Derby County's promotion celebrations at the full-time whistle against Carlisle United this weekend was an outpouring of emotion from everyone associated with the Rams, finally back up to the Championship after languishing in League One for two seasons.
Financial mismanagement had seen the usual promotion challengers up to the Premier League sink at an alarming rate all way down to the low depths of the third tier, with Wayne Rooney bravely taking on the reins as manager during this turbulent period to try and get the beaten group back on track.
Points deductions, however, made relegation down to the third tier feel horribly inevitable, with the club potentially going bust a major anxiety for a while.
Now, they'll look to stabilise in the Championship and not fall foul of any overspending like they did with this notable dud who joined in 2007 with a reputation for being a prolific talisman, only to flop at Pride Park.
Kenny Miller's transfer to Derby
Kenny Miller's lengthy career, up until his retirement in 2020, was predominantly spent in his native Scotland and for good reason when you look at the numbers he managed in front of goal playing in those surroundings.
Finishing his esteemed playing days at Patrick Thistle, Miller lined up for six different Scottish clubs in the end and managed to fire in a magnificent 96 Scottish Premiership strikes along the way.
Therefore, when Billy Davies' Derby signed Miller for £2.25m on the eve of stepping up to the Premier League after promotion, they must have anticipated that the lively and lethal Scotsman would be able to tear up the English top-flight as well.
The deal at the time must have felt like a risk worth taking, especially when you consider that the 5 foot 10 centre-forward bagged a respectable 61 goals for Wolverhampton Wanderers across a five-season stint at Molineux previously before relocating back to Scotland.
Yet, it proved to be a costly error for the Rams who were horrendous throughout the only season Miller donned Derby white, with their points total still the lowest in Premier League history to this day.
Miller's time at Derby
The now-retired 44-year-old striker will view his spell with Derby as a blot on his career resume, with this year at Pride Park meaning Miller – who is more used to lifting Scottish Premiership titles – has the anomaly of a relegation on his CV.
It also won't be a fondly remembered patch of his playing days owing to his ineffectiveness in bagging crucial goals, completely unable to give Derby any slither of hope that they could somehow move up from the very bottom of the division by being a forceful figure up top.
Miller would end up netting an unsatisfactory six goals in all competitions that season, with just one Premier League strike coming the usually deadly Scotsman's way from his last five painful months as a Ram.
Derby would have to make do with cutting their losses for Miller when Rangers swooped in to re-sign their former star when this season was up, losing £250k unfortunately in a deal that saw the underperformer return back to Ibrox for £2m.
It looked like a move that could work when Miller scored on his debut for the Rams, however, against Newcastle United, with that fantastic long-range effort from the one-time Rams number 14 handing his new side their only top-flight win that season.
Still, this career misstep wouldn't see Miller's confidence show visible signs of damage when he returned to play in the bread and butter of Scottish football after walking away from Pride Park.
Miller's deadliness in-front of goal would be instantly reignited under Ally McCoist's management at Rangers, with a staggering 49 goals managed from his next three campaigns in league action.
The Scotsman's poor spell in Derbyshire is made to look even worse when you consider how much this disastrous move would cost in today's inflated market, with the aid of TotallyFootball's Transfer Index adding to the misery of the Rams.
Miller's transfer value in 2024
If this same ill-fated move went through in 2024, Miller would have ended up costing Derby double the amount they originally forked out with his bumped-up value coming in at an excessive £10.3m.
That would make Miller the most expensive buy in Derby's history in a theoretical world as can be seen scanning the table below, only further reinforcing the Scotsman's status as a colossal flop at Pride Park.
1. Matej Vydra
£8m
2. Krystian Bielik
£7m
3. Bradley Johnson
£6.9m
4. Tom Ince
£5.7m
5. Martyn Waghorn
£4.7m
At least Matej Vydra justified his extortionate fee as a centre-forward for Derby as opposed to the wasteful ex-Rams number 14, with the current Viktoria Plzen striker notching up 27 strikes from 80 games in total.
Looking at the current Derby playing squad, Paul Warne and Co have succeeded by being frugal this season instead of splashing out ludicrous amounts of cash, with this approach no doubt going to be utilised once more even with the team moving up a division as it's worked wonders.
James Collins, who is Derby's top scorer in all competitions with 19 strikes this season, has a valuation of just £341k – according to Football Transfers – which rubber-stamps the notion that Warne's men were able to succeed this campaign with cheap stars over flashy and overpriced faces.
The ex-Luton Town attacker is 33 years of age and in danger of not having the legs for the battles to come in the Championship, but when seeking a replacement, the Rams will stray on the side of caution knowing they were let down by Miller once upon a time after the major move looked like it would be a fantastic deal for all involved.
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