"You’ve got to allow yourself to have that moment," Liam Millar said, smiling as Hull City celebrated a promotion that he insisted will carry him into the Premier League next season.
Millar, a 26-year-old winger from Brampton, Ont., framed the achievement as more than a club milestone. With Hull's win over Alfie Jones' Middlesbrough in last month’s Championship promotion playoff, the club secured a place in England’s top flight and Millar — still recovering the confidence and fitness that followed a serious injury — will be part of it.
He did not gloss over what it took to get here. Millar suffered a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament while playing for Hull against Burnley in October 2024. He said the months that followed were as much mental as physical. "There was definitely a period during rehab when I didn’t know what was going to happen. I didn’t even know if I’d play football again," he said, describing a moment that made the promotion feel personal as well as collective.
Only weeks after returning to competitive action, Millar told teammates and staff that he felt the move up suited him. "I actually think my game probably suits the Premier League even more. Especially with the way we’ll most likely end up playing, I think it should suit me very well," he said, arguing that the style Hull expect to adopt at the higher level could play to his strengths.
Millar did not present his return as a neat triumph. He allowed that rehabilitation left doubts and hard work. "I think I’m proof that you can come back and still play at a very high level," he said, but the sentence came with a pause — an acknowledgement that being match-fit and being a regular contributor in the Premier League are different challenges.
That distinction is the sharpest question facing Hull and Millar now. Promotion guarantees the club a place in next season’s Premier League; it does not guarantee how quickly Millar will be able to shoulder the demands of that competition after a ruptured ACL. Coaches will set fitness targets and minutes carefully, and Millar’s own account of rehab suggests he understands the gradual nature of return-to-play.
The promotion also broadens Millar’s place in Canadian football history. He joins a short list of Canadians to reach the Premier League — Craig Forrest, Paul Stalteri and Tomas Radzinski — a milestone he linked to the sport’s rise at home. "Thinking about where football was in Canada when I was a kid to where it is now, it's unbelievable the difference in how seriously the sport's taken in Canada," he said.
Millar's timetable has immediate markers. He was set to start for Canada on Friday night in Toronto against Bosnia and Herzegovina, a chance to test fitness and rhythm on international turf before heading back to club pre-season planning. That appearance will be watched for signs of sharpness and endurance; how he performs will influence both national coaches and Hull’s staff.
His public language balances gratitude and realism. "You’ve got to allow yourself to have that moment," he said of celebrating promotion, then added a wry note about skeptics who doubted his return: "Guys were calling me crazy." The useful fact for Hull is that Millar believes the Premier League will fit him; the unsettled fact for everyone else is when he will be fully able to prove it week after week against the best teams in England.
The immediate next chapter is clear: Hull City prepares for a Premier League season and Millar prepares his body and minutes. The single consequential question left open is precise and urgent — when, and at what level, will Millar reach the fitness that lets him be a regular Premier League contributor? Answers to that will determine whether his claim that his game suits the top flight becomes evidence, not aspiration.
