Former Dover hotshot Ricky Miller admits that he is "devastated" that his National League goal record is set to be broken - but still generous in his praise for Notts County striker Macaulay Langstaff, the man set to nab his ultimate "claim to fame".
Magpies forward Langstaff struck his 40th National League goal of the season at Altrincham midweek to send Notts top of the table on goal difference, Luke Williams' side locked in an epic tug-of-war with Wrexham for the National League's single automatic promotion slot.
Now semi-retired due to a chronic heel problem and playing his football for ninth-tier Risborough Rangers, Miller struck 40 goals in the fifth tier during a spectacular season for Dover Athletic back in 2016/17.
The 34-year-old went on to play for Peterborough and Port Vale in the EFL, but that glory season for The Whites was arguably the apex of his colourful career, and he will be sad to kiss goodbye to his goal record if Langstaff - as seems likely - rewrites the record books.
"Earlier in the season I said that I didn't fancy Langstaff to break my record, but I was just trying to wind people up to be honest! He's done absolute unbelievable. Fair play to him.
"I'm absolutely devastated, as I have loved having that record, especially as I'm now not at that level - even though I think I could still score goals there if my body would let me. The record was a claim to fame and something to look back on.
"Obviously Notts County and Wrexham are head and shoulders above anyone else in the league, scoring 100 plus goals, which is a lot more than Dover scored in my season, but Langstaff's done incredible.
"He'd be a smart bet to be top scorer in League Two next season if Notts County do go up and I've no doubt he could do it League One or even the Championship."
As a goal-getter extraordinaire, Miller knows a natural finisher when he sees one and he agrees that there are similarities between him and Langstaff, who spoke of a mentality shift in an interview with Playmaker in January.
"I've seen a bit of him, and although he doesn't seem to create that many goals, he is always in the right place at the right time. You can't buy that sort of instinct and obviously Notts County are creating chance after chance and he's sticking them away. He looks a really lethal finisher.
"If I scored only one goal in a game, I'd be disappointed. Every game I wanted a minimum of two. I'd look at batches of 10 fixtures and say to myself "I'm going to score 17 here". It even went as far as I wanted to only score good goals, if I only scored tap-ins I wouldn't be happy. That's the kind of mindset you develop."
Harking back to his 2016/17 season, it is clear that Miller still has plenty of cherished memories, including an outrageous televised hat-trick against Forest Green, and he believes that being part-time back in those days actually played a key role in his success.
"I got myself really fit pre-season, trimmed right down and did loads of sprint work. Dover being part-time actually worked in my favour, as I had my own personal trainer and could spend more time on fitness training than football training.
"I knew what my body needed and could do specific training rather than doing generalised training that would tire me out. I was really nimble and explosive that season.
"Once I started scoring, my belief went through the roof. I actually went out on the town a bit too much looking back now; I'd like to go back and see what I really could have done!
Miller's golden campaign eventually ended in heartbreak, as Dover finished sixth just outside the play-off places. Nowadays, the Whites would have made the cut given that seventh-placed teams make the play-offs, and the hotshot says he would have swapped a large chunk of his goals for Dover's promotion that season...and he hopes Langstaff doesn't suffer a similar fate.
"I would have traded half my goals that season for promotion or a play-off trip to Wembley. I would still have been close to top goal scorer even without them!
"Wrexham and Notts County both deserve to go up, and they both should go up. I hope that whoever has to go through the play-offs is promoted as well.
"I think it's ridiculous that only one team gets promoted automatically. The play-offs are a lottery: a team only needs to have one off day, or the other team get lucky, and they can miss out on promotion. It's braindead and needs looking at.
"If Notts County do go up, they should make Langstaff their record-paid player, chuck the chequebook at their manager and striker and, who knows, they could be in the Championship in three or four years.
"For me looking back, I would have loved an opportunity like that - to stay with one team, go up through the leagues and become a club legend."
As our interview draws to a close, I can't resist the urge to ask Miller what he'd be thinking now if he were in Langstaff's position: tied at the top of the National League and level-pegging as the competition's all-time top scorer. Miller doesn't skip a beat:
"If I was him I'd be wanting 50 - that's a nice round number and that record would be around for a long while.
"It would unreal if he got 50. One thing's for sure, I would not be letting that Ruben (Rodrigues) take penalties, no chance."
As magnanimous as Miller is in his praise of Langstaff and his fantastic achievements this season, strikers are notoriously selfish creatures obsessed with their goalscoring numbers, which is why you suspect Miller is mostly - but not entirely - joking when he outlines his best case scenario for the end of this season.
"Hopefully he (Langstaff) gets a twisted ankle in training tomorrow and doesn't play for the rest of the season...that would be ideal!"
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Sam Austin 7' Macaulay Langstaff 60' Frank Vincent 76' |
