Kevin Phillips was born on the 25th of July 1973 in Hitchin, Hertfordshire, England. He is a professional footballer who currently plays for Blackpool F.C. He started his career as a right back, but later switched to striker and has played as a striker for the rest of his career. He was at the academy of Southampton F.C. but was released without playing for the first team. He joined non-league Baldock Town F.C., before joining nearby league team team Watford F.C. In the summer of 1997 he signed for Sunderland from Watford for £300,000. In his first season at Sunderland he established a very good strike partnership with Niall Quinn in a 4-4-2 formation. Niall was tall and strong and had good aerial ability, and wore the number 9 shirt. Kevin was short and fast and a deadly finisher, and wore the number 10 shirt. They were a classic 9 and 10 strike partnership. Kevin scored 35 goals in The 1997/1998 Season, helping Sunderland to finish 3rd in The Football League 1st Division table. They reached the play-off final at Wembley, which finished in a 4-4 draw with Charlton Athletic F.C., Kevin and Niall scoring twice each for Sunderland. It was known as one of the greatest games at Wembley, and Kevin himself described it as the most disappointing day in football. A team of lesser men would have seen them fade away the following season, but Sunderland bounced back from the play-off disappointment to win The Football League 1st Division in The 1998/1999 Season with a record 105 points.

Sunderland

Phillips signed for Sunderland from Watford at beginning of The 1997/1998 Season for a bargain £350,000. He was among the scorers at the very game at the Stadium of Light, scoring over 33 goals that season which was impressive as he suffered a lot of injury problems that season. In the record breaking 1998/1999 season he scored 23 goals in 26 games as sunderland gained 105 points and headed to the premier division.

Before the beginning of the 1999/2000 season a Newcastle United fanzine had listed a number of reasons why Phillips would struggle to get less than six goals over the course of the season. However, this turned out to be an embarrassment to them as Phillips battered the premier division with an amazing 30 goals and booked a place in history by being the highest scorer in Europe and impressively, being the first ever and so far only English player to ever win the European Golden boot award. Phillips had managed to score three times against Newcastle United that season.

In the 2000/2001 season, Phillips netted another 14 times as he focused more on building assists and creative work than scoring. The next season things went wrong for sunderland, and a record low total of 22 goals seen them plummet to 17th in the league. The next season they ended up relegated on a then record low 19 points, Phillips last game being a 4-0 thumping by Arsenal, he threw his shirt into the crowd at end, which was his method of saying goodbye as he moved onto Southampton for £3.5 million.

External linksEdit

• Kevin Phillips career stats at Soccerbase