Phil Babb

Phil Babb
Personal information
Full name Philip Andrew Babb
Date of birth (1970-11-30) 30 November 1970
Place of birth Lambeth, England
Height 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Playing position Centre back
Youth career
1989–1990 Millwall
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1990–1992 Bradford City 80 (14)
1992–1994 Coventry City 77 (3)
1994–2000 Liverpool 128 (1)
2000 → Tranmere Rovers (loan) 4 (0)
2000–2002 Sporting CP 37 (0)
2002–2004 Sunderland 48 (0)
Total 374 (18)
National team
1994–2002 Republic of Ireland 35 (0)
Teams managed
2013–2015 Hayes & Yeading United

* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.


Philip Andrew "Phil" Babb (born 30 November 1970) is a former professional footballer who played as a central defender.

He made over 370 league appearances during his career, most notably spending six Premier League seasons with Liverpool, and also playing in the top flight for Coventry City and Sunderland. He also played in Portugal for Sporting Clube de Portugal and in the Football League for Bradford City and Tranmere Rovers.

Babb represented the Republic of Ireland at the 1994 World Cup, playing in 35 internationals.

Club career

Born in Lambeth, London, Babb came through the youth ranks of Millwall, before beginning his senior career in 1990 with Bradford City. He moved to Coventry City in July 1992 for a fee of £500,000,[1] where he spent two seasons before moving to Liverpool on 1 September 1994 for £3.6million,[2] which made him the most expensive defender in Britain at the time.[3]

Babb only scored once during six Premier League years at Liverpool, and 170 appearances in all competitions for the club ironically against former club Coventry, in September 1996.[4] Whilst at Liverpool he played in the victorious 1995 Football League Cup Final.[5] After a brief loan spell at Tranmere Rovers, he moved to Portugal with Sporting Clube de Portugal on a free transfer in 2000,[6][7] appearing in 38 official games in his second season – one goal against FC Midtjylland in the UEFA Cup (3–0 away win, 6–2 on aggregate)[8]– as the Lions conquered both the league and the domestic cup.

Babb ended his career at the age of 33 with Sunderland (also two years),[9] suffering top level relegation in 2003, and helping the Black Cats to a Football League Championship play-off semi-final.

International career

Having chosen to represent the Republic of Ireland internationally, Babb earned 35 full caps, including four matches at the 1994 FIFA World Cup.[10] In August 2000, he and Ireland teammate Mark Kennedy were sent home from a training camp "after appearing in court charged with drunken and abusive behaviour and causing criminal damage."[11]

Babb's final game for Ireland was in UEFA Euro 2004 qualifying against Russia in Moscow, on 7 September 2002: having come into the game in the 85th minute, his first touch of the ball was diverted behind Irish goalkeeper Shay Given for an own goal.

Managerial career

On 9 May 2013, Babb was appointed as manager of Conference South side Hayes & Yeading United.[12][13]

He left the club by mutual consent in February 2015.[14]

Statistics

Club career[15][16]
Club Season League League FA Cup League Cup Europe Total
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
1990–91 Bradford City Third Division 34 10 – – – – 34 10
1991–92 46 4 – – – – 46 4
1992–93 Coventry City Premier League 34 0 – – – – 34 0
1993–94 40 3 – – – – 40 3
1994–95 3 0 – – – – 3 0
Liverpool 34 0 6 0 7 0 47 0
1995–96 28 0 4 0 4 0 4 0 40 0
1996–97 22 1 1 0 3 0 5 0 31 1
1997–98 19 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 22 0
1998–99 25 0 1 0 0 0 4 0 30 0
1999–00 0 0 0 0 0 0 − 0 0
Tranmere Rovers First Division 4 0 – – – – 4 0
2000–01 Sporting CP Primeira Liga 10 0 – – – – – – 10 0
2001–02 27 0 – – – – – – 27 0
2002–03 Sunderland Premier League 26 0 – – – – 26 0
2003–04 First Division 22 0 – – – – 22 0
Career total 374 18 12 0 16 0 14 0 416 18
International career
Republic of Ireland national team
Year Apps Goals
1994 12 0
1995 7 0
1996 2 0
1997 2 0
1998 3 0
1999 3 0
2000 5 0
2001 0 0
2002 1 0
Total 35 0

Personal life

In 2006, Babb became an investor in Golf Punk magazine, alongside former Sunderland teammates Michael Gray, Jason McAteer, Thomas Sørensen and Stephen Wright, saving the publication from closure.[17] He also worked as a pundit for Sky Sports.[18]

References

  1. ↑ "Bradford City – Phil Babb". Sporting Heroes. Retrieved 25 April 2011.
  2. ↑ "Coventry City – Phil Babb". Sporting Heroes. Retrieved 25 April 2011.
  3. ↑ "Player profile". LFC History. Retrieved 25 April 2011.
  4. ↑ Phil Shaw (4 September 1996). "Babb returns to haunt Coventry". UK: The Independent. Retrieved 11 February 2011.
  5. ↑ "Liverpool 2 - 1 Bolton Wanderers". lfchistory.net. Retrieved 20 October 2016.
  6. ↑ "Liverpool – Phil Babb". Sporting Heroes. Retrieved 25 April 2011.
  7. ↑ "O'Shea makes step up". BBC Sport. 29 August 2002. Retrieved 30 September 2011.
  8. ↑ "Ronaldo back in business". BBC Sport. 20 September 2001. Retrieved 21 October 2011.
  9. ↑ "Post War English & Scottish Football League A–Z Player's Database". Neilbrown.newcastlefans. 30 November 1970. Retrieved 25 April 2011.
  10. ↑ Phil Babb – FIFA competition record
  11. ↑ Tommy Staniforth (31 August 2000). "Keane faces fitness test". UK: The Independent. Retrieved 11 February 2011.
  12. ↑ http://www.westlondonsport.com/non-league/ex-liverpool-man-babb-is-united-boss
  13. ↑ "Phil Babb takes over as Hayes & Yeading United manager". BBC Sport. 10 May 2013. Retrieved 10 May 2013.
  14. ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/31627134
  15. ↑ Phil Babb at National-Football-Teams.com
  16. ↑ Player profile
  17. ↑ Paul Kelso (20 December 2006). "Babb bails out Golf Punk". UK: The Guardian. Retrieved 11 February 2011.
  18. ↑ Jonny Abrams (10 February 2010). "Whatever happened to the following 5 Liverpool players?". Sport.co.uk. Retrieved 30 September 2011.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/20/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.