Born on this day in 1981 was former Manchester United and Sunderland midfielder Liam Miller, a talent who tragically passed away in 2018 at just 36 years old.
Liam joined Celtic as a youth player in 1997, but didn't make his full professional debut until 2000. He was seen as a very promising prospect at the time and ex-Sunderland manager Martin O'Neill offered him a contract in 2004, with his aim being to build a squad around this rising talent.
This would mark the end of a long seven years at the club as it transpired he had signed a pre-contract with footballing giants Manchester United. Disappointingly, to quote Miller "Man Utd didn't work out" and he only went on to make nine appearances for the Red Devils.
After what was yet another disappointing spell, this time at Championship side Leeds, he was snatched up by Roy Keane's Sunderland. Here, he found a greater level of success than he had done with his previous clubs, starting 57 times for the Black Cats, including during our promotion season to the Premier League.
It was around this time that Miller played his last games for his home country of Ireland, making 21 appearances for the senior national team, but he had played an integral role in the setup since his days as a youth, playing for the U16 squad.
After this time, he moved between several clubs at varying levels from the top tiers of English football and the US third division. Tragically, in November 2017, he made it public that he had been receiving treatment for cancer, at the young age of just 36. He returned to his hometown of Cork, but by this point it was sadly too late. The football world's worst fears were confirmed when Miller was very sadly announced dead on 9th February 2018, just four days before his 37th birthday. For his memorial, a game was played between a Manchester United XI and a team consisting of Ireland and Celtic players in his hometown of Cork.
He will always be remembered as a talent taken from us way too early. A football-loving lad from Cork, who went on to flourish under fellow Irishman Roy Keane at Sunderland, as well as appearing for his boyhood club Celtic.
Rest in Peace, Liam Miller.
