Stephen McPhail
McPhail playing for Cardiff City
|
||||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Stephen John Paul McPhail | |||||||||||
| Date of birth | 9 December 1979 | |||||||||||
| Place of birth | Westminster, England | |||||||||||
| Height | 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) | |||||||||||
| Playing position | Midfielder | |||||||||||
| Youth career | ||||||||||||
| 1992–1995 | Home Farm | |||||||||||
| 1995–1997 | Leeds United | |||||||||||
| Senior career* | ||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | |||||||||
| 1997–2004 | Leeds United | 78 | (3) | |||||||||
| 2002 | → Millwall (loan) | 3 | (0) | |||||||||
| 2003 | → Nottingham Forest (loan) | 14 | (0) | |||||||||
| 2004–2006 | Barnsley | 73 | (4) | |||||||||
| 2006–2013 | Cardiff City | 190 | (3) | |||||||||
| 2013–2014 | Sheffield Wednesday | 13 | (0) | |||||||||
| 2014–2016 | Shamrock Rovers | 53 | (2) | |||||||||
| Total | 424 | (12) | ||||||||||
| National team | ||||||||||||
| 1995 | Republic of Ireland U17 | 2 | (0) | |||||||||
| 1999–2001 | Republic of Ireland U21 | 4 | (0) | |||||||||
| 2006 | Republic of Ireland B | 1 | (0) | |||||||||
| 2000–2004 | Republic of Ireland | 10 | (1) | |||||||||
|
Honours
|
||||||||||||
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 05:30, 29 September 2016 (UTC). |
||||||||||||
Stephen John Paul McPhail (born 9 December 1979) is an Irish former footballer. He has won 10 caps for the Republic of Ireland and scored one goal. He plays as a play-making central midfielder.
McPhail was born in Westminster, London, and raised in Dublin, Ireland.
McPhail started his career by coming through the youth ranks at Leeds United. His playing style led former Arsenal manager George Graham to christen him "the new Liam Brady". He began to make an impact on the first team during the 1997–98 season, making his debut in February 1998 against Leicester City, and went on to make several substitute appearances that campaign. The highlight of his debut season was a 50-yard lob pass to Leeds and future Cardiff City teammate Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, which some Leeds fans described as "one of the passes of the season".
He started to become a regular for the side during the 1999–2000 season, after making several sub appearances, when he was given a long run in the first team squad. McPhail was rewarded with a new five-year contract at the Yorkshire club soon after. McPhail got his first Leeds goals in a league match against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.
After manager David O'Leary left, Leeds went on to have several different managers over the next few years. During this time, McPhail was hampered by injury, making it difficult to break into the team under Terry Venables or his successor Peter Reid. He was loaned out to Millwall as a means of maintaining match fitness. A second loan, this time at Nottingham Forest, could have been made permanent as both McPhail and Forest manager Paul Hart felt the move would be beneficial to his career, but Leeds rejected Forest's bid. During his time at Leeds, McPhail was involved in the club's 2000–01 UEFA Champions League run, appearing in memorable games against the likes of Barcelona and Lazio as Leeds reached the semi-finals.
...
Wikipedia