Andy Millen is delighted to be back in football

Aug 5 2010 by Andrew McGilvray, Hamilton Advertiser

ANDY Millen this week thanked Hamilton boss Billy Reid and chairman Ronnie MacDonald for giving him another crack at SPL football.

Millen didn’t need to think about it when he was offered the post of assistant manager at New Douglas Park and ended up flying to the club’s training camp in Spain the following day.

Millen (45) admits it was a whirlwind appointment but is delighted to be part of the backroom set-up.

He said: “It was an easy decision to come here once I spoke to Billy and the chairman, because it meant coming to a club and a team that’s moving in the right direction.

“The SPL is the only place to be; if you’re a player you want to play at the highest level and it’s the same for a coach or a manager.

“In Scotland the only place to be is the Premier League. I know how difficult it is to get out of the First Division, but Hamilton have done that and proved they’re more than a match for anybody in the SPL.”

Millen added: “It was a whirlwind start. On the Sunday afternoon I was going out shopping with the wife when I got a phonecall at about 2.30pm – before I knew it I was on a plane on Monday evening to go to Spain.

“I was thrilled, and now the hard work begins.”

Defender Millen and midfielder Reid were part of a solid Accies side that won back-to-back B&Q Challenge Cup titles in 1991-92 and 1992-93, and both were highly regarded by supporters.

The partnership resumed when both were coaches at Clyde from 2001-04 when Millen left for St Mirren.

Millen admits that the fact he’s good friends with Reid and knows MacDonald from Clyde helped in his decision.

He said: “I got to know Billy when I played at Hamilton Accies from 1991-93 and we struck up a decent rapport, professionally as well, because he was part-time and so was I.

“I had three great years at Hamilton and I was very fortunate to play with a lot of good players. We had some good times here.

“When I left Accies I moved on to Kilmarnock, but I will always be grateful for the opportunity that (then manager) Billy McLaren gave me in coming to Hamilton.

“I played with a lot of good players like Jim Weir, Paul McDonald, Billy Reid, Paul McKenzie and John McCluskey to name just a few, and there were a lot more than that.

“When I was at Accies it was very positive, and I’m coming here to a club that’s very positive right now.”

Millen added: “Myself and Billy just seemed to hit it off and I’ve kept in touch ever since.

“I worked with Billy at Clyde when he and I took training for a short time, and we then worked with Alan Kernaghan as a team.

“The fact that I know Billy so well was a big pull – it’s good to know what kind of people you’re going to be working for.”

Millen is full of praise for his new boss and said: “Billy doesn’t need any people to move him on to another direction, he has proved at this club that he’s very astute at what he does, and he’s a very good manager.

“He has proved that by getting out of the First Division and staying in the Premier League with a relatively low budget.”

Millen enjoyed six happy and relatively successful years at St Mirren alongside Gus MacPherson before the former Kilmarnock and Rangers star was surprisingly sacked by the Paisley club in the summer.

Millen said: “I worked at St Mirren for six-and-a-half years and they were good times.

“When Gus MacPherson was sacked I felt that, morally, I should go with him.

“At the end of the day he was the one that gave me the opportunity to go there and work.

“I wasn’t surprised because nothing surprises you in this game.

“This is the 27th year I’ve been involved in the game and nothing would surprise you nowadays, but it’s important for me to be back involved in football.

“People who know me know I’ve got an enthusiasm for the game and that was the first time I had been unemployed since I left school.

“I’m grateful for getting the opportunity from the manager and the chairman, so I just hope everything works out in a positive fashion.

“But at the end of the day I’m just another wee bit of the cog that will go into the wheel and hopefully help it along.”

Looking to the future, Millen is excited about the job ahead of him at a club that is progressing well.

Hamilton emerged from the First Division as champions at the end of season 2007-08, achieved a ninth-placed SPL finish in 2008-09, and bettered that by two places last season.

Part of Millen’s remit will be to help Reid develop some of the club’s excellent young talent, such as Conner McGlinchey, Brian McQueen, Ali Crawford, Kyle Wilkie, Euan Lindsay and Chris Roxburgh, all of whom were in Spain with the first-team squad.

Millen said: “I’ve taken an interest with the kids at every club I’ve been at, and I think they would tell you that.

“I think it’s important that pre-season is used in the right way and I think we’ve done that.

“We’ve got the nucleus of the group of players still here and we’ve got some good players, but importantly as well the manager brought about five or six young kids along to Spain and it’s great experience for them to see what it takes to make the next step.

“Hamilton have certainly had a tradition in the last four or five years of bringing young boys through and producing good quality players.

“It’s the only way forward for a club like Hamilton to survive, in terms of producing your own players and moving them on.

“The boys have done remarkably well over the last few years and I’m just looking to fit in and see how everything works.”

With Hamilton’s SPL curtain-raiser against Aberdeen at Pittodrie only nine days away, Millen says everybody is eager to get stuck in.

“We’re excited,” he said, “but I think the players will be even more so.

“The only place to play is at the top level in Scotland and the boys have been working very hard in Spain, with a couple of bounce games as well, and they’ve looked good.

“There’s just over a week to go before the start of the season, and it will be coming quickly.”