Super Kevin Phillips
The Football League held their annual awards ceremony last night and presented the Tom Finney Award to Kevin Phillips. The award is essentially the FL's equivalent of a lifetime achievement gong and in my view, there is no candidate more deserving. He is simply the best player I've seen to put on the red and white stripes and play for Sunderland.
In August 1999, my father and I made a rare trip to the Stadium of Light to watch the newly promoted Sunderland play Watford in the Premier League. I remember one thing only from that match. Phillips picked up the ball on the edge of the penalty area and the crowd rose to its feet. I rose with them, but being 11 years old and rather small, couldn't see the pitch. Between the arms of the two spectators in front of me, my vision was restricted to the right hand corner of Watford's net. A second later I saw the ball fly into that tiny pocket of space. Bedlam followed.
Sunderland went on to complete the first of two consecutive 7th place finishes. It was by far and away the best time to be a Sunderland fan in my lifetime. And the main reason was Phillips. By the end of that season, he had scored 30 league goals, putting him in the company of players like Andy Cole, Thierry Henry and Luiz Suarez. He remains the only English player to have ever won the Golden Shoe, the award given for the top goalscorer in Europe.
You're generally considered to be a decent striker if you score once every three or four matches. Phillips scored 113 times in 208 games during the six years he played for us. He was adept at all sorts of goal scoring too, from the previously mentioned top corner curlers, to headers and short range poaching. He was later to best the "1 in 2" ratio again during his time at West Brom and in 2013, scored the winning penalty in the Championship play off final for Crystal Palace against Watford at the age of 39. I watched that match with my Dad. As he stepped up to take it, he said "Kevin won't miss".
I only wish the current Sunderland side had a player half as good as the man we called "Super Kev".
In August 1999, my father and I made a rare trip to the Stadium of Light to watch the newly promoted Sunderland play Watford in the Premier League. I remember one thing only from that match. Phillips picked up the ball on the edge of the penalty area and the crowd rose to its feet. I rose with them, but being 11 years old and rather small, couldn't see the pitch. Between the arms of the two spectators in front of me, my vision was restricted to the right hand corner of Watford's net. A second later I saw the ball fly into that tiny pocket of space. Bedlam followed.
Sunderland went on to complete the first of two consecutive 7th place finishes. It was by far and away the best time to be a Sunderland fan in my lifetime. And the main reason was Phillips. By the end of that season, he had scored 30 league goals, putting him in the company of players like Andy Cole, Thierry Henry and Luiz Suarez. He remains the only English player to have ever won the Golden Shoe, the award given for the top goalscorer in Europe.
You're generally considered to be a decent striker if you score once every three or four matches. Phillips scored 113 times in 208 games during the six years he played for us. He was adept at all sorts of goal scoring too, from the previously mentioned top corner curlers, to headers and short range poaching. He was later to best the "1 in 2" ratio again during his time at West Brom and in 2013, scored the winning penalty in the Championship play off final for Crystal Palace against Watford at the age of 39. I watched that match with my Dad. As he stepped up to take it, he said "Kevin won't miss".
I only wish the current Sunderland side had a player half as good as the man we called "Super Kev".
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