He is enjoying the best goalscoring season of his career after emerging from Melbourne City’s youth system and playing in Scotland, but there is so much more to Macarthur FC’s Matt Millar than what you see on the field. From a large family household to learning a musical instrument, the Aussie full-back speaks to KEEPUP’s Sacha Pisani.
Matt Millar sitting around a campfire, playing a guitar? It’s a scene few fans would have envisaged – but that picture is the goal for Macarthur FC’s star full-back.
It’s also an insight into what makes him tick away from football.
“I like a bit of golf,” Millar told KEEPUP. “(But) Recently, I’m going to a guitar lesson tonight. My fingers don’t do what my feet do, so it’s tough for me.
“I would always have the idea of trying to play around a campfire. That’s the goal mate. One day.”
For the 26-year-old and Macarthur’s leading scorer this season, it is important to have that balance away from football and the Isuzu UTE A-League.
“As a younger person, I was obsessed with it and would follow a lot,” he said.
“But I think the older you get, you have to try to find the balance to get away from football sometimes and not let it be everything because if things are not and that’s all you’re focused on, it is hard to get away.
“I have two dogs now that easily get you away from football and out of the house. I’m definitely becoming more balanced in that sense. To be honest with you, that sort of helps your performance.
“As you get older, you realise you do have to take a step back from the game and not overanalyse everything.”
‘We used to get police coming down’
There is so much to Millar, even before getting to his football.
Lets start with the fact the Melbourne-born defender has seven brothers AND two sisters!
“It was pretty mental but I loved it because obviously there was a lot of boys running around the house,” he said.
Having nine siblings did make for a problematic time when Millar was back home during the COVID lockdowns in Melbourne.
“They had the one house rule, you couldn’t go more than two people unless they were all in the same family,” he laughed. “We used to get police coming down because people were complaining that there were too many people. But obviously we were all in the same household.”
His goalscoring secret?
Macarthur boast Bachana Arabuli, Al Hassan Toure, Daniel Arzani and Moudi Najjar playing either up front or in forward areas. However, it is their full-back who tops the club’s scoring charts.
With five goals in 19 games, he is also the highest scoring full-back/defender in the A-League Men this season as he enjoys the best goalscoring campaign of his career.
Millar previously scored four goals in 24 matches for Newcastle Jets in 2019-20.
“Delivery-wise I’ve scored a couple of headers and I think when you have players like (Craig) Noone, his ability to cross the ball helps a lot,” he said.
“I also think it’s the system the team players. I feel in this team I’m really encouraged to go forward and get into those goal-scoring positions.”
Millar mentioned system. There has been a change in that regard since Manchester United legend Dwight Yorke departed in January and Socceroos great Mile Sterjovski filled the void.
It has formed part of a topsy-turvy season for the Bulls after they won the Australia Cup under York. As it stands, the Bulls are three points adrift of the finals places. Macarthur also lost inspiration captain Ulises Davila to a season-ending knee injury.
“It’s very different,” he reflected. “Coaches have different mentalities. Dwight came in and it was very different to me.
“His philosophy is he wanted a strong back four that sits and and doesn’t overlap as much. That was a big change for me. At Newcastle Jets I almost played in a back fine and in Scotland I was in a back five. For me it was a massive change to say, okay defending comes first and we want to be hard to concede goals. It’s about adapting.
“Obviously Mile has come in and he likes to see his full-backs overlap and create those two-v-one overloads in the wide areas. Again, it’s buying into the system. It was a very different experience early on.”
‘I don’t think we’ve seen another league like it’
Millar is in the midst of his first season back in the A-Leagues, having spent time abroad at St Mirren in the Scottish Premiership. He had the chance to stay in the UK, but wanted to come home with his girlfriend, who is from Sydney.
Now, Millar and the rest of the competition are witnessing a nail-biting finals race.
With seven rounds remaining, only seven points separate second-placed Western Sydney Wanderers and Macarthur in eighth. Even bottom side Melbourne Victory are mathematically in the hunt to finish in the top six.
“I don’t think we’ve seen another league like it. I think there was a point two or three weeks ago, there were three points between second and ninth,” Millar said.
“Every week, anyone can beat anyone on the day and that’s a hard league.
“Finding that consistency is massive and we haven’t found that consistency. It’s really good for the spectators. That win against Brisbane was huge.”
For the former Jets full-back, this hunt to the finals is particularly important.
“I haven’t actually played finals in my A-League career which is wild,” he added.
“So that’s all I want this year. I expect we will be there in the finals and that will be huge.”
Having spent time away at St Mirren and Shrewsbury Town in League One, it has allowed Millar to return home with a new point of view.
He has also noticed a big “shift” in the A-Leagues.
“There’s quite a lot of new players,” Millar said. “Maybe a typically older league, there’s been a big reshuffle into youth which is massive.
