Early career Phillips was born in
Hitchin, Hertfordshire. As a youth, Phillips was considered to be too small to play up front and was played at right back, He failed to make the grade at Southampton and was released by manager
Chris Nicholl, and returned to Hertfordshire where he signed for
non-League semi-professional side
Baldock Town in the summer of 1991. He was signed by
Watford in December 1994 for an initial £10,000, plus four additional payments of £5,000.
Watford Phillips established himself in the squad during the second half of the 1994–95 season, and played regularly before suffering a foot injury in March 1996, initially diagnosed as a hairline fracture and later discovered to be a hole in a ligament in his foot, that kept him out for a year. Watford were relegated from
Division One in 1995–96, and by the time Phillips returned to the team, they were in the top half of Division Two, and went on to finish 13th. In July 1997, Phillips signed for
Sunderland for a fee of £325,000, potentially rising to more than £600,000.
Sunderland , resulting in him winning the
Premier League Golden Boot and
European Golden Shoe in 2000 Phillips signed for Sunderland just after their relegation from the Premiership. Fifteen matches into the Division One season, the club were in mid-table and Phillips had four goals. and in nine consecutive home matches, became the first Sunderland player since
Brian Clough in 1961–62 to score 30 goals in a season, and finished the campaign with 35 goals in all competitions, the most by any Sunderland player in one season since the Second World War. His tally included a four-goal haul in the third round of the FA Cup at
Rotherham United and two goals in the play-off campaign. but also as the best match he had ever played in. Phillips scored eight goals in the opening weeks of the 1998–99 season as Sunderland reached the top of the Division One table. A broken toe sustained in a
League Cup tie against
Chester City in mid-September kept him out for nearly four months, but his goalscoring resumed immediately upon his return, with a "screaming volley" away to
Queens Park Rangers. Promotion was confirmed in April as Phillips scored four of Sunderland's five goals in an away game against
Bury, and he ended the season with 23 goals from only 26 league games, and 25 goals in all competitions. Forming a potent "little and large" strike pairing with veteran target-man
Niall Quinn, Phillips scored his sixth goal on 18 September – the first of a hat-trick against
Derby County – he was the first Englishman to have won the latter and held the distinction until
Harry Kane won the honour in 2024 – and with a 14-goal return from Quinn contributed to Sunderland's seventh-place finish, just missing out on a
UEFA Cup place. In January 2001, Phillips scored his 104th goal for Sunderland, breaking the club's post-war goalscoring record. As the season wore on, Phillips suffered both a lack of form and disciplinary problems: he scored only once between mid-January and May, and came in for criticism from fans and local press. He finished the season with 18 goals in all competitions, 14 in the league, but his goal on the final day of the season, in a 1–1 draw with
Derby County, was enough to ensure 17th place and Premier League survival. He played the last months of the campaign despite a groin problem which required surgery over the 2002 close season. Amid interest from clubs including
Arsenal and
Tottenham Hotspur, Phillips "pledged his future" to Sunderland ahead of the 2002–03 season, Manager
Peter Reid brought in strikers
Tore André Flo and
Marcus Stewart, and warned Phillips he was no longer an automatic first choice. Phillips in fact started 32 of the 38 league matches, but scored only 6 goals as the club were relegated with just four wins and what were then Premier League record lows of 19 points and 21 goals. A second transfer request was rejected in January, but at the end of the season Phillips confirmed that the club's need to reduce its expenditure in light of relegation meant that he would be leaving.
