James Neil Phillips (born 8 February 1966) is an English football coach and former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

. As a player, he was a defender who notably played in the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

for

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

and

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...

. He also played in the

Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, known as the cinch Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is the top division of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL), the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottish ...

for

Rangers A Ranger is typically someone in a military/paramilitary or law enforcement role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called “ranging”. The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with protecting and ...

and in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

with

Oxford United Oxford United Football Club is a professional football club in the city of Oxford, England. The team plays in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The chairman is Grant Ferguson, the manager is Karl Robinson and th ...

. Whilst at Bolton he played in the

1995 Football League Cup Final The 1995 Football League Cup Final was a football match played between Liverpool and Bolton Wanderers on 2 April 1995 at Wembley Stadium, London. It was the final match of the 1994–95 Football League Cup, the 35th staging of the Football Le ...

. Following retirement, he returned and has coached their reserve and academy teams as well as holding the position of first team caretaker manager on three occasions. The last role he held at the club was academy director.

Coaching career

Phillips joined the

youth coaching staff whilst still a player for the team, starting his role as a coach on 1 June 2000, then retired as a player a year later, though he played no matches during his final season as a registered player/coach. On 9 October 2001, Phillips was appointed joint caretaker manager of Bolton alongside Sammy Lee following the sacking of Owen Coyle. However, Phillips took control of first team affairs, with Lee and

Julian Darby Julian Timothy Darby (born 3 October 1967) is an English football coach and former professional footballer who is the under-16's coach of Bolton Wanderers. As a player he was a defender and midfielder from 1986 until 2001, notably in the Pre ...

assisting him. Phillips first game in temporary charge saw him lead his hometown club to a 3–2 victory over

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England, which compete in the , the second tier of English football. They have played their home games at Ashton Gate since moving from St John's Lane in 1904. The ...

at the Reebok Stadium with Bolton having recovered from being two goals down early in the game. His second match in caretaker charge came at

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

Molineux Stadium Molineux Stadium ( ) in Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England, has been the home ground of Premier League club Wolverhampton Wanderers since 1889. The first stadium built for use by a Football League club, it was one of the first British grounds ...

which ended in a 2–2 draw with Mark Davies scoring a 90th-minute equaliser for Bolton. On 23 October 2012, Crystal Palace confirmed that manager Dougie Freedman had left the club for Bolton wanderers. Bolton were yet to confirm the appointment though and Phillips then confirmed he would be in charge of the next match against

whilst Freedman was still in discussions with Gartside. Bolton lost 2–1. When Freedman was appointed, Phillips went back to coaching the youth team. On 15 March 2016, he assumed interim charge of the Bolton team following the departure of Neil Lennon by mutual consent, and did the same in August 2019 after Phil Parkinson resigned. On 21 July 2020, the club confirmed that Phillips had stepped down from his role as Academy Director as a result of Bolton dropping to a Category Three Academy, ending a thirty year association with the club.

Personal life

Jimmy's son,

Nat Phillips Nathaniel Harry Phillips (born 21 March 1997) is an English professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for club Liverpool. Early life Phillips was born in Bolton, Greater Manchester. Career Early career In 2016, Phillips left Bolto ...

, is also a footballer and played for him in the Bolton Wanderers academy. He is currently playing as a centre back for

Liverpool F.C. Liverpool Football Club is a professional football club based in Liverpool, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Founded in 1892, the club joined the Football League the following year and has p ...

Managerial statistics

Honours

;Bolton Wanderers: * First Division: 1996–97

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Phillips, Jimmy 1966 births Living people Footballers from Bolton English footballers Bolton Wanderers F.C. players Middlesbrough F.C. players Oxford United F.C. players Rangers F.C. players Premier League players English Football League players Scottish Football League players Bolton Wanderers F.C. non-playing staff English football managers Bolton Wanderers F.C. managers English Football League managers Association football defenders Association football coaches