“For me to get my first opportunity, it was tough for me, I was playing at South Melbourne and I went along with close to 100 people from the NPL invited to Central Coast Mariners.
“They invited 100 and calved that down to 30 and then cut it down to 10. I think they only signed two or three players from that initial 100. That was me just trying to first get my foot in the door.
“I’ve seen a shift in giving younger people an opportunity and knowing they can make a difference and have an impact. Something that’s exciting because it’s tough to get an opportunity.”
His journey from the NPL back to the A-Leagues
Millar played junior football at Langwarrin in Victoria, but he honed his craft at Melbourne City.
The right-back made his professional debut in the 2015 Australia Cup semi-finals against Perth Glory.
However, with his career at a crossroads, it soon became apparent Millar needed to leave the City stable to further his career. It was a case of one step back two steps forward after joining NPLM VIC giants South Melbourne in 2016.
“I think I was 19-20 at the time, Ivan Franjic he was out for all of pre-season and that gave me an opportunity come in. I was training full-time with them which was awesome,” he said.
“Started the first three or four games and then obviously Franjic came back. It got to a stage where they had too many numbers and I had to go back to youth-team training and play in the youth.
“I just felt like I needed to be playing against men. When the opportunity not to train with them came up, I went okay lets take a step back and go to the NPL. I played three or four seasons in the youth league and you get some of those players that stagnate and stay in the youth setup at an older age.
“Going back to NPL, even just enjoying football. Playing more of an advanced role under Chris Taylor. My brother is actually with him now (at NPL VIC champions Oakleigh Cannons). I think that’s where maybe my goalscoring started.”
Millar added: “It was a tough call to make at the time. The youth coach we had a bit of a falling out because he was like you can stay there might be another opportunity down the track.
“I thought to myself I wasn’t in the shop window there.”
Graduating from City’s academy was a priceless experience for Millar, though.
While he made just a handful of senior appearances, he was able to train with some genuine stars at a crucial stage of his development.
Think Socceroos and Celtic star Aaron Mooy, former captain and Isuzu UTE A-League Championship-winning coach Patrick Kisnorbo and Denmark legend Thomas Sorensen, plus ex-Premier League winner Damien Duff and Frenchman.
“Harry Navillo was there and I was on the other team a lot of the time, so that was huge exposure to try and defend someone with that much power.
“Just seeing players of that class and being around it was huge. Looking back now, it was quite amazing the kind of players – I was even with Mooy and Damien Duff.
“Players like that… you look back now and go ‘wow.”
Kisnorbo captained City before stepping into management and leading both the women’s and men’s team to silverware. Now, he is in charge of Ligue 1 outfit Troyes in France – the ex-Socceroos is the first Aussie male to coach in one of the top five European leagues.
“Probably even more vocal than you’d see,” Millar joked. “Constantly yelling and talking and stuff like that.
“That really lifts the standard and that’s why I think he has so good going into the coaching role because he has that experience and he has the ability to lift, motivate and push players. It’s no surprise how well he is doing.”
During Mooy’s time in Melbourne between 2014 and 2016, he twice won the PFA Footballer of the Year and Melbourne City Player of the Year. He was also signed by Premier League powerhouse and parent club Manchester City.
Since then, he has had huge success, not only with the Socceroos but Celtic and abroad.
“You could just see he was miles ahead of everyone. It all looked very easy for him,” Millar said.
‘Western Sydney will be spewing they didn’t pull the trigger’
Thanks to former Newcastle Jets head coach Carl Robinson and assistant Kenny Miller, Millar was able to enjoy a short-term loan spell at Shrewsbury in October 2020 until January 2021 amid the COVID-19 crisis across the globe.
It was through a similar connecting that led to a move to St Mirren in Scotland ahead of the 2021-22 campaign.
St Mirren came with its own hilarious challenges.
“I’ll be honest, there were a couple of local Scottish boys that I couldn’t understand,” Millar joked. “There was one guy in particular, he sounded like he spoke another language.
“It was English but I don’t know what kind of English it was.”
But it is at Shrewsbury where Millar crossed paths with a future A-Leagues cult hero – Jason Cummings.
Before Cummings made the life-changing move to Central Coast Mariners at the start of last year, the Socceroo and Millar spent a brief period together at New Meadow.
The Scottish-born Australia international eventually landed in Gosford, not before asking for advice from his former Shrewsbury teammate and interest from another A-Leagues club.
“Actually at one stage, he was maybe looking like he was going to Western Sydney, and he was asking me about Sydney and what the A-Leagues is like,” Millar recalled.
“So I think Western Sydney will be spewing they didn’t pull the trigger there. He is quite a funny guy to have around the change room.”
A maverick during his time in the United Kingdom, has Cummings changed since his Shrewsbury days?
“This is before he met his partner, I think he has tamed down a little bit,” Millar smiled.
“He used to be a little but more boisterous. He’s been calmed down now which is quite funny.”
