Levein rapidly becoming Hearts Alex Miller!

[Brizo]

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Millers main fault in my humble opinion is he should have done far better with the players he had. Obviously had a good eye for a player but his defensive outlook held them back. Frustrating because at times we were unplayable with players like Crunchie, O'Neil, Jackson, Wright and McGinley even Harper. Miller was far too reserved in his outlook.

Agree with that. Its a strange one because he bought some tremendous attacking players and gave games to home-grown flair players like Mickey. But there was a caution to him and over his ten year tenure his teams ranged from exciting to tediously dull. Every manager has a shelf life and Miller should have left when he was on a high. He stayed too long and as well as winning the Skol Cup was also in charge of some really embarrassing hammerings including a 7 0 defeat at Ibrox. Playing his two laddies in the first team was the last straw for me. They were gash and it was pure pish ripping nepotism.

As for comparisons with Potter that's a bit harsh. Lexo had a subsequent successful backroom career at Liverpool and has a cupboard full of medals. Potter only has a career because of Budgie and has no medals.

[KerPlunk]

Photos of a Levein training session for his defenders, new ‘Parking The Bus’ strategies, etc...
https://www.theguardian.com/artandde...e_iOSApp_Other

[Bostonhibby]

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Agree with that. Its a strange one because he bought some tremendous attacking players and gave games to home-grown flair players like Mickey. But there was a caution to him and over his ten year tenure his teams ranged from exciting to tediously dull. Every manager has a shelf life and Miller should have left when he was on a high. He stayed too long and as well as winning the Skol Cup was also in charge of some really embarrassing hammerings including a 7 0 defeat at Ibrox. Playing his two laddies in the first team was the last straw for me. They were gash and it was pure pish ripping nepotism.

As for comparisons with Potter that's a bit harsh. Lexo had a subsequent successful backroom career at Liverpool and has a cupboard full of medals. Potter only has a career because of Budgie and has no medals.

This and the post above are both decent reflections on Miller I feel.

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[Sammy7nil]

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Agree with that. Its a strange one because he bought some tremendous attacking players and gave games to home-grown flair players like Mickey. But there was a caution to him and over his ten year tenure his teams ranged from exciting to tediously dull. Every manager has a shelf life and Miller should have left when he was on a high. He stayed too long and as well as winning the Skol Cup was also in charge of some really embarrassing hammerings including a 7 0 defeat at Ibrox. Playing his two laddies in the first team was the last straw for me. They were gash and it was pure pish ripping nepotism.

As for comparisons with Potter that's a bit harsh. Lexo had a subsequent successful backroom career at Liverpool and has a cupboard full of medals. Potter only has a career because of Budgie and has no medals.

I asked Keith Wright if Miller sent the team out to defend and he told me that did not happen. He said the OF at the time especially Rangers were just so strong they were able to push you back and you simply could not get out your own half on some occasions.

[Kato]

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I asked Keith Wright if Miller sent the team out to defend and he told me that did not happen. He said the OF at the time especially Rangers were just so strong they were able to push you back and you simply could not get out your own half on some occasions.

It's a bit more complex than though is it not? We weren't playing the OF every week and still managed quite a few seasons under Miller where we were dull as dish water. One season we had something like 18 draws!

Micheal O'Neil on being asked what had changed at ER given the attacking nature of his first season here and MO'N said Miller didn't give him any tactics, he just had to go out and do what he wanted. In other words that attacking play was off-the-cuff and nothing to do with Miller other than team selection and giving them free reign.

The most illustrative description of Miller as a manger I've read came from John Burridge who said he was the most cautious manager he had ever worked with (out of dozens in his career). Budgie said most of the weeks' build up to a game would be Miller warning players of the opposition strengths, right up to going out on the park. He felt the team would have done far more if Miller had been a bit more inspirational towards our strengths.

[majorhibs]

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I’m older than you and I’ve been watching Hibs since 1971, and yes facts are facts. What an arrogant way to engage in discussion. You need to take a chill pill. No matter how angry you are, doesn’t make you right, lol.

Miller inherited a total mess. The club was nearly on it’s knees when he came or have you forgotten the relegation battles with the likes of Dumbarton and the dire football under Blackley that preceded him? He took us into a safe place first couple of seasons. Helped navigate the disaster of Duff-Gray and soon after won the first silverware for nearly 20 years. The team reached another final, finished third, won European matches and when he left we dropped like a stone into the second tier.

We could have normal discussion about his failings, there were some or you can just carry on over stimulating yourself?

Nah, Alex, you cane in to a team in the same boat as a few others, you were mair scared of losing than going for
The win, you loved a draw, it was boring, let’s no rewrite history! If you were there, Brian Hamilton was terrible & boo ed almost every week because he could not do the basics & many many moves broke down with this non footballer. But he played 8 defensive years for Lexo

[Mr White]

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Nah, Alex, you cane in to a team in the same boat as a few others, you were mair scared of losing than going for
The win, you loved a draw, it was boring, let’s no rewrite history! If you were there, Brian Hamilton was terrible & boo ed almost every week because he could not do the basics & many many moves broke down with this non footballer. But he played 8 defensive years for Lexo

Brian Hamilton's first game for hibs was in august 1989 and his last was in December 1994 so he played for us for less than 5 and a half years. I'm not convinced your memoirs are fully logged and verified Major.

[majorhibs]

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Brian Hamilton's first game for hibs was in august 1989 and his last was in December 1994 so he played for us for less than 5 and a half years. I'm not convinced your memoirs are fully logged and verified Major.

