Kenny Miller: Livingston player-manager 'will learn on the job'
- Published
Miller says he has already identified several players he would like to recruit
Kenny Miller is confident of being a success at Livingston even though he admits he will be "learning on the job" as the club's new player-manager.
The veteran former Rangers striker, 38, has signed a two-year deal at the newly-promoted West Lothian club.
He will retain the current backroom staff, including caretaker boss David Martindale, that worked under previous manager David Hopkin.
"I'm confident otherwise I wouldn't have taken the job," Miller said.
"What does the job entail? That's something I'm definitely going to learn on the job. There's a great team of people behind me that have been here a long time, had good success over the last few years, so I'm really confident in the experience they've got to make my job easier than what it might've been at another club, maybe if I was having to look for staff here, staff there.
"There's a working structure at the club that I think is definitely going to be beneficial to helping make this transition a lot easier."
Miller, who admits "our aim is to stay in the league", revealed he has met Martindale "five, six, seven times" in recent weeks to discuss where the team needs strengthening for their first season back in the top flight since 2006.
"I've done my homework on the team and had a few ideas, and both of us are on the same lines on where we need to improve," Miller told BBC Scotland.
"There's a few guys I'd like, a few calls I've made. I've just signed on the dotted line and I've already had about 50 players sent through to me.
Scope to bring players in - Miller
"It's about filtering through them, looking at every possible angle and using every possible resource I've got to get the right people in.
"We've talked about budgets, I'm pretty confident we can get a few bodies in that are going to help the group out."
Miller also hinted he may bring in someone else to join his backroom staff, and would discuss with Martindale "potential targets".
His first competitive match in charge will be a Scottish League Cup match against Airdrieonians on 14 July, with further group games against Hamilton Academical, Annan Athletic and Berwick Rangers before starting their Premiership campaign away at champions Celtic on 4 August.
They will host Rangers, where he had three spells as a player, in the Premiership on 29 September, with a trip to Ibrox on 24 November.
"It's another team we need to face," Miller said. "It's one of the other 11. It'll be good to go back, but I'll be going back with one intention and one intention only.
Miller scored his final goal for Rangers in a 4-0 win over Dundee on 7 April
"This is a big job and the challenge is one I'm really, really looking forward to. Fourteen months ago we were in League One, so it's come pretty quickly, but after what I've seen this morning, I'm really, really happy with the group.
"The spirit, the work ethic in the group is outstanding and David Hopkin should take a lot of credit for that, because it's not easy to get a really good working environment with a dressing room and team spirit this club's got at the moment.
"I'll be looking to harness that and improve them ever so slightly because I think there's a good existing group there."
'I'd be very surprised if he wasn't a success here'
Livingston chief executive officer John Ward explained that the delay in appointing Miller this week was because the two parties had "batted back and forth" clauses in a dual contract that covers his two roles as player and manager.
"To be fair to Kenny, he was still being offered fairly lucrative deals to continue playing," Ward told BBC Scotland. "The leap of faith for him was trusting his judgement that he could move into a managerial role.
"I was very clear that we wanted to have two separate contracts for Kenny - a player's contract and a manager's contract. This is his first time as a manager so they are very different."
Ward stressed that Miller, who he described as a "very strong character" who "understands football and has very clear ideas about how football should be played" won't have a large budget to transform the Lions' squad.
"We've made it clear to Kenny that we don't have lots of cash so if we get into difficulty by January, we can't just chuck some money at it to get a couple of players in," Ward added.
"He is going to have to work with what we've got, and use the same resources that David Hopkin and David Martindale have used previously, with loan signings and being very smart with who we are signing.
"Management in football is not that different to management in business; it is about being able to lead and inspire and direct, and roll your sleeves up and do the work.
"Kenny strikes me as eminently able to do that. I would be very surprised if he wasn't a success here."