KENNY MILLER accepts the greatest thing he can bring to the Scotland squad is experience.

However, even at 33, the striker refuses to be bracketed as the old head, useful to help bring the youngsters along or to throw on in case of emergency.

He may now play for Vancouver Whitecaps, but he is not about to run up the white flag on his international career.

Miller is convinced he still has so much to offer, and wants the chance to prove it when Gordon Strachan picks his side for his first competitive game as manager tomorrow night.

The man who has played for both halves of the Old Firm, plus teams in England, Wales, Turkey and now Canada, respects those who want to take over his mantle as first-choice striker for his country.

But it will take a coup d'etat because he has no plans to abdicate.

Miller may be out of sync on the other side of the Atlantic, where the MLS season is only two games old.

But he is determined it will not be a case of out of sight, out of mind.

"During our close-season, I wanted to come back here for the Estonia game last month and play a part," said the man who has scored 17 goals in 66 international appearances.

"I was made well aware I wouldn't be starting. But it was the manager's first squad and I wanted to be part of it.

"The manager knows the situation with me. If he thinks there are any problems, he'd let me know.

"By the same token, if I felt there were going to be any kind of issues, I would raise them myself.

"I'm old enough to understand what I'm doing, and I feel right to still be doing it.

"It's always worth coming to represent your country. That's how I've always felt, and is why I'm still doing it.

"But there will come a time when you have got to weigh it up if it is maybe causing problems with your club, the travelling, if you are coming away and not playing, that kind of thing."

The days when Miller was an automatic pick appear to be behind him. And he acknowledges Strachan has at his disposal a clutch of exciting strikers all vying to be the leader of the attack.

But Miller is not prepared to simply stand aside.

"There is a crop of maybe six or seven strikers who, at the moment, are fighting for these jerseys," he said.

"You've got Steven Naismith, Ross McCormack, George Boyd, Steven Fletcher, Jordan Rhodes and Shaun Maloney.

"Gary Mackay-Steven is now coming into it and he is a fantastic talent who has a lot to offer the squad in the future.

"So, depending on what system the manager wants to play, there are a lot of players who can fill in the positions in the attacking area.

"But it's not just experience I can offer. I still feel I can play. If I didn't think that, I wouldn't be here.

"If I'm not going to play, that's a decision the manager has got to make, and it's one you respect and one you get on with.

"I still feel I can do the same job I've done for the team for the last 10 years, otherwise I would not be sitting here."

Anyone who believed Miller had headed West as a step towards retirement should think again.

His time at Vancouver did not start auspiciously, with only a couple of league goals in his first campaign.

But he has hit the ground running this season, helping Whitecaps win their opening two matches, and scoring the winner against Columbus Crew before heading back here to join up with the Scotland squad.

His bid to get off to a flier in this MLS season was helped by training with Rangers during his close-season, and he said: "I feel great now. The season is under way and everything is going according to plan."

The same can't be said for Scotland's World Cup qualification, possibly the last opportunity Miller will have to appear at a major finals.

The misfiring start made against Serbia then Macedonia has been tough to overcome, and the subsequent defeats to Wales and Belgium have left us rooted in bottom spot.

But Miller's enthusiasm is matched only by his optimism, and he reflected: "We've seen how good Serbia are from their results.

"So, 0-0 in our opening game probably wasn't a bad result.

"It would have been a good point if we had then beaten Macedonia. That was the game which was the killer for us in the group so far.

"Even in the Wales game, Steven Fletcher's goal that was disallowed was a poor decision.

"At 2-0, I think Wales would have said that was the game over. So, that could have got us back into it."

Not that Miller believes the sense of injustice felt in Cardiff will be required as motivation tomorrow night.

"You don't look at any particular incident or game that makes you want to right a wrong," he reasoned.

"Basically, you just want to win the match. Whether it's against Wales, Croatia, Belgium or whoever, we have to go and get the three points."

Despite trailing Group A joint-leaders Belgium and Croatia by eight points, Miller refuses to throw in the towel.

No-one is running away with the group, and this gives him hope.

He explained: "You look at every team in the group and you think, they can beat them, they can beat them.

"I really felt it would be a tight group. Particularly if we sorted out our own job at home, I really thought we would be right in the shake-up.

"We've had two home games and dropped four points in them, so we have not done that side of it.

"It's not a given. But, when playing at Hampden, nine times out of 10, we've come to the fore and performed and produced some good results. The fact we have not done that leaves us playing catch-up. The Tartan Army have been disappointed, and rightly so.

"Now it's a new manager, and they are happy he has been appointed. Hopefully they will get right behind us.

"They can kick you on, make you run that little bit harder, that wee bit faster, or make you block that shot which is maybe going to be a goal against you."

All of which Miller will be happy to do for a few seasons yet.