Have boots, will travel (if not all that far): the little man with the big appetite for goals continues his odyssey around the West Midlands
If Kevin Phillips' career has had its high-water marks, it hasn't all been plain sailing. Rejected by Southampton as a kid for being too small, he ended up at non-league Baldock Town, initially as a right-back, before discovering his scoring boots in spectacular style.
Eventually, Watford's Glenn Roeder decided to take a £10,000 punt in December 1994. Phillips initially struggled to get in the team - and sometimes found himself back in defence when he was - but he ended up bagging 24 in 55 league starts and caught the eye of Peter Reid at Sunderland.
Freshly relegated from the top flight, the Mackems paid £350,000 for Phillips, which eventually rose to £600,000. It was a bargain. Paired with Niall Quinn in a classic big man/little man combo, Phillips' poaching instincts and long-range shooting ability ensured he scored 35 goals in his first season (which ended in play-off final heartbreak after a penalty shoot-out with Charlton) and, in his slightly injury-hit second, 23 in 26 league games as Sunderland were promoted and he was called up to the England squad.
Rodney Marsh predicted that Phillips would struggle to get six goals in the top flight. Not for the last time, he was wrong: Phillips hit 30 in the league alone and bagging the European Golden Boot (he remains the only Englishman to have done so) as Sunderland finished seventh.
In 2003, Sunderland were relegated amid financial worries and Phillips was snapped up for £3m by Southampton, the club who had rejected him a decade earlier. He scored on his debut and in the UEFA Cup but the good times didn't last, the Saints were relegated in 2005 and he moved on again, this time to Aston Villa for £1m. By now aged 32, Phillips struggled for goals in the top flight, and in August 2006 he moved across the Midlands and down a division to West Brom.
In his first two seasons at the Hawthorns ‘Super Kev’ racked up 46 goals for the Baggies, and his ability to produce a lethal finish in key games played a major part in their Championship title win. While at West Brom he has taken his career total through the 200 barrier, maintaining his scoring ratio of almost a goal every other game and being named the FourFourTwo Football League Player of the Year in 2008 as the Baggies swept to the title.
In July 2008, he moved across the Midlands again by accepting a two-year deal at freshly-relegated Birmingham City.