Sunderland hit the jackpot with £325k transfer - He was a complete goal machine | OneFootball

Kevin Phillips became a bonafide Black Cats legend after a 1997 move from Watford

Sunderland have had their fair share of legendary players over the years since their formation, and striker Kevin Phillips is arguably the most iconic of them all, at least in recent times, for his impressive exploits at the club from 1997 to 2003.

The Black Cats had just been relegated from the Premier League in the summer of 1997 under Peter Reid, and a summer of change beckoned as they moved from Roker Park into the new 42,000 all-seater Stadium of Light ahead of their return to the second-tier.

Their drop meant they had to invest in fresh talent to help them get back to the top-flight, and so in came Phillips for an initial fee of around £325,000 from Division Two side Watford.

Then just 23-years-old, the Hitchin-born frontman was a relatively low-key signing for the club to make at the time, but as it turned out, he soon became one of the best strikers in Europe for a short time at the club, and proved to be a real coup for such a low fee.

Kevin Phillips became a surprise Sunderland legend after £325,000 move from Watford

Phillips himself could not have dreamed of what he went on to achieve with Sunderland after his move from Watford in 1997. He etched his name in Black Cats' folklore for his outstanding showings on Wearside in the six seasons he was at the club.

He was a number nine in the purest form, a lethal finisher who was solely focused on scoring more goals than anyone else, and despite an initially slow start to his time at the Stadium of Light, he soon found his shooting boots and became the first Sunderland player to score 30 goals in a season since Brian Clough in 1961/62 as they finished third but missed out on promotion in his maiden Division One campaign at the club.

The prolific striker soon fired the Black Cats back to the Premier League in his second term at the club, with 23 goals from just 26 league games, which saw him earn a call-up to the England national team while he was still playing in the second-tier alongside Sunderland teammate Michael Gray.

He was tipped to struggle in the top-flight, but instead formed a deadly double act with fellow frontman Niall Quinn and netted 30 league goals to win both the Premier League Golden Boot and the coveted European Golden Shoe award, becoming the first Englishman ever to do so. It was an unprecedented outstanding campaign from a player who had never even appeared in the top-flight before that season.

Sunderland, meanwhile, had only just missed out on a UEFA Cup place thanks to his unbelievable form, which happened again in 2000/01 after he had bagged 18 goals in all competitions, and they finished seventh for a second season running.

His goal contributions in his final two years on Wearside were less consistent, but he still managed to score 11 and six league goals in the 2001/02 and 2002/03 campaigns respectively, before the Black Cats were relegated back to the second-tier, and he moved on to Southampton for a healthy profit of £3.25 million.

Phillips became a Sunderland hero in his first season at the club, and by the time he left, he was, and still is, regarded as one of the greatest ever players to pull on the red and white stripes. Black Cats supporters could only really dream of a striker of his calibre plying their trade at the club nowadays.

Phillips never quite reached the same heights after his Sunderland exit - he is proud of his Black Cats' achievements

It was always going to be tough for Phillips to replicate his Sunderland exploits by the time he left the club in 2003. He was 30-years-old by that point, and had clearly dropped off towards the end of his time at the Stadium of Light, but was still able to notch double figures of league goals in both of his campaigns at Southampton.

He spent a single season at Aston Villa after leaving the Saints in 2005, but struggled to make an impact, and so dropped back into the Championship for the first time since 1999 to join West Brom in 2006. Phillips became a hero to Baggies supporters in his two years at The Hawthorns, with 46 goals in 81 appearances as he helped them win promotion in 2008.

Further decent spells at Birmingham City, Blackpool, Crystal Palace and Leicester City followed, and he eventually hung up his boots at the age of 40 in 2014.

Phillips certainly did well at other clubs in his career, but there is no doubt that his prime years were spent on Wearside, and he spoke of his affection for Sunderland in a 2017 interview with PlanetFootball, while he admitted that he felt underappreciated across the sport for his unbelievable 1999/2000 European Golden Boot campaign.

He said: “If I were to harp on about it, I think people might say I was being picky, but let’s put it this way: If an English player scored 30 goals now, they’d get themselves a massive move and be on God-knows-what. They’d be all over the world.

“When I did it, it was just like, ‘Yeah it’s a freak, it’s a one-off. I thought it was a hell of an achievement. No disrespect, but generally when players score 30 goals, they are doing it in a team who are in the top two, three, or four in the league.

“I did it in a team that finished seventh, in a team that – and I love Sunderland, they’re dear to my heart – are not fashionable compared to Man United, Arsenal, Liverpool and so on.

“So I think that made the achievement even better. To have received the Golden Boot in the whole of Europe as well, it’s never been beaten [since, by an English striker], and I don’t think it ever will when you have the likes of Messi and Ronaldo and Neymar.

“It goes under the radar and doesn’t really get mentioned, but within my household I’m certainly very proud of it!"

Phillips' achievements have probably not been talked about enough by the wider footballing world in the years that have followed, but Sunderland fans will undoubtedly never forget his fruitful six years spent with the club. He is a Black Cats icon, and they absolutely hit the jackpot with his signing from Watford in 1997.