Played for both: Kevin Phillips - a man who really suited red and white stripes
From rejection to scoring goals on the South Coast with Southampton and becoming a Sunderland legend in between - Kevin Phillips' story is red and white
Kevin Phillips was born on the 25th of July 1973 in Hitchen, Hertfordshire. He came through the academy at Southampton from the age of 12-18, before being released by manager Chris Nicholl.
He returned home to Hertfordshire and signed for non-league semi-professional side Baldock Town.
After three season at Watford, Phillips joined Sunderland for a fee of £300,000 which could’ve potentially increased to £600,000 (which it surely did given his achievements) in July 1997.
That season, Phillips equalled and broke club records as he scored in seven consecutive games and nine consecutive home games. Phillips ended his first season with the club on 35 goals making him the first Sunderland player to score more than 30 goals in a season since Brian Clough in the 1961-62 season.
His 35 goals were also the most a Sunderland player had scored in a season since the end of the Second World War.
Phillips scored Sunderland’s second goal in the thrilling 4-4 draw with Charlton in the Play-off final, but he unfortunately picked up an injury in the 73rd minute meaning he had to come off.
Sunderland went on to lose that game 7-6 on penalties with Phillips describing it as ‘the most disappointing day in football’.
Phillips started his second season in style, scoring eight goals in the opening weeks of the season.
However, in a League Cup tie with Chesterfield, he sustained a broken toe, which kept him out for almost four months. On his return, his impressive goal scoring run continued and he ended his second season with 25 goals in 32 matches as he helped Sunderland return to the Premier League.
Many pundits before the 1999-2000 season thought that Phillips would struggle to get anymore than five or six goals in the Premier League. They couldn't have been more wrong, though, with Phillips hitting the six-goal mark by the 18th of September,
His goal tally was at 20 by mid-January and 30 by the end of the season, earning him the Premier League Golden Boot and the European Golden Shoe award. He is still the only Englishman to win the latter.
In the following three seasons, Phillips wasn’t quite able to keep up his previous form.
He scored 18 goals in all competitions and 14 in the league, as Sunderland just missed out on UEFA Cup qualification for the second season running.
The 2001-02 season saw Sunderland stay up by the skin of their teeth, with Phillips only scoring 13 goals, 11 of those coming in the league.
In the summer of 2002 Arsenal and Tottenham were both interested in signing Phillips, but he pledged his allegiance to Wearside. However, it was later revealed he had submitted a transfer request which was rejected by the club.
Manager Peter Reid brought in Marcus Stewart and Tor Andre Flo and warned Phillips that he would no longer be an automatic first choice, and another failed transfer request in January saw Phillips stay at the club until the end of the season.
Following relegation back down to the championship, with just four wins and 19 points, Phillips told the club he would be leaving. Phillips left the club having played 235 matches for Sunderland and scored 130 goals, cementing himself as a true club legend.
In August 2003, Phillips returned to the South Coast re-joining Southampton for a fee of around £3.25 million. He scored a long-range effort on his debut, in a 2-2 away draw against Leicester City. His next goal came against Tottenham, an attempted clearance by Anthony Gardner hit Phillips and went into the back of the net.
He then went on a goal drought which lasted three months before he scored his fourth of the season in a 2-1 win over Leeds United.
That started a rich run of form which would see him score another nine times including braces against Manchester United, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Manchester City. Phillips ended the season with 13 goals from 37 appearances.
In March 2004, then manager Gordan Strachan resigned and was replaced by Paul Sturrock, who was then dismissed shortly after the start of the 2004-05 season.
He was replaced by Steve Wigley, who only lasted three months in charge before being replaced by Harry Redknapp. All this meant that Phillips had played for four managers within a year.
Phillips still managed to score regularly, despite all the changes and developed a good relationship on the pitch with his new strike partner Peter Crouch.
He managed 10 league goals that season, but it wasn’t enough to keep Southampton in the Premier League as they finished bottom of the table and were relegated for the first time in 27 years.
Since leaving Southampton, Phillips has played for Aston Villa, West Bromwich Albion and Birmingham before heading back up North to Blackpool, where he spent the first half of the 2012-13 season.
He then spent the second half of the campaign at Crystal Palace before returning to the Midlands where he ended his career at Leicester City.
Since retirement he was worked as a coach at Leicester, Derby and Stoke. He spent a year and four months as manager at South Shields and he is currently the Head coach of National League side Hartlepool United.
