Miller vows to battle on

May 21 2008 by Stuart Rayner, The Journal

HAVING worked himself back into manager Roy Keane’s good books, Liam Miller has set the target of playing his way off Sunderland’s transfer list.

The Republic of Ireland midfielder was told he could leave in February after Keane grew weary of his poor time-keeping. But after a spell out of the side, Miller worked his way back into the team which faced Newcastle United in April and was once more a regular from that point on, starting three of the last four games and coming off the bench in the other.

Despite that the former Celtic and Manchester United player remains on the transfer list and his next goal is to change that.

“It sure has been an eventful season,” he said. “Things happened and that’s that, but I got back in the team and we managed to stay up as well, which is good.

“It’s going okay. We will just have to wait and see now. I just got my head down, trained hard and got myself back in the team. I think he (Keane) has been happy enough, I suppose. Things have gone okay.

“I would imagine I am still on the list, but I am trying to play my way off it. That’s the best thing I can do at the moment.”

Miller was not the only player to force his way back into Keane’s plans after being listed last season. Ian Harte and Ross Wallace did likewise, although the former was released at the end of last season.

Unlike many of his team-mates, Miller’s campaign is yet to finish. He is in Portugal as part of Giovanni Trapattoni’s training camp and is expected to start Saturday’s friendly against Serbia at Croke Park.

Rather than feel sorry for himself at having his summer holiday eroded, Miller sees it as an opportunity to press his claim for a regular place in the veteran Italian’s plans for the 2010 World Cup qualifiers.

“There are other teams in the Champions League, so they are still playing away,” he said. “It’s not a big deal, to be honest, it’s great.

“There are injuries and some players unavailable at the moment so it is a chance for every player to stake a claim in the team, and that’s what we are trying to do.”

Miller started Sunday’s 1-1 draw with Portimonese and was a substitute in the 3-1 win over Lagos on Monday.

Paul McShane started both and club-mate Daryl Murphy was in the XI on Sunday but a substitute against Lagos, along with Carlisle United’s uncapped goalkeeper Kieren Westwood.

Murphy missed training with an Achilles injury yesterday but is expected to be fit to face Serbia.

Meanwhile, Keane has declared himself happy with Sunderland’s pre-season programme – though it may not yet be complete.

“Pre-season is not always easy to organise,” he said. “We’re fairly happy with it.

“The dilemma we were facing was two or three weeks ago we were still fighting relegation.

“We’re going to Portugal and Ireland and we’ve got games against Forest and Ajax. I’m fairly happy but there might be room for one more game.”

In an interview with the Black Cats’ official website he also revealed the club had been looking to go somewhere more unusual than the Iberian peninsula – a regular training-camp venue under Keane – and Ireland, and hinted at further-flung tours in future.

“We did look at going to Australia but it didn’t work out,” he said. “We’re trying to spread the name of Sunderland – maybe over the next year or two we can spread our wings. The trips we’re organising are ideal in that travel is not too bad and we’re going to face tough competition.”