Lennon Miller's Journey Back to Scotland Squad

Liverpool felt a long way from Boston and Miami that night on the Mersey.

Three thousand, one hundred and ninety-six miles separate Everton’s Hill Dickinson Stadium from the home of the New England Patriots, where Scotland would walk out for their World Cup opener against Haiti in June. On 31 March, in the cold on the banks of the river, that distance was already starting to form in Lennon Miller’s mind.

He just didn’t know it yet.

The Udinese midfielder had been pulled into Steve Clarke’s squad for the friendlies against Japan at Hampden and Ivory Coast in Liverpool. Supporters had been desperate to see something new, a glimpse of the next generation. Miller never kicked a ball.

Instead, the enduring image from that camp came after full-time at Hill Dickinson Stadium – Miller on the touchline, his dad Lee at his side, a consoling arm around his son. It looked like a quiet moment. It turned out to be a warning.

When Clarke named his squad for his World Cup farewell against Curacao, the door closed a little more. Uncapped Manchester United 19-year-old Tyler Fletcher got the call. The former PFA Young Player of the Year was left out. The World Cup squad came and went. Miller was nowhere near it.

“It was really difficult. It was a difficult summer. There’s no getting away from it,” Lee, a former Scotland international himself, said. “As a family, we had to get round about him.

“He’s been in the game long enough. Obviously, as a player, he’s been in the game a few years.

“But with myself being in the game, just a few words of wisdom and encouragement. And, listen, it wasn’t to be for him. Obviously somebody wasn’t meant to go to the World Cup for whatever reason.

“But he just needs to get on with things and knuckle down and work hard.”

So he did. And football, as it always does, moved on.

New manager, new chance

The Clarke era is over. Sebastien Pocognoli has walked into the job with a clear brief from the Tartan Army – shake it up.

He has listened. His first Nations League squad for the upcoming double header has a different feel, a different shape. And right in the middle of that change, Miller’s name is back on the list.

Now 20 and into his second season with Udinese, he finally looks settled after the upheaval of leaving Motherwell and Scotland behind. The raw teenager who was thrown into the Fir Park first team six days after turning 16 is starting to look like a Serie A midfielder.

He has played in all five of I Bianconeri’s league matches this season, starting the last two. The coaching staff have trusted him in the cup as well – Miller went the full 90 minutes in the Italy Cup win over Venezia earlier this month and featured heavily in both of Udinese’s victories in that competition.

The minutes are stacking up. So is his confidence.

For Lee Miller, who will pull on an Aberdeen shirt again at the Tennent’s Sixes tournament next month, the progress is clear, and the timing could hardly be better with a new Scotland head coach to impress.

“It’s great to see him back in. And the manager had a nice Facetime with him the day before the squad was announced,” he said. “So real positive on the front foot.

“The first season [in Italy is] obviously to try and find his feet, bed in a little bit. This season, he’s had more minutes already. So it’s been really good.

“If anything, he’s developing every single day over there. It’s a totally different regime, totally different set up, lifestyle. Everything about it has been excellent.

“So he just needs to continue doing what he’s doing there. And hopefully take it in the Scotland squad.”

The World Cup passed him by. The Nations League might just be where Lennon Miller finally steps in.