Sunderland fans could never have asked for more from Kevin Phillips when he was a Black Cats player, but the striker could and should have done more for England.
It goes without saying that Kevin Phillips, who scored 118 goals for the Black Cats, is a bona fide Sunderland legend after the way he contributed for the club over the years.
He was one of the most lethal strikers in the Championship, before going on to terrorise Premier League defenders for years, and even won the European Golden Boot.
In fact, Phillips was so good that he even earned praise from Newcastle legend Alan Shearer, but no matter what he did at club level, the marksman struggled to make an impact for his country.
Kevin Phillips felt left out by England teammates
Speaking to Sky Sports’ Dave Jones as part of the Davy Jones’ Lockeroom series, Phillips discussed his brief England career, and explained what it was like behind the scenes at the time for the Three Lions.
He said: “At the beginning [of my England career], there were a lot of cliques… There was only myself and Michael Gray when I first went and it was tough.
“I didn’t really know anyone and I didn’t really feel part of it. Kevin Keegan was excellent in trying to integrate me into the squad but it was tough.”
Phillips would only earn eight caps during his playing career, which feels exceptionally low for such a prolific striker. But, the former Sunderland man doesn’t really have any issue with that.
“I think I probably deserved more than eight caps but I’m not bitter about it because look at the players I was competing against,” Phillips added. “You had Shearer, Owen, Fowler, Sheringham, Heskey, Le Tissier, Sutton, Cole, Ferdinand. I feel privileged to have got eight caps.”
The success of Alan Shearer around that time obviously cost Phillips his place most of the time, but Keegan did try and combine the top talents from the North East for England.
Phillips continued: “Kevin tried me up front with Alan two or three times and it just didn’t quite work for whatever reason. I didn’t feel there was a rivalry between us because of who we played for.
“There were times when I felt he could have passed to me but that’s football, there were times when I should have passed to Niall [Quinn] but I didn’t because I was being selfish.
“That’s what top quality strikers are. It was just one of those things, I was just unfortunate in who I was competing against.”
England’s loss was Sunderland’s gain
While more recent Sunderland exports like Jordan Henderson achieved success with England, and Jordan Pickford remains the country’s number one goalkeeper, Phillips just never got a proper look in.
But, while England neglected one of the most talented goalscorers of a generation, Sunderland embraced Phillips and certainly got the most out of him.
His goals fired Sunderland to promotion, kept them in the Premier League, and even pushed them to successive seventh-placed finishes in the top flight in 1999/00 and 2000/01.
Who knows, perhaps if Phillips had been given more game time on the international stage, maybe he would have left Sunderland sooner?