Paddy Miller says he asked to be released from his contract at Bradford (Park Avenue) after false promises were made
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Paddy Miller has revealed the reasons behind his exit from Bradford (Park Avenue).
The former Scarborough Athletic defender asked to be released from his contract at Horsfall Stadium after promises of first team football were not kept.
Miller had left Farsley AFC, where he had won the supporters’ player of the year, to play in the Conference North with Bradford after John Deacey had put in a lot of effort to sign him.
Miller told Non League Yorkshire: “It has been an experience.
“I met some good people at the club. Behind the scenes there are some good people.
“The assistant manager Mark Hume, I’ve only known him a short time, but he was sound and always honest.
“It’s disappointing how it has worked out.
“There has been some false promises from John and it’s just a shame that it wasn’t more open and honest.”
Alarm bells started ringing before the Witton Albion pre-season friendly on August 2.
Miller was originally told he was not in the squad and was surplus to requirements before being informed other-wise by former Farsley Celtic boss Deacey.
He featured at Witton, but, was then excluded from the side that opened the campaign up at Gloucester City and that prompted him to force his exit.
“During the week when the other lads were getting text messages about the game against Gloucester and I hadn’t heard anything” he said.
“I tried speaking to John over two days, but he wasn’t answering my calls and I sent him a text message which he didn’t answer.
“I spoke to Mark and he was honest. He told what had been said (privately).
“I said: ‘Mark, I’m being messed about a bit and I just want to be released from my contract. I could sit here on my contact and get paid, but I don’t want that because I’m 24 and I need to be playing’.
“He agreed and within an hour he had spoke to John and they agreed to release me.”
Paddy Miller in action for Bradford (Park Avenue) at Tadcaster Albion last month
The chain of events are even more stranger because Deacey had gone to great lengths to persuade Miller to leave Throstle Nest.
He approached the defender in early June and it took a few conversations to get his signature, as Miller explained.
“John phoned me up and told me that he had been to watch four or five times and was really impressed and thought I was one of the best centre-halves at our level of football,” he said.
“He said I was different to other centre-halves because I like to play out with the ball and a bit quicker.
“I explained to him that I was happy at Farsley and had agreed a deal in principle with Neil (Parsley), but hadn’t signed anything.
“He told me that I was 24 and needed to test myself at the highest standard I could and told me it was time to step-up.
“I said I needed a bit of time to think about it and he said ok.
“He then wanted to meet me a couple of days later for a coffee to discuss it face-to-face.
“We met up and he told pretty much the same stuff and told me that he wanted to give a year’s contract and the club wanted a year’s option to protect themselves.
“He told me that I was someone who could play even higher than that (Conference North) from what he had seen.”
Miller’s departure was revealed by Non League Yorkshire on Monday night and his phone has been red hot since.
But, he’s not rushing to sign anywhere and he admits he can’t expect to go back to Farsley.
“Since it came out on Monday night, I’ve had a few offers,” he added.
“I’m taking my time, I’m in no rush. I’m going to wait a week or two to decide what I want.
“It will be hard to go back to Farsley because I can’t expect to leave and walk back into a club.
“They have brought new centre-halves in and I genuinely want Farsley to get into the play-offs this year.
“It is a great club and everyone knows how much I enjoyed my time there.”