Philip Richard Stant (born 13 October 1962) is an English football manager, 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 ...

and

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

soldier who served in the

Falklands War The Falklands War ( es, link=no, Guerra de las Malvinas) was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and its territorial de ...

and was attached to the SAS. As a player he was a striker who after serving in the Army he entered professional football at the relatively late age of 24 but went on to score over 150 times 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 ...

, most notably for

Hereford United Hereford United Football Club was an association football club based in Hereford, England. They played at Edgar Street for their entire history. They were nicknamed 'The Whites' or 'The Lilywhites', after their predominantly white kit, or 'The ...

Mansfield Town Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Stags', they play in a blue and ...

, Cardiff City and Lincoln City. He also played professionally for

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nottingham, England. The team participate in the National League (division), National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Founded on the 2 ...

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The team have played home games at the Kirklees Stadium since moving from Leeds Road in 1994. Th ...

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...

Bury Bury may refer to: *The burial of human remains *-bury, a suffix in English placenames Places England * Bury, Cambridgeshire, a village * Bury, Greater Manchester, a town, historically in Lancashire ** Bury (UK Parliament constituency) (1832–19 ...

Northampton Town Northampton Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Northampton, England. The team plays in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1897, the club competed in the Midland ...

and

Brighton & Hove Albion Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club (), commonly referred to simply as Brighton, is an English professional football club based in the city of Brighton and Hove. They compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league ...

. He spent his formative years in Non-League football for

Worcester City Worcester City Football Club is an English football club based in Worcester, Worcestershire. The club play in the Midland Football League, the ninth tier of English football. Established in 1902, the club play at Claines Lane. Worcester City's ...

Dover Athletic Dover Athletic Football Club is a semi-professional association football club based in the town of Dover, Kent, England. The club currently competes in the National League South, the sixth tier of English football. The club was formed in 198 ...

, Hayes and Hinckley United. He initially managed Lincoln City between 2000 and 2001 whilst continuing as a player and also had similar spells in charge of

Gainsborough Trinity Gainsborough Trinity Football Club is a football club based in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, England. Established in 1873, the club became members of the Football League in 1893 and remained members of the Second Division until 1912, making Gainsbo ...

and Ilkeston Town.

Military career

Stant joined the army as a teenager and was billeted at

Aldershot Garrison Aldershot Garrison, also known as Aldershot Military Town, is a major garrison in South East England, between Aldershot and Farnborough in Hampshire. The garrison was established when the War Department bought a large area of land near the villa ...

for his training and played for local non-League club Camberley Town. In 1982, at the age of just 18, Stant was sent to the

Falkland Islands The Falkland Islands (; es, Islas Malvinas, link=no ) is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The principal islands are about east of South America's southern Patagonian coast and about from Cape Dubouzet ...

as part of operations of the

, serving with 5 Infantry Brigade as part of 81 Ordnance Coy. He was deployed to the South Atlantic aboard the ''

Queen Elizabeth 2 ''Queen Elizabeth 2'' (''QE2'') is a retired British ocean liner converted into a floating hotel. Originally built for the Cunard Line, the ship, named as the second ship named ''Queen Elizabeth'', was operated by Cunard as both a transatlantic ...

'', a journey that lasted three weeks and included stops in

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierra ...

and

Ascension Island Ascension Island is an isolated volcanic island, 7°56′ south of the Equator in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is about from the coast of Africa and from the coast of South America. It is governed as part of the British Overseas Territory o ...

before arriving in the South Atlantic, landing on South Georgia. During his time in the conflict, Stant was witness to the

Bluff Cove Air Attacks The Bluff Cove air attacks occurred 8 June 1982, during the Falklands War. British troop transport ships were bombed by the Argentine Air Force (FAA) while unloading at Bluff Cove, with significant damage and casualties. Background By 1 June ...

, having been aboard RFA ''Sir Tristram'' earlier in the day. He had been ordered off the ship the day before to man a nearby trench in Port Pleasant. There he was witness to the Argentinian aerial attack on the two warships and was one of the first on the scene afterwards where he helped wounded soldiers. Stant has described his experiences in the aftermath as ''"the day I grew up"'' due to the injuries he witnessed. He remained on the island until July 1982, a month after the end of the hostilities there. He progressed into the SAS and also worked as part of a bomb disposal unit before turning his attentions to football. His experiences in the South Atlantic were the subject of a 2007 ITV documentary, "Falklands 25: A soldier's story".

Playing career

A fan of home town team

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 ...

, his games 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 ...

came with

, although he scored twice in four games for

in the 1982–83 season. Bought out of the Army by Hereford for £600, Stant went on to score 38 times in 89 League appearances for the Bulls, including 28 in 1988–89, before he secured a £175,000 move to

. He played 22 times (six goals) for the Magpies and after loan spells with

, Lincoln City and

he joined

for £60,000 in February 1991. Six months later he was on the move again, scoring 26 goals for

as the Stags won promotion from the Fourth Division, and in December 1992, was transferred £100,000 to Cardiff City. Stant averaged a goal every other game during his three seasons at

Ninian Park Ninian Park was a football stadium in the Leckwith area of Cardiff, Wales, that was the home of Cardiff City F.C. for 99 years. Opened in 1910 with a single wooden stand, it underwent numerous renovations during its lifespan and hosted fixtu ...

