Aberdeen Miller was raised in the East End of
Glasgow, attended
St Mungo's Academy and grew up supporting
Celtic; his father (also Joseph) had been a professional footballer with
Hamilton Academical and
Swindon Town. He was a 12-year-old playing for St Marys Boys Club in
the Calton (the same team which produced
Tommy Burns) when
Alex Ferguson, the manager of
Aberdeen, was alerted to his talents through Miller's uncle who had previously worked as a scout for Ferguson. That was his only appearance of the season, which ended with the club
retaining the league title. Miller remained with the
youth team and was in the side which won the
Scottish Youth Cup in 1985 alongside
Stevie Gray,
David Robertson and
Paul Wright. The final was against
Celtic at
Pittodrie. After trailing 3–0, Miller netted a 35-yard lob to tie the match at 3–3. The comeback was complete in extra-time to secure the trophy with a 5–3 win. Around a year after he made his debut, Miller became a regular in the Aberdeen team, finishing with 19 league games and three goals during
1985–86; he also featured in the quarter-final of the
European Cup against
IFK Gothenburg and came off the bench in the
1986 Scottish Cup Final victory over
Hearts. At that time he was usually playing as a
striker. for a fee of £650,000, which at that time was a Scottish record as well as the highest fee paid for a teenager. the side won the
league and Scottish Cup double in
1987–88, their centenary season; That match was the third in a row in which he had been used as a striker and scored the only goal of the game, but with new strikers
Coyne and
Dziekanowski arriving, 'Super Joe' as he had become known, returned to his previous wing role. He retained his place in the side, although the season finished without a trophy after Aberdeen again prevailed in the
1990 Scottish Cup Final (albeit Miller was named
man of the match), while in the league they could only finish 5th. By this point, Celtic were experiencing
one of the most difficult spells in their history, In
1991–92, new manager
Liam Brady continued to select Miller but results deteriorated further, with defeats to
Airdrie in the League Cup,
Neuchâtel Xamax in the
UEFA Cup and Rangers in the Scottish Cup (despite David Robertson having been sent off in the opening minutes for a challenge on Miller, breaking two of his ribs). By
1992–93, another campaign which would bring not even as much as a final for Celtic,
Return to Aberdeen Although Aberdeen were no longer the dominant force in Scotland as when he first joined in 1983, when Miller returned a decade later they were at least as strong a team as Celtic, having finished runners-up behind Rangers in three of the last four seasons. In
1993–94, with Miller a regular starter under manager and former teammate Willie Miller, another second-place finish was achieved. However the
next season was a different matter, with the club losing to
Stenhousemuir in the Scottish Cup In
1995–96 they regrouped under new manager
Roy Aitken, Miller's former captain at Celtic, and finished third while also winning the
1995 Scottish League Cup Final with victory over Dundee. Miller returned what would be the best personal figures in his career, playing in 40 matches (all starts) and scoring 10 goals. He played with Aberdeen for two more unexceptional seasons, posting 70 further appearances. Coincidentally his final goal for the club came in a 3–0 win against a
Hibernian team led by Billy McNeill, who was acting as
caretaker manager for that match alone. His combined Aberdeen totals of 264 matches and 47 goals are both within the top 50 in the club's all-time list.
Later years In summer 1998, 30-year-old Miller moved to Dundee United. After being released from his contract, he then spent a season in Australia's
National Soccer League, joining newly formed
Parramatta Power for their inaugural season, before returning to Scotland for short spells with
Raith Rovers (under another former teammate,
Peter Hetherston, where he mentored a young
Nacho Novo) and
Clydebank, prior to retiring from the professional game in 2002 to train as a
coach. by which time he was already an experienced player at club level. He never received a full
cap for
Scotland, with the tactics of the time under coach
Andy Roxburgh rarely utilising wingers, plus a direct rival in
Pat Nevin and several competitors for a place as a striker. ==Coaching and management==