Kevin Phillips is well remembered around the Stadium of Light for his emphatic 30-goal season at Sunderland, however, he has one regret surrounding the campaign.
Upon the Black Cats’ promotion back into the top flight, they took the Premier League by storm.
Sunderland had won the second tier with 105 points in 1999 but few expected what was to come.
The Black Cats ended up finishing seventh in the Premier League with 58 points, mainly thanks to one man, Phillips.
The striker netted 30 goals in the 1999/00 campaign earning him the European Golden Boot.
Phillips had said that he may not have reached this feat if it wasn’t for Alan Shearer, however, he still has one big regret from the campaign.
Kevin Phillips regrets not earning European qualification with Sunderland
Despite coming close in multiple seasons, the Black Cats have only qualified for Europe once. Their 1973 FA Cup victory saw them reach the Cup Winners’ Cup in the following campaign before Sporting CP knocked them out in round two.
Since then, the closest Sunderland came was in the 1999/00 season. Here, a sixth-place finish would result in European qualification due to Leicester City winning the League Cup.
However, despite occupying this position in April which would have seen qualification for the Intertoto Cup third round, a mixed run of form at the end of the year forced them to settle for seventh.
Speaking four years ago on Davy Jones’ Lockeroom, Phillips cites this as a regret.
“We were gutted come the end of the season not to finish sixth and get into Europe,” he stated. “Once we had secured Premier League safety you start thinking it was achievable. To have had the season we had, we didn’t just want to rest on our laurels.
“We were really disappointed. We all had the belief that if we made another couple of quality signings we could have another go next season and we did.
“But again that first season it would have been incredible, certainly for myself, to cap the season I played for England, won the two Golden Boots, to then play in Europe would have capped an incredible season.”
‘The Premier League underestimated Sunderland’ – Kevin Phillips
It is rare for any team to go up and completely avoid a relegation battle, let alone be in the fight for Europe.
Yet, that is exactly what the Sunderland team did, with only goal difference separating them and a European journey.
Numerous fantastic results were earned by the Black Cats such as their 4-1 victory at home to Chelsea and their memorable 2-1 away win at St. James’ Park.
This resulted in a phenomenal 10-game unbeaten run that lasted from the end of August to the start of November.
Phillips believes that many Premier League teams were ‘surprised’ by the ability of the Sunderland squad which resulted in their fight for a European place.
Speaking in 2020 on the All to Play For podcast, Phillips said: “We took a lot of people by surprise. I think a lot of the bigger teams underestimated us. I think we had such a team spirit.
“You can’t have all that without having some quality as well. We had good team spirit. Brilliant off the pitch in those days, it was fantastic, especially under Reidy.
“We took it onto the pitch and we performed. I think taking the element of surprise, me and Niall – I think a lot of the Premier League players wouldn’t have heard of me.
“Of course, they were used to coming up against Niall but they weren’t used to coming up against big fella, little fella combination. It wasn’t really known then.
“Having a six foot seven and then a five foot seven striker is just unheard of. We took them by surprise.”