Kevin Phillips

Early career

Phillips was born in Hitchin, Hertfordshire. He started his footballing career as a trainee with Southampton, where he spent six years, four as a schoolboy, before being taken on as an apprentice in 1989. As a youth, Phillips was considered to be too small to play up front and was played at right back, in which position he made two reserve team appearances in 1990. He failed to make the grade at Southampton and was released by manager Chris Nicholl, and returned to Hertfordshire where he signed for non-League semi-professional side Baldock Town in the summer of 1991. At Baldock Town, he was initially played as a defender until an injury crisis resulted in manager Ian Allinson playing Phillips as a striker, scoring twice in his first match in his new role. He was signed by Watford in December 1994 for an initial £10,000, plus four additional payments of £5,000.

Watford

Phillips established himself in the squad during the second half of the 1994–95 season, and played regularly before suffering a foot injury in March 1996, initially diagnosed as a hairline fracture and later discovered to be a hole in a ligament in his foot, that kept him out for a year. Watford were relegated from Division One in 1995–96, and by the time Phillips returned to the team, they were in the top half of Division Two, and went on to finish 13th. In July 1997, Phillips signed for Sunderland for a fee of £325,000, potentially rising to more than £600,000.

Sunderland…

Between April 1999 and February 2002, Phillips made eight appearances for England but failed to score. His debut came when he was one of five international debutants selected by manager Kevin Keegan for the friendly match away to Hungary. Phillips had an opportunity to score in the first half, but his shot hit Gábor Király's legs. In the 74th minute, Phillips was replaced by fellow debutant Emile Heskey. In the final warm-up match before the Euro 2000 tournament, Phillips failed to score in a 2–1 victory against Malta, with the BBC describing him as having "that slightly desperate look of all fringe players who have been left precious little time to impress". Despite this, Phillips was selected by Keegan as part of the England squad for Euro 2000, but he remained an unused substitute. In his final appearance for England, he came on as a half-time substitute in a friendly against the Netherlands on 13 February 2002, in which he had a chance to equalise when he forced keeper Edwin van der Sar into an error; Van der Sar then produced a point-blank save from David Beckham's follow-up.

Leicester City

Following his retirement from football, Phillips was offered a coaching role and remained at Leicester City as assistant first team coach for the club's first season back in the Premier League.

Derby County

On 17 September 2015, Phillips was appointed as assistant coach to Paul Clement at Derby County.

Stoke City

In June 2018, Phillips joined as first-team coach to Gary Rowett at Stoke City. He left Stoke on 8 January 2019.

South Shields

On 16 January 2022, Phillips was appointed as manager of Northern Premier League Premier Division club South Shields. Despite being favourites to win the league, South Shields finished second and lost in the play-off semi-finals to Warrington Town in Phillips' first season as manager. Phillips secured promotion in his second season with the club, winning the league title with two games to spare with a 1–0 victory at Whitby Town. He departed the club by mutual consent on 22 April 2023.

Hartlepool United

On 20 January 2024, Phillips was appointed as head coach of National League club Hartlepool United. Hartlepool had been relegated from League Two in the previous season and were in 16th position, four points above the relegation zone prior to Phillips' appointment. His first match with Hartlepool was a 2–1 home win against York City on 27 January. Hartlepool finished the season in 12th position. On 27 April 2024, Phillips' departure was confirmed after his contract expired.…

Phillips is married to Julie. They have four children. Phillips' cousin-in-law is Labour politician Jess Phillips.