Southampton In August 2003, following Sunderland's relegation from the Premier League, Phillips moved to the south coast to join
Southampton for a fee of £3.25 million, with Phillips signing a four-year contract, while taking a substantial cut in his salary. His next goal came at
White Hart Lane on 20 September when the ball ricocheted in off him from an attempted clearance by
Tottenham Hotspur's
Anthony Gardner. This was followed in mid-week by the equalising goal in a 1–1 draw with
Steaua Bucharest in the
UEFA Cup First round. On the following Saturday, Phillips was
sent off in the final minute of a bad-tempered 1–0 defeat to
Middlesbrough, after he kicked out at Boro defender
Franck Queudrue. Phillips then failed to score for over three months until his fourth goal of the season came in a 2–1 victory over
Leeds United on 17 January 2004. There then followed a rich run of form with Phillips netting ten further goals in the final four months of the season including two goals in the matches at
Manchester United,
Wolverhampton Wanderers and
Manchester City. Phillips ended
the 2003–04 season with 13 goals in total, from 37 appearances. Phillips had now played under four managers within a year. Despite the frequent changes in manager, Phillips continued to score regularly in his partnership with new signing
Peter Crouch. He managed ten league goals in 2004–05, Despite Phillips's goals, the club finished at the bottom of the table and were relegated after 27 years in the top flight. On 29 June 2005, Phillips departed from Southampton after two years and 22 league goals to join Aston Villa in a £1 million deal. He scored just four minutes into his Villa debut, and then returned from injury to seal Villa's first Premier League defeat of local rivals
Birmingham City in seven attempts. Phillips shared front-man duties with
Juan Pablo Ángel and fellow new signing
Milan Baroš, but illness and further injuries disrupted his season, in which he contributed only five goals. He began the 2006–07 season with Villa, but on 22 August, he signed for
West Bromwich Albion of the Championship for a £700,000 fee.
West Bromwich Albion in 2007 Phillips joined West Bromwich Albion despite strong interest from Sunderland, where his former strike partner Niall Quinn had recently become both chairman and manager. He cited a reluctance to move his family and home for a third time in three years as a major factor in his decision. He scored 22 goals in his first season with West Brom, including two hat-tricks, one in a 5–1 win at
Ipswich Town and the second in a 7–0 defeat of
Barnsley on the final day of the regular season that confirmed Albion's place in the play-offs. Phillips scored twice in the first leg of the play-off semi-final against
Wolverhampton Wanderers, and headed the only goal of the second leg to ensure their progression to
the final, in which they lost 1–0 to
Derby County. He missed six weeks of the 2007–08 season because of a knee injury sustained in early November, but rediscovered his goalscoring form on his return to win the Championship player-of-the-month award for December. Described by Albion manager
Tony Mowbray as "a natural goal-scorer with great awareness and vision", Phillips scored his 200th League goal in a 1–1 draw with
Crystal Palace on 13 March 2008. For the last match of the season, away to
Queens Park Rangers, fans of West Bromwich Albion chose to dress up as
superheroes in honour of Phillips, who is nicknamed "Super Kev"; Albion won the match 2–0 to win promotion to the Premier League as champions. Phillips won numerous awards over the season. He received Player-of-the-Year awards from both the West Bromwich Albion Supporters Club and from the club itself, after scoring 24 goals from 30 starts and finishing as the Championship's second top goalscorer. At national level, he was chosen Championship Player of the Year at the annual
Football League Awards, ahead of
Andy Gray of
Charlton Athletic and
Michael Kightly of Wolverhampton Wanderers, and, together with teammates
Paul Robinson and
Jonathan Greening, was named in the
PFA Championship Team of the Year.
Birmingham City When his contract with West Bromwich Albion expired at the end of the 2007–08 season, the club offered Phillips a one-year deal, with an additional second year if he made 19 or more league appearances. He rejected the offer, preferring to sign a two-year contract with Birmingham City, newly relegated from the Premier League. He made his debut on the opening day of the 2008–09 season against
Sheffield United, coming on as a substitute to score a stoppage time winner in a 1–0 victory. Phillips continued his scoring run with goals in his next two games, against Southampton and Barnsley, against
Reading that earned him the club's Goal of the Season award, and finished the season with 14 goals in all competitions. His 14th, to take a two-goal lead in a 2–1 win against promotion rivals Reading on the last day of the season, ensured Birmingham's return to the Premier League after just one season in the Championship. At 36, Phillips recognised he would play a reduced role at the higher level. – he started only twice, but came on as substitute in 17 games. He scored only four goals, Against Wolverhampton Wanderers, he came off the bench to score twice in the last ten minutes and win the game, and on 27 March 2010, 1–0 down at home to
Arsenal, a 92nd-minute clearance by
Bacary Sagna deflected off Phillips' face via the goalkeeper into the net for his 250th career goal. He signed a one-year contract extension ahead of the 2010–11 season, but missed the start through injury. He went on to make five league starts, but his major contribution came in the League Cup. Facing
League One club
Brentford, Phillips scored a stoppage-time equaliser and converted his penalty in the
shootout by which Birmingham progressed to the quarter-final. They went on to reach
the final, where Phillips received his first winners' medal in a cup competition, albeit as an unused substitute, as Birmingham defeated favourites Arsenal 2–1. Birmingham finished 18th in the League, so were relegated to the Championship, and Phillips was one of several players to leave the club when their contracts expired at the end of the season.
