Philip Andrew Babb (born 30 November 1970) is a sports television pundit and former professional football player and manager. As a player he was a

central defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

who made over 370 league appearances during his career, most notably spending six

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 Fo ...

seasons with

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

, and also playing in the top flight for

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. The club is nicknamed t ...

and Sunderland. He also played in Portugal for

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal, founded Sporting Club de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP, often known abroad as Sporting Lisbon , is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Lisbon. It is best known for the professional foot ...

and in the Football League for

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system and are currently managed by Mark Hughes. ...

and

Tranmere Rovers Tranmere Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they ado ...

. Babb represented the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern ...

at the

1994 World Cup The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the country. The United States w ...

, playing in 35 internationals. He later had a spell as manager of Non-league side Hayes & Yeading United, but has largely worked as a pundit for

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...

and other networks since retiring.

Club career

Born in Lambeth, London, Babb came through the youth ranks of

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Limehouse, north of Greenwich and Deptford, eas ...

, before beginning his senior career in 1990 with

. He moved to

in July 1992 for a fee of £500,000, where he spent two seasons before moving to

on 1 September 1994 for £3.6 million, which made him the most expensive defender in Britain at the time. Babb only scored once during six

years and 170 appearances in all competitions for Liverpool, incidentally against his former club, Coventry, in September 1996. While at Liverpool he played in the victorious

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 Leag ...

. In 1998, Babb was involved in an infamous blooper against Chelsea which ended with him sliding into the goalpost with a leg either side, injuring his

coccyx The coccyx ( : coccyges or coccyxes), commonly referred to as the tailbone, is the final segment of the vertebral column in all apes, and analogous structures in certain other mammals such as horses. In tailless primates (e.g. humans and othe ...

. In January 2000 he joined

on a one-month loan and helped them reach the

2000 Football League Cup Final The 2000 Football League Cup Final was played between Leicester City, in their third final appearance in four years, and First Division side Tranmere Rovers at Wembley Stadium on 27 February 2000. It was the 34th and last League Cup Final to be ...

, however his loan spell ended before the final itself and he was unable to take part. He moved to Portugal with

on a free transfer in 2000, appearing in 38 official games in his second season – one goal against

FC Midtjylland FC Midtjylland (, "Central Jutland") is a Danish professional football club based in Herning and Ikast in the western part of Jutland. The club is the result of a merger between Ikast FS and Herning Fremad. Midtjylland competes in the Danish Supe ...

in the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

( 3–0 away win, 6–2 on aggregate)– as the Lions conquered both the

league League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football Sports * Sports league * Rugby league, full contact footba ...

and the domestic cup. Babb ended his career at the age of 33 with Sunderland (also two years), suffering top level relegation in 2003, and helping the Black Cats to a Football League Championship play-off semi-final.

International career

Babb was born in England to a Guyanese father and Irish mother. Having chosen to represent the

internationally, Babb earned 35 full

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Ja ...

, including four matches at the

1994 FIFA World Cup The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the country. The United States ...

. In August 2000, he and Ireland teammate Mark Kennedy were sent home from a training camp "after appearing in court charged with drunken and abusive behaviour and causing criminal damage." Babb's final game for Ireland was in

UEFA Euro 2004 qualifying Qualification for the 2004 UEFA European Championship took place between September 2002 and November 2003. Fifty teams were divided into ten groups, with each team playing the others in their group twice, once at home and once away. The top te ...

against

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

in Moscow, on 7 September 2002: having come into the game in the 85th minute, his first touch of the ball was diverted behind Irish goalkeeper

Shay Given Séamus John James Given (born 20 April 1976) is an Irish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. With 134 caps, he is the second-highest capped Republic of Ireland player. Given started his career at Celtic, however he neve ...

for an

own goal An own goal, also called a self goal, is where a player performs actions that result in them or their team scoring a goal on themselves, often resulting in a point for the opposing team, such as when a football player kicks a ball into their own ...

Managerial career

On 9 May 2013, Babb was appointed as manager of Conference South side Hayes & Yeading United. He left the club by mutual consent in February 2015.

Personal life

In 2006, Babb became an investor in ''

Golf Punk ''Golf Punk'' magazine was launched by Tim Southwell and John Dean through their Keep Yourself Nice Ltd company in 2004, after securing investment from initially Premier League footballers Michael Gray, Thomas Sørensen, Phil Babb, Jason McAte ...

'' magazine, alongside former Sunderland teammates Michael Gray,

Jason McAteer Jason Wynne McAteer (born 18 June 1971) is a former professional footballer. His primary position was in centre midfield, though he was also an able right winger and full-back. During his professional career from 1992 to 2007, McAteer played ...

Thomas Sørensen Thomas Løvendahl Sørensen (born 12 June 1976) is a retired Danish footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Sørensen started his career with his local side Odense BK. After impressing on loan at Vejle Boldklub and Svendborg he was signed by E ...

and Stephen Wright, saving the publication from closure. He also worked as a pundit for

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Liverpool *

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

: 1994–95 Sporting CP * Primeira Liga: 2001–02 *

Taça de Portugal The Taça de Portugal (; "Cup of Portugal") is an annual association football competition and the premier knockout tournament in Portuguese football. For sponsorship reasons, it has been known as Taça de Portugal Placard since the 2015–16 sea ...

: 2001–02

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Babb, Phil 1970 births Living people Footballers from Lambeth Republic of Ireland association footballers Republic of Ireland international footballers Republic of Ireland football managers English footballers English football managers Irish people of Guyanese descent English people of Irish descent English people of Guyanese descent Association football defenders Premier League players English Football League players Millwall F.C. players Bradford City A.F.C. players Coventry City F.C. players Liverpool F.C. players Tranmere Rovers F.C. players Sunderland A.F.C. players Primeira Liga players Sporting CP footballers 1994 FIFA World Cup players Irish expatriates in Portugal English expatriates in Portugal Hayes & Yeading United F.C. managers Black British sportspeople FA Cup Final players