle over the weekend. His death got to many as he was commemorated with a minute silence before kick off on Saturday at Celtic Park.
Miller joined the Hoops academy in 1997 and cane through the developmental stage at the club before making his debut under Kenny Dalglish in 2000 against Dundee United. That happened to be the last game Dalglish took charge of at Celtic before departing the club.
This did not stop the improvement Miller made as new coach, Martin O’Neil put his trust in the player. He went on to sign a four years deal at Celtic Park and made tremendous impact during that four years.
He decided to move abroad to Manchester United after his contract expires to seek bigger challenge under Sir Alex Ferguson. Things did not work exactly as expected as competition for a starting shirt at Old Trafford made him settle for a place on the bench.
As things started going south, he decided to move to Sunderland which started a run of short spells across various clubs which include Queen’s Park Rangers, Hibernian before spells in Australia and the USA, where he was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer in November. It was at this point his health started to deteriorate.
James Forrest was had arrived at Celtic academy when Miller was still at the club and he was duly recognised when he scored in the Scottish FA cup. This was a proof of how the Celtic academy has produced magnificent players and is still producing more.
Forrest has been in impeccable form lately and he showcased it last weekend. His 16 goals so far this season is his best return and he’s likely to increase the tally before the end of the season.
Celtic are on course to win a domestic double and are facing Russian side, Zenit St. Pertersburg in the Europa league this Thursday.