A boyhood Linfield supporter from the Shankill area of Belfast, Kirk Millar is currently in his Testimonial season. The right winger came through the Linfield Academy from the age of ten before stepping up to Linfield Swifts at 15, followed by making his senior debut for the Blues against Portadown in a CIS Cup tie on December 17, 2008.

 

Millar then secured a transfer from Linfield to Oldham Athletic in June 2009, signing a scholarship agreement. He would go on to make his debut for the Latics under the reign of Dave Penny, coming on as a substitute in a 2-2 draw with Wycombe Wanderers on March 13, 2010. A couple of weeks later he made his first start, in a 3-2 defeat against Brentford. He signed a two-year professional deal in April 2010, however this coincided with the arrival of former Manchester City player Paul Dickov as manager, and Millar’s opportunities became limited. He spent a month on loan with Chorley in October 2012. Millar then played a key role in Oldham’s survival in League One once Lee Johnson took over in March 2013, with the winger recording a number of important assists. Millar was released by Oldham Athletic at the end of the 2013-14 season after struggling with injuries. During his time at Oldham he played alongside former Linfield players Glenn Belezika and Carl Winchester, and current Premier League defender James Tarkowski.

 

Prior to signing for Linfield, Millar guested for Shamrock Rovers as a trialist in a friendly match in which he scored against Wolverhampton Wanderers at Tallaght Stadium on July 14, 2014. The then newly-appointed Linfield manager Warren Feeney signed Millar for Linfield in August 2014 following a successful trial period for a second spell with the Blues. Millar was 22 years old at the time and had represented Northern Ireland U21s on 10 occasions.

 

Throughout Millar’s career he had played a lot of matches as a centre forward, as well as a number of matches on the wing, but when David Healy took over as Linfield manager in October 2015, Millar was deployed as a traditional right winger and he quickly became known as the ‘assist king’ to many Blues supporters.

 

His first season was one of adaptation where he was mainly a substitute, recording six assists, before establishing himself as a regular in the team in his second season, contributing seven goals and 21 assists. He scored his first Linfield goal in a 3-0 win away to Carrick Rangers on August 12, 2015.

 

At the beginning of the 2021-22 season, following the departure of Andy Waterworth, Millar succeeded the number seven shirt, vacating the number 12 shirt that he’d occupied in his first seven seasons at Linfield.

 

In Millar’s first ten seasons at Windsor Park he recorded an average of 18.8 assists per season.

 

Only Jamie Mulgrew, Matthew Clarke and Noel Bailie MBE have made more appearances for Linfield in Europe.

 

Millar has scored three goals in Europe for Linfield – two in a 3-2 win away to FK Sutjetska in Montenegro in a third round UEFA Europa League qualifier, and another memorable goal when he chipped the ‘keeper in the 82nd minute of a 1-0 win against Norwegian side Bodo/Glimt in a UEFA Champions League second round qualifier in July 2022

 

He captained Linfield and scored twice on his 400th appearance for the Blues, in a 6-1 home Premiership win against Newry City on September 30, 2023.

 

At the end of the 2023-34 season, Millar had made 437 Linfield appearances in total, scoring 58 goals and assisting 188 times.