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“I’m actually very proud of how competitive the club became over the five years. Last season was very disappointing. I think it was a wee bit unfair where we finished up, because I think there were times where we deserved to win or even tie in some of those loses.”

A Vancouver resident, Miller spent an enormous amount of time away from his family to manage the club. A strong proponent of Canadian soccer, he worked hard to promote national talent.

“I really want to thank the support that I had from my family,” he said. “As you know, I lived in Edmonton on my own for nine months of the year. I’m home now, and in fact, I’ve been home about a month now, so the wife is almost getting tired of me and wanting me out of the house now.”

Miller admits he evolved during his time in Edmonton. As coach, he had to deal with a number of issues away from the field.

The NASL was downgraded to Division 3 status by the United States Soccer Federation for the upcoming season, which has put its future in jeopardy. Currently, the league is litigating in an attempt to restore its Division 2 status.

“I think I’ve changed dramatically from the Colin Miller that arrived, who was almost an angry guy, it seemed, to a guy that now is a bit more mellow, a bit more thoughtful in what he says, although he’s still very passionate about the game and the club,” he said. “I believe I did change. I changed as a coach, I was willing to try different things and different systems of play and things like that. And I think I’ve come away from FC Edmonton now a better, well-rounded manager and coach. And some of the situations I had to deal with, you couldn’t script it.”

Dvandiest@postmedia.com

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