Stephen McPhee

Early career

Born in Glasgow, McPhee began his career with his brother Gary at Vitesse Arnhem in the Netherlands. His family were resident in the country due to his father's engineering career. In 1998, he went to England at Coventry City, but did not make a senior appearance for the "Sky Blues", who were then in the Premier League. In 2001, Coventry sent him on loan to Scottish Premier League club St Mirren, who had hoped to sign Ronaldinho, but instead settled for the young hopeful McPhee. He played seven games for the "Saints" and won the April 2001 SPL Young Player of the Month Award. However, Coventry manager Gordon Strachan never played McPhee and the player opted to leave Highfield Road after rejecting a three-year deal.

Port Vale

McPhee signed for Port Vale on a free transfer in July 2001 and would soon show himself to be arguably Brian Horton's best signing at the club. He scored on his debut against Notts County and finished the season as the club's top scorer with 14 goals in 51 games, including one in the 2001 Potteries derby. Paul Jewell's Wigan Athletic made a bid for McPhee that was accepted by his club (£300,000). However, the deal fell through as the Scotsman's agent rejected Wigan's contract offer. The 2002–03 season was one largely devoid of goals for the striker, his strike against Oldham Athletic in October ended a run of 21 games without a goal, but only two goals followed in the remaining 34 matches as he was played at wide right. In…

McPhee won his first Scotland under-21 cap in October 2001 against Latvia U21.

McPhee was an energetic and tenacious forward.

In July 2010, Blackpool manager Ian Holloway offered McPhee a coaching role at the club, an offer that the Scot accepted. He left his post 13 months later, citing dissatisfaction at his wage level. In 2012, he returned to another former club, Port Vale, as a youth team coach.