| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Steven Edward Phillips[1] | ||
| Date of birth | (1954-08-04)4 August 1954 (age 71) | ||
| Place of birth | Edmonton, England[1] | ||
| Height | 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m)[2] | ||
| Position | Forward | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1970–1971 | Birmingham City | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1971–1975 | Birmingham City | 20 | (1) |
| 1974–1975 | →Torquay United (loan) | 6 | (0) |
| 1975–1977 | Northampton Town | 51 | (9) |
| 1977–1980 | Brentford | 157 | (65) |
| 1980–1982 | Northampton Town | 75 | (29) |
| 1982–1986 | Southend United | 158 | (66) |
| 1986 | →Torquay United (loan) | 32 | (11) |
| 1986–1988 | Peterborough United | 48 | (16) |
| 1987 | →Exeter City (loan) | 6 | (1) |
| 1988 | →Chesterfield (loan) | 9 | (2) |
| 1988–19?? | Stamford | ||
| Total | 562 | (200) | |
| International career | |||
| 1973 | England Youth[3] | 4 | (1) |
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Steven Edward Phillips (born 4 August 1954) is an English former professionalfootballer who had a long career as aforward for a number of teams inthe Football League in the 1970s and 1980s. He scored 200 goals from 562 league appearances.[4]
Phillips was born inEdmonton, London.[1] He began his football career as an apprentice withBirmingham City, turning professional in August 1971.[5] His first-team debut, as asubstitute in the 3–2 defeat ofCarlisle United in theFootball League Second Division, came the same month, at the age of 17 years 17 days, which made him at the time the club's second-youngest debutant.[6][7] He played six more games in the starting eleven before losing his place; the arrival ofBob Hatton in October meant he failed to regain it.[6] Birmingham'spromotion to theFirst Division, and the establishment of Hatton,Bob Latchford andTrevor Francis as the forward line of choice, gave Phillips few opportunities in the first team, though he did score his first goal, in a 4–2 defeat toTottenham Hotspur in February 1974.[8] After a spell on loan atTorquay United, Phillips joinedFourth Division clubNorthampton Town in October 1975 for a fee of £5,000.[5]
Phillips scored nine goals from his 51 league appearances for Northampton[4] before moving on toBrentford in February 1977.[5] In his first full season at Brentford, Phillips finished asthe Football League's leading scorer with 32 goals and his partnership withAndrew McCulloch made a major contribution to the club's promotion to theThird Division.[9][10] Phillips scored 69 goals from 167 appearances for Brentford and was inducted into the club'sHall of Fame in 2019.[10] He was sold back to his former club Northampton Town in August 1980 for a fee of £40,000.[5] He scored 29 goals from 75 league games in this spell at the club, form which led to his inclusion in thePFA Fourth Division Team of the Year for the1980–81 season.[11]
After 18 months he moved on again, this time toSouthend United in March 1982, a move which meant he played 48 league games in a 46-game season: having already played 30 league games for Northampton by the time the transfer went through, he added a further 18 for Southend.[12] Phillips was Southend's leading scorer in each of his first three full seasons, an achievement to which was added the club's Player of the Season award in1984–85.[13] He finished his Southend career with 72 goals from 182 games in all competitions, 66 from 158 in the league.[14] He rejoined Torquay United in January 1986, and went on to play forPeterborough United and forExeter City andChesterfield on loan.[4]
WhenEngland youth team managerTony Waiters selected Phillips for the 1973UEFA Youth (under-18) Tournament to be staged in Italy,the Football Association asked him to reconsider, on the grounds of the player's potential for disruptive behaviour; Waiters insisted on Phillips remaining in the squad. The player showed his unhappiness at not being in the starting eleven, to the extent that Waiters threatened to send him home, but when England reached the final against theirEast German counterparts, Phillips came off thesubstitutes' bench to score the winning goal.[15][16]
In 1999, he opened a bar inBenalmádena, Spain.[17] He later returned to England, where he ran pubs.[18] Phillips is now the sponsorship manager at Wellingborough Town F.C.[citation needed]