, including a hat-trick in the 1993

Welsh Cup The FAW Welsh Cup ( cy, Cwpan Cymdeithas Pêl-droed Cymru), currently known as the JD Welsh Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a knock-out football competition contested annually by teams in the Welsh football league system. It is considered the most ...

final win over

Rhyl Rhyl (; cy, Y Rhyl, ) is a seaside town and community (Wales), community in Denbighshire, Wales. The town lies within the Historic counties of Wales, historic boundaries of Flintshire (historic), Flintshire, on the north-east coast of Wales at ...

, before it was

's turn to experience his goalscoring talents and it was from the Shakers where City purchased him for £30,000 in December 1996 where in two seasons scored 23 goals in 62 appearances. He then moved to Lincoln City where he marked his second arrival at

Sincil Bank Sincil Bank Stadium, known for sponsorship reasons as LNER Stadium, is a football stadium in Lincoln, England which has been the home of Lincoln City since 1895. Previously, Lincoln City had played at the nearby John O'Gaunts ground since th ...

by scoring 16 goals in 22 matches during the second half of the 1996–97 season and whilst the goals dried up the following campaign, he still played his part as the Club gained promotion on the final day of the season, assisting caretaker-manager

Shane Westley Shane Lee Mark Westley (born 16 June 1965 in Canterbury) is an English former professional footballer and coach. Playing career A defender, Westley began his career at Charlton Athletic in 1983 but he made his big breakthrough with Southend Un ...

in the latter half of the season. In the Second Division campaign the following year, Stant made five substitute appearances in all competitions as he concentrated on assisting Westley and chairman

John Reames Keith John Reames (19 February 1942 – 6 May 2008) was an English football manager and administrator who was chairman of Lincoln City from 1985 to 2000. He remains, to date, their longest-serving chairman; he also managed the club from 1998 t ...

, who took over as manager in November 1998. In May 2000, Reames handed the managerial reins over to Stant, who came off the bench a further 19 times in the 1999–2000 season. Stant lasted 30 matches as Imps' boss and, four days after the Lincoln City Membership Scheme's Community Ownership Package for the shareholding of the club was successful, the new board of directors terminated the contracts of Stant and his assistant George Foster, with former

Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that in the 2022–23 season will compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system, following the victory in ...

boss

Alan Buckley Alan Peter Buckley (born 20 April 1951) is an English former professional footballer and football manager who now works as a sports co-commentator for BBC Humberside. As a player, he was a forward from 1967 to 1987 for Nottingham Forest, ...

coming in as his successor. A short-term playing contract at

followed.

Coaching career

Following his departure from Brighton, Stant joined

. He enjoyed a fruitful spell with the club, scoring a hat-trick in the 4–2 victory over

Tiverton Town Tiverton Town Football Club are an English football club based in Tiverton, Devon. The club are currently members of the and play at Ladysmead. History The club was established in 1913 as Tiverton Athletic, and initially played at the Athle ...

on 20 October 2001 and going on to notch a total of 12 goals in 23 appearances before moving on to

. After four appearances for Dover, Stant moved on for a brief sojourn at Hayes which saw him make three appearances in a week long stay before finishing the season at Hinckley United, linking up with one-time

colleague Dean Thomas and scoring twice in seven league appearances, as well as in the Leicestershire Challenge Cup Final. In July 2002, Stant moved back into management, being appointed player-manager at

. Stant enjoyed a successful season at the Northolme, leading the club to the fifth round of the

FA Trophy The Football Association Challenge Trophy, commonly known as the FA Trophy, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after the English Football Association and competed for primarily by semi-professional teams. The compet ...

whilst securing a mid-table league finish and winning the Lincolnshire Senior County Cup, but resigned at the end of the season due to work commitments. In October 2003, Stant returned to management with Ilkeston Town, He would steer Ilkeston to promotion to the

Northern Premier League Premier Division The Northern Premier League is an English football league that was founded in 1968. It has four divisions: the Premier Division (which stands at level 7 of the English football league system), Division One East, Division One West and Division ...

in the 2004–05 season but a disappointing start to their campaign at the higher level saw Stant resign from his post in September 2005.

Personal life

Running the Newark & Sherwood College Football Academy whilst he's also a youth development monitor for the Football League.

Career statistics

Honours

;Cardiff City *

: 1992–93 Individual *

PFA Team of the Year The Professional Footballers' Association Team of the Year (often called the PFA Team of the Year, or simply the Team of the Year) is an annual award given to a set of 55 footballers across the top four tiers of men's English football; the Premie ...

: 1988–89 Fourth Division, 1991–92 Fourth Division

References

External links

Lengthy audio interview with Radio Lincolnshire, February 2006Audio interview with Radio Lincolnshire about his Falklands memoriesOoh Ah Stantona, his autobiography published in 2006Speaking Profile and Video Clip
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Stant, Phil 1962 births Living people Footballers from Bolton English footballers Camberley Town F.C. players Reading F.C. players Hereford United F.C. players Notts County F.C. players Blackpool F.C. players Lincoln City F.C. players Huddersfield Town A.F.C. players Fulham F.C. players Mansfield Town F.C. players Cardiff City F.C. players Bury F.C. players Northampton Town F.C. players Lincoln City F.C. managers Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. players Worcester City F.C. players Hayes F.C. players Hinckley United F.C. players Gainsborough Trinity F.C. players Ilkeston Town F.C. (1945) players Gainsborough Trinity F.C. managers Ilkeston Town F.C. managers British Army personnel of the Falklands War Royal Army Ordnance Corps soldiers Special Air Service soldiers Dover Athletic F.C. players English Football League players Association football forwards English football managers Military personnel from Lancashire