If I’m wrong I’m wrong, was quite positive it was 8 yrs, certainly felt that long, & he was NEVER dropped followin week no matter how crap! He rattled the bar fi 35 yards V Videoton in Europe, & proceeded to never shoot from distance again! Why? Managers orders? Anyway IMO crap player & crap manager. Nuff said from me.

[superfurryhibby]

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Brian Hamilton's first game for hibs was in august 1989 and his last was in December 1994 so he played for us for less than 5 and a half years. I'm not convinced your memoirs are fully logged and verified Major.

Hey lets not let a few other facts get in the way of Majorhibs’ cultivation of an on-line persona of hatred of the Mogadon era. Lets also ignore the fact that Miller was smart enough to get rid of the double cup winning sideways pass expert to Hearts for more than we paid for him.

How we yearned for the days of Bertie Auld, the original drawmeister, we oinned for the cheeky wee surprise signings who went straight from the East Junior league to our first team under Pat Stanton, not forgetting the embarrassing cup defeats under John Blackley. Ok, Miller years were definitely a disaster, I’m converted.

[majorhibs]

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Hey lets not let a few other facts get in the way of Majorhibs’ cultivation of an on-line persona of hatred of the Mogadon era. Lets also ignore the fact that Miller was smart enough to get rid of the double cup winning sideways pass expert to Hearts for more than we paid for him.

How we yearned for the days of Bertie Auld, the original drawmeister, we oinned for the cheeky wee surprise signings who went straight from the East Junior league to our first team under Pat Stanton, not forgetting the embarrassing cup defeats under John Blackley. Ok, Miller years were definitely a disaster, I’m converted.

Plenty Alex & siblings around the nite, how ye can have midfielders like Collins, Mcginlay, O’Neil, McAllister etc, forwards like Wright, Archibald, Jackson, keepers like Gorka, Leighton etc & only 1 L. Cup win in 10 years, either yer no tryin very hard wi those players & others with ability, or your very, very defensive! I was there, & I am not related. What about you’se?

[Mr White]

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Plenty Alex & siblings around the nite, how ye can have midfielders like Collins, Mcginlay, O’Neil, McAllister etc, forwards like Wright, Archibald, Jackson, keepers like Gorka, Leighton etc & only 1 L. Cup win in 10 years, either yer no tryin very hard wi those players & others with ability, or your very, very defensive! I was there, & I am not related. What about you’se?

We definitely should have won more with Gorka in the side. Criminal really that we didn't

[majorhibs]

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We definitely should have won more with Gorka in the side. Criminal really that we didn't

Beauty of predictive text saying gorka instead of goram, is that it shows up your feebleness in this argument, I reckon even YOU, who wouldnae ken a manager if they were jumping up & down on you, would win more trophies than 1 with above named offensive players, cos Mogadon was in a defensive league of 2, him & 6/4/0 Potter, & naebody else could be that boring & get it that wrong.

[Mr White]

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Beauty of predictive text saying gorka instead of goram, is that it shows up your feebleness in this argument, I reckon even YOU, who wouldnae ken a manager if they were jumping up & down on you, would win more trophies than 1 with above named offensive players, cos Mogadon was in a defensive league of 2, him & 6/4/0 Potter, & naebody else could be that boring & get it that wrong.

I'm not arguing with you, though I did point out a 40% exaggeration on what appeared to be one of your key points.

I agree with what others have said about the era in general and while I also agree that he was often overly defensive and wasn't perfect by any means... to use his good signings and the fact he won a trophy as evidence that he was crap and should have done better seems a bit silly tbh.

[superfurryhibby]

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Plenty Alex & siblings around the nite, how ye can have midfielders like Collins, Mcginlay, O’Neil, McAllister etc, forwards like Wright, Archibald, Jackson, keepers like Gorka, Leighton etc & only 1 L. Cup win in 10 years, either yer no tryin very hard wi those players & others with ability, or your very, very defensive! I was there, & I am not related. What about you’se?

For the younger reader or those less aware of our history. Miller won the fourth major cup final in our then 115 year history. He equalled the achievement of Eddie Turnbull and surpassed Hugh Shaw in that respect, but as we know it’s not just about the facts.

For all the decent players named, and there were a good few others unmentioned, we also had the likes of Joe Tortolano getting over 200 hundred games ( decent effort, but not universally loved by the fans), guys like David Farrell, David Fellinger and Billy Findlay breaking into the team, along with Chris Jackson, Graeme Donald Graeme Love and Darren Dodds. As has often been the case with Hibs, we lacked strength in depth, as shown by the career trajectory of most of these guys once they left Hibs.

As already stated, Millers Derby record was shocking. He was also very dour and whilst guys like Burridge slagged off his weak mentality ( he fell out with Budgie and punted him), lots of the players that played for him speak very highly of him.

The game was changing a lot back then. There was a shift from 443 to more defensive set ups. It wasn’t just at Hibs. When he left it was a case of careful for what you wish. The team was relegated the season after.

I was never a huge fan of Miller at the time, but a bit perspective makes me realise that he was a beacon of positivity compared to quite a lot of the dross we’ve seen since. As for comparison with Levein, there are none.

[BILLYHIBS]

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Brian Hamilton's first game for hibs was in august 1989 and his last was in December 1994 so he played for us for less than 5 and a half years. I'm not convinced your memoirs are fully logged and verified Major.

Remember at the time there was a standing joke that only got a game because he was Alex Millers son-in-law-remember his two laddies. My recollection of Brian Hamilton although much maligned at our club-was an industrious midfielder who would always give you a shift.I had the pleasure of meeting him and would have to say he came across as being a really nice guy.