Kevin Phillips was to become a Sunderland legend and returned to Southampton for £3 million but it was at Watford where he first rose to prominence with his scoring ability.
The Hitchin-born player had started out as a full-back with Saints, but it was at non-league Baldock Town where he became a striker before joining the Hornets for an initial fee of just £10,000 in December 1994.
Although the forward was untested at Football League level, this fee was an absolute bargain given what he was to achieve in his career.
Phillips’ Watford career was to get off to a flyer with five goals in his first seven appearances, ending the season with nine as Glenn Roeder’s side finished seventh in Division One.
The following year was to be one of struggle as the Hornets, despite Graham Taylor’s return to the club, were relegated. Yet it might have turned out differently had ‘Super Kev’, who scored 11 times in 26 league appearances, not missed the last two months of the season with a foot injury that was to sideline him for a year.
Phillips scored three times in 13 appearances after returning to action before moving to the Black Cats for an initial fee of £325,000 in July 1997.
Scroll through this page and enjoy ten pictures from our archive of a striker whose scoring ability is still remembered fondly by many Hornets fans.
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