THRILLER MILLAR.

Free transfer John gets the glory at last.

SCOTTISH CUP SPECIAL

PHIL GORDON

3 Apr 1993

RANGERS V HEARTS (at Parkhead)

MONEY can't buy you love, and sometimes all it brings is heartache .

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as John Millar knows only too well.

The Hearts ace's career has been dogged by big-spending managers and expensive players and it's a scenario he's desperate to avoid in today's semi-final showdown at Parkhead.

He will confront a blue-chip Rangers midfield of Trevor Steven, Stuart McCall, Ian Ferguson and Pieter Huistra.

That foursome cost £5 million in transfer fees to assemble; Millar is a two-time free-transfer man - it hardly seems fair.

Given the 26-year-old former Chelsea and Blackburn player's past experiences with football's money men, you would forgive him for not even turning out today, for the Tynecastle midfielder has been:

* DUMPED by Chelsea when they shelled out £1m for a replacement in the shape of Tony Dorigo.

* DUMPED by £2.8m England striker Ian Wright, whose goals for Crystal Palace destroyed his big-time dream at Blackburn, and .

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* DUMPED in favour of £1m man Roy Wegerle, when Blackburn decided to buy success.

Millar is not bitter about his past experiences, but he'd love Parkhead to be the occasion when he evens the score and pays the transfer aristocrats back.

"Certainly, clubs always find it easier to dispense with someone who has cost nothing, compared to a player they have paid big money for.

"I suppose I've been unlucky in that I've always played at clubs where the competition for places has been fierce.

"And when both couldn't get the success they wanted, they went out and bought a new player .

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and I was the one who suffered."

Lanark-born Millar was playing in England's top flight as a teenager when he broke into the Chelsea team in the mid-80s.

"I'd gone there straight from school and Chelsea had a really good team then.

"I didn't expect to get into the team at 17 but I did, at full-back, and felt I was doing well even though it was not my position.

"Then we got thumped by Nottingham Forest.

The whole defence got the runaround but I was the one who was dropped.

"After that, I was in and out of the side, but when Chelsea signed Tony Dorigo I knew I would be moving on."

Millar was handed a free transfer and Don Mackay signed him for Blackburn where he played over 150 games.

"I was there for four years," Millar reflects, "and was rarely out of the team and, more importantly, played in midfield which is my natural position."

Then came the 1989 promotion play-off nightmare at Crystal Palace which still haunts Millar.

CHANGES

"We won the first leg 3-1 at home, but in the return game Ian Wright scored scored early on and then added another near the end and it went into extra time.

Palace scored again and we were left with nothing.

"We had a bad time the following season, then Jack Walker bought Blackburn and all the changes started.

"He brought out the cheque book and it meant I had to start looking for another club - fortunately Joe Jordan gave me a chance at Hearts."

Millar quickly shone, and it established him in Hearts' plans.

"I scored seven goals last season and those were a big help to me because when you come to a club as a free transfer, it's sometimes harder to prove yourself.

"I think the fact that I had played against the likes of Stuart McCall in England helped me settle here, although it's been tougher this season because I was injured for the first quarter."

However, Millar is still the only Tynecastle man to score against Gers this term - in the recent 2-1 league defeat at Ibrox - and he believes hard-luck Hearts could finally bury their nearly-men tag in front of a 53,000 crowd.

Appropriately, given the venue, he declares: "We're due a rub of the green against Rangers.

Maybe this will be it.

"Hearts have only won once against them since I came to the club, but the games have been pretty close.

We feel we have a chance, if we get a break.

"Rangers are a class side and have proved how good they are over the course of the league and in Europe.

"Their midfield is packed with quality, where McCall and Steven have been so important.

"But cup semi-finals can often throw up shock results.

It's a one-off game.

"My contract is up at the end of the season - and I don't want another free transfer," he laughs.

"So if I scored against Rangers again and it took us to the final, it wouldn't do me any harm."

Taken from the Herald