Kieran James Phillips (born 18 February 2000) is an English 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 lea ...

who plays as a forward for club Ross County.

Career

Huddersfield Town

Born in

Pontefract Pontefract is a historic market town in the City of Wakefield, a metropolitan district in West Yorkshire, England. It lies to the east of Wakefield and south of Castleford. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is one of the ...

, Phillips started his football career playing for his local club,

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. They compete in , the third tier of English football league system, English football. Huddersfield Town we ...

, before moving to Everton's academy at under-13 level. In 2016, he suffered a double knee

fracture Fracture is the appearance of a crack or complete separation of an object or material into two or more pieces under the action of stress (mechanics), stress. The fracture of a solid usually occurs due to the development of certain displacemen ...

, which ruled him out for two and a half years. Phillips returned to

in January 2020, originally on a loan deal until the end of the 2019–20 season. The deal was made permanent on 13 July 2020, with Phillips signing until the summer of 2021, with the option of a further year's extension. On 10 September, Phillips signed a new contract with the club, running end of the 2021–22 season – again with the option of an additional year. Phillips made his professional début for Huddersfield on 2 January 2021, when he came on as a substitute in their 2–1

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

defeat to

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

, replacing Rarmani Edmonds-Green. He made his first senior start for the club in a 3–2

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

Third Round defeat at home to

Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. The team currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. The club has played ...

. On 12 July 2021, Phillips joined League Two side

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located ...

on a season-long loan deal. He signed a new contract with Huddersfield, running until 2025, on 20 January 2022. Phillips was recalled by Huddersfield on 28 January, after scoring five goals in thirty-three appearances across all competitions. Three days later, Phillips joined League Two club

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

on loan, until the end of the 2021–22 season. The move was due to him playing as a winger at Walsall, but Huddersfield seeing his long-term future as a striker – which Exeter were able to cater for. He gained automatic promotion with Exeter this season. At the start of the 2022–23 season, Phillips joined

Morecambe Morecambe ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the City of Lancaster district of Lancashire, England, on Morecambe Bay, part of the Irish Sea. In 2011 the parish had a population of 34,768. Name The first use of the name was by John Whit ...

on loan for the season, but his loan was curtailed on 16 January 2023, owing to a long-term injury. On 24 August 2023, Phillips joined League One side

Shrewsbury Town Shrewsbury Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1886, the club were inaugur ...

on a season-long loan. He was recalled from his loan spell on 31 January 2024 to continue rehabilitation on an injury which had ruled him out since October. On 12 April 2024, Phillips joined Huddersfield's sister

USL Championship The USL Championship (USLC) is a men's professional association football, soccer league in the second tier of the United States soccer league system#Men's leagues, United States league system. It is organized by the United Soccer League (USL) a ...

club Sacramento Republic on loan for the remainder of the 2024 season.

Ross County

On 6 January 2025, Phillips signed for

Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, also known as the William Hill (bookmaker), William Hill Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Scotland and the highest level of the Scottish football league system. Th ...

club Ross County on a two-and-a-half year deal for an undisclosed fee.

Career statistics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Phillips, Kieran 2000 births Living people Footballers from Huddersfield Men's association football forwards English men's footballers Huddersfield Town A.F.C. players Walsall F.C. players Exeter City F.C. players Morecambe F.C. players Shrewsbury Town F.C. players Sacramento Republic FC players Ross County F.C. players English Football League players USL Championship players English expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States English expatriate sportspeople in the United States 21st-century English sportsmen