William Ferguson Miller MBE (born 2 May 1955) is a Scottish former professional football player and manager, who made a club record 560 league appearances for Aberdeen.
[4][2] Having been on unofficial schoolboy terms in 1969, Miller signed full-time for Aberdeen in 1971 at the age of 16 and spent a season on loan with Peterhead in the Highland League, scoring 24 goals;[5][2] upon his return he was converted to a central defender/sweeper in the reserves on the advice of Teddy Scott,[4][6] winning the SFL Reserve Cup in 1973,[7] established himself in that position in the first team in place of Henning Boel,[1][2] and by 1975 had been made captain by manager Ally MacLeod.
[4][9][2] A farewell testimonial match in his honour took place in December 1990 with Aberdeen facing a 'World Cup XI' (featuring Kenny Dalglish, David O'Leary, Mark Hughes and Danny McGrain among others) at Pittodrie Stadium.
[4][9] Although he did not play in the 1990 FIFA World Cup finals, Miller was presented with the match ball from Scotland's 1–0 loss to Brazil to thank him for his contribution to Scottish football.
[20] Despite two second-place finishes in the league and two losing cup finals in 1992–93, Miller was sacked in February 1995[2][6][21] with the club in danger of being relegated for the first time in its history (survival was eventually achieved via a playoff).
[2] He played a large role in the appointment of Jimmy Calderwood (a friend from their Glasgow Schools days)[1] as manager,[22] as well as progressing the club's youth academy.