ALREADY, 2007 is shaping up as the year of the comeback. Rangers fans have heralded the return of Walter Smith and Ally McCoist, while Barry Ferguson has come back from the brink under Paul Le Guen. This week, Charlie Miller was the latest old face to be consumed by a sense of belonging at Murray Park.

Turning 30 has been a watershed in the colourful career of one of Scotland's most naturally gifted footballers of a generation. He has been released from his contract after two re-energising years in Norwegian football at Brann Bergen. Interest has ranged from Cardiff City to Gimnastic de Tarragona but a week's training stint at his old club has stirred a lingering sense of unfulfilment.

His appearance in the club training gear has also created a buzz of interest among supporters who would relish the return of Rangers' prodigal son. The decision lies with Walter Smith alone, but as Jeremy Clement said au revoir after seven months, the presence of a slimline Miller at the training complex will surely have roused the manager's curiosity.

"It felt like going back home, like being reunited with old family," said Miller yesterday. "I was never brought up at Murray Park but I was brought up with Walter, Ally McCoist and Ian Durrant. I have known them a long time and it was a great feeling just to go back and train there."

Having returned to the scene of his greatest achievements a decade on, Smith will decide today whether to offer Miller an unexpected opportunity of redemption. He was the Castlemilk kid with the world at his feet, until, according to popular wisdom, he chose Paul Gascoigne over Brian Laudrup as an on-site role model. Dick Advocaat showed little patience with the midfielder's professional indiscipline and instead of building a legacy, he spent years treading the boards at Leicester City, Watford, Dundee United and Brann.

"I am not going to make any rash predictions but I did not do it right last time around and would love the opportunity to rectify it," he said, having undergone a lifestyle adjustment in Norway. "I did not realise at the time because I was young and naive. I had it all too soon and took it for granted. I was at Rangers since I was a kid and you become immune to just how privileged you are. It's strange, because it didn't dawn on me when I went down to England or even when I came back up the road.

"Maybe it's as I've gotten older but in the last few years I have found myself thinking: What have I done?' and What did I let go?' I won medals at Rangers but I see now I could have done so much better. It's not too late."

Miller seemed destined to share centre stage with Barry Ferguson at Ibrox, with the pair having grown up together from youth-team level. It never materialised and Miller has finally accepted responsibility for failing to maximise his true potential. A solitary B international cap against Poland five years ago underlines the wasted talent. He has been depicted as a troublemaker, a bad egg, unprofessional. In reality, he was easily influenced throughout his most impressionable years and, until now, never fully grasped the responsibilities that come with a natural gift.

Of late, Ferguson has had to endure his own turmoil. He was stripped of the captaincy, dropped and described as an "undesirable" during the last days of the Le Guen era but has recently had his authority and first-team status restored under the new management.

"He looks as if a weight has been lifted off his shoulders," said Miller. "It was the hardest time of his career and I think he was genuinely shocked by it all.

"I don't know the ins and outs but from the outside it looked as if he was made the scapegoat. I got a phone call telling me what had happened and I said no chance'. I phoned Barry straight away and asked what happened and he told me it was true. He is strong enough to get through it and just needs to keep his head down."

Just as Robbie Fowler has been rehabilitated and reinvigorated at Anfield, so Miller is hoping he can be afforded the opportunity to atone for the lost years. "I will not be doing what I did 10 years ago," he said. "I will not give up the chance again. I am easily fitter than I have been in the last five years. I am also enjoying my football again. They work properly in Norway and I learned a lot of good habits there. I do think people still have the wrong idea of me being a troublemaker and I don't understand it.

"I have spoken to Walter, obviously, but it was general chat about how things have gone for me but we will see what happens. He knows me and knows how I feel about the club but I am a different man to the one I was 10 years ago. It's not in my hands but already you can see the atmosphere has changed to the way it seemed to be at the start of the season.

"I don't know Paul Le Guen and have never worked with him, so it would be unfair of me to comment on his time, but Walter has brought a happiness and camaraderie back to the dressing room. I have enjoyed it, it has been good.

"It's not for me to say I acquitted myself well, that's for the manager, Coisty and Kenny McDowall to say, but I am just grateful to have had the opportunity to go back."

Back for good? Miller would gratefully take that.