Andy Milner (born 10 February 1967), is an English retired

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played as a striker.

Career

Born in

Kendal Kendal, once Kirkby in Kendal or Kirkby Kendal, is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Westmorland and Furness, England. It lies within the River Kent's dale, from which its name is derived, just outside the boundary of t ...

Westmorland Westmorland (, formerly also spelt ''Westmoreland''R. Wilkinson The British Isles, Sheet The British IslesVision of Britain/ref>) is an area of North West England which was Historic counties of England, historically a county. People of the area ...

, Milner started his career with non-league Netherfield. He moved up the leagues by moving to

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

in January 1989, Milner was given experience of life at a leading

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

club but had not made any appearances when he was snapped up by

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England, and the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale. In the United Kingdom 2021 Census, 2021 Census, the town had a population of 111,261, compared to 223,773 for the wid ...

12 months later for £20,000. He would soon appear in the fifth round of the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

against

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition buildin ...

and netted a hat-trick on the final day of the season against

Hereford United Hereford United Football Club was an association football club based in Hereford, England. They played at Edgar Street for their entire history. They were nicknamed 'The Whites' or 'The Lilywhites', after their predominantly white kit, or 'Th ...

. Apart from some lengthy spells out on the sidelines through injury, Milner would be a regular until he was allowed to move on to Chester City (the club who he had scored his final Dale goal against in February 1994) in the summer of 1994 on a free transfer. Milner was to chalk up an almost identical tally of league appearances and goals with Chester to his time at Rochdale, with his striking partners including former England forward

Cyrille Regis Cyrille Regis (9 February 1958 – 14 January 2018) was a professional footballer who played as a forward. His professional playing career spanned 19 years, where he made 614 league appearances and scored 158 league goals, most prolifically at ...

and Chester's record league goalscorer,

Stuart Rimmer Stuart Alan Rimmer (born 12 October 1964) is an English former footballer who is Chester City's record goalscorer. He scored 134 Football League goals in two spells for Chester, and also represented seven other clubs during his professional car ...

. Ne netted on his debut against

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The club competes in , the third tier of English football, and is managed by Graham Alexander. The club was founded in 1903 and ...

and scored four times in a 6–0 thrashing of

Doncaster Rovers Doncaster Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The team currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system after winning the 202 ...

in 1996–97. However, his most famous achievement at Chester was to score the dramatic late equaliser for the nine-men and relegation bound Blues when they came from behind to draw 2–2 at arch-rivals

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in the North East Wales, north-east of Wales. It lies between the Cambrian Mountains, Welsh mountains and the lower River Dee, Wales, Dee Valley, near the England–Wales border, borde ...

on 14 February 1995, collecting the ball well out from goal and keeping running to fire home a sweet strike. From that day, Chester supporters always refer to 14 February as "St Milner's Day". After losing his place in the side early in 1997–98, Milner dropped into the

Football Conference The National League of English Football Clubs is a professional Association football, football league in England that consists of 72 teams, divided equally between the National League (division), National League North and National League South ...

with

on loan before joining

Morecambe Morecambe ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the City of Lancaster district of Lancashire, England, on Morecambe Bay, part of the Irish Sea. In 2011 the parish had a population of 34,768. Name The first use of the name was by John Whit ...

, followed by a brief spell with

Northwich Victoria Northwich is a market town and civil parish in the Cheshire West and Chester borough of Cheshire, England. It lies on the Cheshire Plain, at the confluence of the rivers River Weaver, Weaver and River Dane, Dane, east of Chester, south of Warr ...

. Milner was forced to retire from professional football after suffering a torn ACL injury. He subsequently retrained as a driving instructor and then a counsellor; setting up his own business - South Cheshire Counselling Services.

References

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Milner, Andy 1967 births Living people Sportspeople from Kendal Footballers from Cumbria English men's footballers Men's association football forwards Kendal Town F.C. players Manchester City F.C. players Rochdale A.F.C. players Chester City F.C. players Hereford United F.C. players Morecambe F.C. players Northwich Victoria F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players