July 25 – Super Kev is Born
Have you ever thought to yourself, ‘I wonder why Peter Reid was such a success at Sunderland, when he has been little short of a disaster anywhere else he has been manager?’
No? Oh well. Anyway, the answer is Niall Quinn and Kevin Phillips.
It was on this day in 1973 that Mr Phillips was stood outside in the hospital hallway smoking a cigar while Mrs Phillips gave birth to little Kevin, who would go on to become a Sunderland legend.
In their first three seasons as the classic big man/little man strike partnership at Wearside, Phillips and Quinn scored a mighty 143 goals between them. After gaining promotion, this scoring record ensured consecutive 7th place Premiership finishes for Sunderland, before Quinn’s age started to catch up with him, and injuries forced him to play less and less. Super Kev missed his big buddy and the team as a whole began to struggle badly.
Sunderland decided to throw money at the problem, and Reid even bought Tore Andre Flo in a desperate attempt to find a replacement for Quinn and get Super Kev scoring again.
The gamble did not pay off, Reid was sacked, and Sunderland relegated with a points total of 19, which at the time was a record low – a record that Sunderland themselves would break in 2006 under Mick McCarthy with a measly 15.
Phillips’ potential was not initially spotted, and he was in fact released at an early age by Southampton, who thought he did not have the stature to be a striker and played him at right back.
Non-league, semi-professional outfit Baldock Town took him on, and spotting his eye for goal, converted him to a striker. Then he met a strange man called Spotty who told him a secret magic word that gave him super pow- oh no, that was someone else, sorry. Anyway, in his new position up front Super Kev fired the team to the top of the table, and earned himself a move to Watford for £10,000.
In 1997 Sunderland paid £600,000 for him, and his career really took off. As well as achieving promotion and Premier League success for his team, Phillips also revelled in some personal glory during his time with the Black Cats. Despite being predicted to struggle in the top flight, in the 1999/2000 season Phillips scored an incredible 30 league goals, winning him the European Golden Boot. He remains the only Englishman to win the prize.
After Sunderland were relegated, Southampton paid £3m for the player they released as a youth. On paper, the partnership of Phillips and James Beattie looked lethal, but they never really hit it off, and after Beattie was sold, and Saints also relegated, Phillips moved to Aston Villa, and then West Bromwich Albion.
There are some mammoth ten-minute goal compilations on YouTube, but this clip gives you a taster of the pint-sized poacher’s exploits for Sunderland.
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