OTD: KEVIN PHILLIPS SIGNED

Signed on this day in 1997 is Sunderland legend, Super Kevin Phillips.

Phillips arrived on Wearside from Watford, in a deal initially worth £325,000. He signed for the lads after their relegation to Division One, which is now the Championship. Kev was an unknown quantity when he signed. Fans were questioning Peter Reid's decision to sign a young lad from Watford to become our talisman as we aimed for promotion. Their questions were quickly answered though.

In his first season, he scored 35 goals for the Black Cats, becoming the first Sunderland player to get 30 goals in a season since Brian Clough. He remained the last player to reach the 30-goal milestone until Charlie Wyke did it in League One (sorry Charlie, it's not quite the same achievement). Sunderland missed out on promotion that year, infamously losing on penalties after a 4-4 draw with Charlton. However, Phillips still managed to score in that play-off final despite later being substituted with an injury.

The following season, the former Watford man continued his fine form, scoring an unbelievable 23 league goals despite making just 26 appearances! Sunderland were promoted in April, with Phillips scoring four goals in a 5-0 win against Bury. In his first Premier League season, Phillips was electric once again. He scored an outstanding 30 Premier League goals, which was enough to win both the Premier League golden boot and the European Golden Shoe. Phillips’ partnership with Niall Quinn was a huge part of their seventh-place finish, just missing out on European football.

The following season, Phillips hit 14 Premier League goals; impressive for most, but disappointing for his extremely high standards. Sunderland finished seventh yet again as they continued to fight for European football. In January 2001, the striker bagged his 104th goal for Sunderland, becoming our top goal scorer post-war.

He played a total of 235 matches for Sunderland, scoring 130 goals at a rate of more than one every two games. It's certainly fair to say he's one of our most iconic footballers of the modern era.

Phillips went on to sign for Southampton, where he played for two years before joining Aston Villa. He travelled around the Midlands, playing for Villa, West Brom and Birmingham City. He retired in 2014 at Leicester City, where he became a coach.

In 2015, he became assitant coach at Derby County and then three years later he joined Stoke City as a first-team coach, staying for seven months. His first job as a manager came in 2022, when he took charge of South Shields, winning the Northern Premier League in his first season and taking them up to the National League North. Surprisingly, he left the club in the spring of 2023 by mutual consent and was replaced by Julio Arca. The following year, he went to Hartlepool and left when his contract expired just three months after joining. His most recent job was manager of AFC Fylde but he was sacked after four months, being victorious just five times in 20 games.