One for the oldies

Just had half hour with Alister Miller.
many will remember him for his 9 years at BFC in the 70's..had a good chat about Reds but sadly he can't travel these days...Ali wishing all the best for BFC and the fans at Wembley...
COYR

 

Ali Miller midfield maestro

 

Is he still local ?
I used to see him regularly at the ground quite a long time ago … attending home games that is.
His type of play is sadly scarce nowadays

 

saw my 1st ally miller bender at belle vue 1978, and i saw myself on telly the next day, but i didn't let the fame go to my head and still went to skool monday ;-)

 

That free kick that made 2-2 i think

 

Seem to remember we got him from a Glasgow junior club called Benburb, he was a Glaswegian by birth. I'm sure others will remember him scoring with a free kick from outside the box against Donny in, I think, 1978. The shot wasn't hard but there was such a terrific "bend" on it into the top corner that the goalkeeper didn't have a prayer of stopping it.....

 

Ally. sweet left foot. Good footballer.

 

I remember my dad shouting "come on turn it on Ali", he usually did.

 

He was the original Connor Hourihane

 

Alistair Alistair Millar

 

Beat me to it

 

The only player I’ve seen go on a run down the wing and beat 27 players, because he was really skilful but also quite slow, so the defenders used to come back round and queue up again!

I can still remember the chant of ‘Ali, Ali’ whenever we got a free kick within shooting distance. My favourite free kick of his was in the 6-2 win against Port Vale on Boxing Day. The keeper spent ages running from one post to the other, lining his wall up, and was by one post when the ref blew his whistle, so Ali just dinked it into the other side. That was my favourite game for a long time. I didn’t travel up from London for the Huddersfield game, giving my lucky mate my ticket, so 6 is the most I’ve seen us score. I was convinced we’d get 7 against Morecambe and, had we not made all the substitutions, we would have done.

 

My memories were he was a bit on and off (started watching about 75) but very skillful.
Can remember us playing Millwall at oakwell, who were 1st or 2nd and us beating them (think 2.
1 or 0) and him playing them like a Brazillian!......massive talent. my dad thought him lazy.
Think Clarkey told him to smarten himself up when he took over as player manager.

 

One of the most skilful Barnsley players it's been my privilege to watch. Unfortunately, he played at a time when players like him got no protection from dirty, brutal defenders by referees.

 

A player who had a real twinkle in his boots from day one. Wonderful, and typically Scottish, ball skills which mesmerised opponents and could unlock the tightest of defences. The sort of player who seemed to have the ball tied to his boot laces at times. Seemed to end up playing quite a lot on the left wing for us, but also in centre midfield. He had some weaknesses, which were probably why he wasn't picked up by the Scottish elite and didn't go on to greater things from us. I think it was John McSeveney who stated that he couldn't tackle and couldn't head a ball, but of which had small elements of truth, but were probably weaknesses rather a total lack. I liked the things he could do with the ball and he could run rings round opponents at times with a real arrogance. Great memories. Went on to play for York City.

 

About 75ish we played Gillingham in a night match,they were run away leaders of Div 4.. Ally put one in the top corner of the old kop end to make it 1-0 from the edge of the box. We went of to beat em 3-1
Then a couple of weeks later same kop end same top corner .. but a bit farther out 25yards Vs Hartlepool. But my favourite Millar goal was into the ponty around Christmas time,. Saturday game but lights on second half. The team was Northampton and the goalie was our old mate Alan Starling (Starling Starling lay us n egg) Who went on to Huddersfield later. Any way he bent one round Starling who was on his front post.. into the far corner from the goal line in-between the six yard line and the eighteen yard line with everyone expecting a cross.
The man had a wand of a left foot.. but not the most mobile or he surely would have played at an higher level

 

Great player back in the day, with an absolute wand of a left foot. He used to work at Redferns a few years back alongside a mate of mine who said he’s also a lovely bloke.

 

Just dug back for Ali references on here as I've just met him in M&S.
What a lovely guy and what a left peg. Had to thank him for entertaining us back in the day.
I walked away and he called me back to tell me about the free kick you've just mentioned I think
He said that Clarkey was angry with him for not laying it off. He then went in to demonstrate how he curled it into tbe top corner with the outside of his left foot.
Quality.

 

I think it's amazing that this hero of our past and long time resident of our Town is always miss called by everyone. Its true he is Ali Millar, but its Alexander Millar not Alistair.