Blackpool On 10 July 2011, Phillips signed a one-year deal with Football League Championship club
Blackpool. On 14 August, he scored both of Blackpool's goals in their 2–1 league victory over
Peterborough United, on his home debut. He again scored twice a few days later, including a last-minute equaliser, in a 2–2 draw away at
Brighton & Hove Albion. On 5 November, Phillips scored the only goal of the game against
Millwall within three minutes of coming on as a substitute. In a five-game spell in January and February 2012, he came off the bench to score late equalising goals in three league matches, two of which Blackpool went on to win, and, in his first start for three months, converted a 93rd-minute penalty against
Sheffield Wednesday in the fourth round of the FA Cup to force a replay. Phillips finished the season as the club's top scorer, with 17 goals in all competitions, and won their goal of the season for his equaliser against Cardiff City, described in
The Observer as "a lovely lob punishing [goalkeeper]
David Marshall for a punched clearance that lacked the required distance. Phillips took the ball down on his chest, picked his spot and scored with consummate skill and accuracy". but scored only twice from 18 appearances before following manager
Ian Holloway to Championship rivals
Crystal Palace.
Crystal Palace On the last day of the January 2013 transfer window, Phillips signed on loan to Crystal Palace until the end of the 2012–13 season. and scored his first goal for the Eagles in their next game, against his former club Watford at
Vicarage Road. Palace were again trailing when he came off the bench, 2–0 down with half an hour remaining, and Phillips scored the equaliser as the side fought back to achieve a 2–2 draw. Phillips' hat-trick, scored in eight minutes either side of half-time in a 4–2 defeat of
Hull City, made him the oldest scorer in Palace's history at 39 years 7 months. This is also the club's fastest ever hat-trick in the league, beating the previous record set by
Dougie Freedman in 11 minutes in a 5–0 win against Grimsby Town exactly 17 years before. On 27 May, he came on as a substitute in the
play-off final and converted an extra-time penalty, after
Wilfried Zaha had been fouled by
Marco Cassetti, to secure Palace's promotion to the Premier League at the expense of former club
Watford.
Steve Parish indicated in the
Croydon Advertiser that Phillips had agreed to a one-year deal with Palace in July 2013. On 20 July, Palace confirmed that Phillips had joined the club on a one-year deal. On 31 December, Palace announced that Phillips would leave the club by mutual consent in January.
Leicester City On 15 January 2014, Leicester City confirmed that they had signed Phillips on a short-term contract until the end of the season. The striker made his debut on 18 January against
Leeds United, coming on as a substitute for
Jamie Vardy, helping create the opportunity that saw fellow former England international
David Nugent score the winning goal of the game. On 1 February, Phillips scored his first goal for the club against
AFC Bournemouth, heading in winger
Anthony Knockaert's cross. Phillips' second goal for Leicester, his first at home, came in the 3–1 victory over former club Blackpool on 15 March. On 28 April, he announced his intention to retire from football at the conclusion of the 2013–14 season. With Leicester already confirmed as champions, Phillips played his final career game in the last match of the season, against
Doncaster Rovers on 3 May, and was substituted in the 65th minute. ==Coaching career==