Steven Edward Phillips (born 4 August 1954) is an English 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 ...

who had a long career as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for a number of teams 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 ...

in the 1970s and 1980s. He scored 200 goals from 562 league appearances.

Club career

Phillips was born in

Edmonton, London Edmonton is a town in north London, England within the London Borough of Enfield, a local government district of Greater London. The northern part of the town is known as Lower Edmonton or Edmonton Green, and the southern part as Upper Edmonto ...

. He began his football career as an apprentice with

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

, turning professional in August 1971. His first-team debut, as a substitute in the 3–2 defeat of

Carlisle United Carlisle United Football Club ( , ) is a professional association football club based in Carlisle, Cumbria, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They have played their home games at Brunton Par ...

in the

Football League Second Division The Football League Second Division was the second level division in the English football league system between 1892 and 1992. Following the foundation of the FA Premier League, the Football League divisions were renumbered and the third ti ...

, came the same month, at the age of 17 years 17 days, which made him at the time the club's second-youngest debutant.Matthews, p. 207. He played six more games in the starting eleven before losing his place; the arrival of

Bob Hatton Robert James Hatton (born 10 April 1947 in Hull) is an English former association footballer who played as a centre forward. He played more than 600 matches in the Football League for a variety of clubs and scored at a rate better than one goal ...

in October meant he failed to regain it. Birmingham's

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

to the First Division, and the establishment of Hatton,

Bob Latchford Robert Dennis Latchford (born 18 January 1951) is an English former footballer who played as a centre forward. He made more than 500 appearances in the Football League, playing for Birmingham City, Everton, Swansea City and Coventry City in t ...

and

Trevor Francis Trevor John Francis (born 19 April 1954) is an English former footballer who played as a forward for a number of clubs in England, the United States, Italy, Scotland and Australia. In 1979 he became Britain's first £1 million player follo ...

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 to

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

in February 1974. After a spell on loan at

Torquay United Torquay United Football Club is a professional football club based in Torquay, Devon, England. The team currently compete in the , the fifth tier of English football. They have played their home matches at Plainmoor since 1921 and are nicknamed ...

, Phillips joined

Fourth Division Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music), a musical interval * ''The Fourth'' (1972 film), a Sovie ...

club

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 ...

in October 1975 for a fee of £5,000. Phillips scored nine goals from his 51 league appearances for Northampton before moving on to

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...

in February 1977. In his first full season at Brentford, Phillips finished as

's leading scorer with 32 goals and his partnership with

Andrew McCulloch Andrew McCulloch may refer to: * Andrew McCulloch (civil engineer) (1864–1945), Chief Engineer of the Kettle Valley Railway in Canada *Sir Andrew McCulloch (British Army officer) (1876–1960), commander of 52nd Lowland Division from 1934&nda ...

made a major contribution to the club's promotion to the Third Division. Phillips scored 69 goals from 167 appearances for Brentford and was inducted into the club's

Hall of Fame A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or Wiktionary:fame, fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actu ...

in 2019. He was sold back to former club Northampton Town in August 1980 for a fee of £40,000. He scored 29 goals from 75 league games in this spell at the club, form which led to his inclusion in the PFA Fourth Division Team of the Year for the 1980–81 season. After 18 months he moved on again, this time to

Southend United Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of English football. Southend are known as ...

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. 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 in 1984–85. He finished his Southend career with 72 goals from 182 games in all competitions, 66 from 158 in the league. He rejoined Torquay United in January 1986, and went on to play for

Peterborough United Peterborough United Football Club is an English professional football club based in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Peterborough have a long-standing ...

and for

Exeter City Exeter City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Exeter, Devon, England. The team play in , the third tier of the English football league system. Known as "the Grecians", the origin of their nickname is subject to ...

and

Chesterfield Chesterfield may refer to: Places Canada * Rural Municipality of Chesterfield No. 261, Saskatchewan * Chesterfield Inlet, Nunavut United Kingdom * Chesterfield, Derbyshire, a market town in England ** Chesterfield (UK Parliament constitue ...

on loan.

International career

When England youth team manager

Tony Waiters Anthony Keith Waiters (1 February 1937 – 5 November 2020) was an English footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He is better known for his coaching career in Canada. He managed the Vancouver Whitecaps to an NASL championship, and was in charg ...

selected Phillips for the 1973 UEFA Youth (under-18) Tournament to be staged in Italy,

the Football Association The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the Sports governing body, governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Bailiwick of Guernsey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the ...

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 their

East German East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

counterparts, Phillips came off the substitutes' bench to score the winning goal.

After football

In 1999, he opened a bar in Benalmádena, Spain. He later returned to England, where he ran pubs. Steve is now sponsorship manager at Wellingborough Town F.C.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Phillips, Steve Living people 1954 births Footballers from Edmonton, London English footballers Association football forwards Birmingham City F.C. players Torquay United F.C. players Northampton Town F.C. players Brentford F.C. players Southend United F.C. players Peterborough United F.C. players Exeter City F.C. players Chesterfield F.C. players Stamford A.F.C. players English Football League players