Phil Jevons

Phil Jevons

Personal information
Full name	Phillip Jevons
Date of birth	1 August 1979 (1979-08-01)
Place of birth	Liverpool, England
Height	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Playing position	Striker
Club information
Current club	Morecambe
Number	10
Youth career
	Everton
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1996–2001	Everton	8	(0)
2001–2004	Grimsby Town	63	(18)
2002–2003	→ Hull City (loan)	24	(3)
2004–2006	Yeovil Town	84	(42)
2006–2008	Bristol City	43	(11)
2007–2008	→ Huddersfield Town (loan)	8	(2)
2008–2010	Huddersfield Town	36	(7)
2009	→ Bury (loan)	7	(2)
2009–2010	→ Morecambe (loan)	40	(18)
2010–	Morecambe	59	(12)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 21:54, 21 January 2012 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals).

Phillip "Phil" Jevons (born 1 August 1979 in Liverpool, England) is an English football player who currently plays for Football League Two side Morecambe. He is notably remembered for scoring a last minute 45 yard extra time winning goal for Grimsby Town against his home town club Liverpool in the third round of the League Cup in 2001 which gave The Mariners a 2-1 victory at Anfield. He had joined Grimsby that year from Everton where he played in the Premier League.

He has also played for Hull City, Yeovil Town, Bristol City, Huddersfield Town and Bury.

Club career

Everton

Jevons is a product of the Everton F.C. Academy and became one of the stars of their youth side, scoring 55 goals in 91 youth team games and winning the FA Youth Cup in 1998. Despite his reputation for frequently scoring in the youth and reserve side, He failed to make much impact on the first team squad, however he managed to feature in several Premiership games. He became a part of the Everton youth team squad that started such professional careers as Francis Jeffers and Danny Cadamarteri. But whereas Jeffers stayed on and made an impact at Goodison Park, Jevons was transfer listed and left the club at the end of the 2000–2001 season.

Grimsby Town

In July 2001, he was sold to Grimsby Town for £250,000. Grimsby were playing in the Football League First Division, and Jevons was one of the first signings of the new campaign for manager Lennie Lawrence. He became an instant hit at Blundell Park and helped fire Grimsby to the top of the league within the first five games of the season, notably his partnership with young striker Jonathan Rowan had shown early promise. He is fondly remembered by Town fans for scoring a stunning long-range goal in extra time of a League Cup fixture against Liverpool. After picking up the ball 45 yards from goal, Jevons hit a shot into the top left hand corner of Chris Kirkland's goal which ultimately won the game for Grimsby who had come from a goal behind to win the match 2–1 and which was the Mariners' first-ever victory at Anfield. After this success the club were knocked out in the following round by Arsenal and this was to be the end of the glory for Jevons and Grimsby; his performances dipped and his place in the squad was at stake due to the impact of new signing Michael Boulding. Following the collapse of ITV Digital Grimsby like many other smaller clubs in England struggled financially and this led new manager Paul Groves to the task of cutting the club's wage bill. After several league games for Grimsby in the 2002–2003 season, Jevons was sent on a season-long loan to Humberside rivals Hull City who at the time were playing several leagues below Grimsby. Jevons returned to the Mariners in the summer of 2003 following Grimsby's relegation from the second tier of English football. Injuries and off-field troubles meant that Jevons did not feature in Town's first team until midway through the 2003–04 season, as the club decided to reinstate the player following a controversial fall-out with chairman Peter Furneaux.^{[citation needed]} Ironically Jevons had returned in time to replace the departed Michael Boulding who several seasons back had been a preferred forward to Jevons. Following the sacking of Paul Groves and the appointment of Nicky Law, Jevons seemingly struck up a good partnership with Isaiah Rankin and scored an impressive four goals in a home fixture against Barnsley. Despite this the club suffered a second successive relegation and Jevons left the club at the end of the season after a further bust up with Furneaux.^{[citation needed]} In total Jevons scored 24 times as a Grimsby Town player, 12 of them coming in the latter half of his final season.

Yeovil Town

He joined Yeovil Town on a free transfer in June 2004 and became an integral part of manager Gary Johnson's squad as Yeovil launched an assault on promotion from League Two. He became leading scorer for the club – in 2005 and was also the joint top scorer in all four divisions with 27 league goals. Ultimately at the end of the season he earned promotion to League One. Jevons had a consolidation season in 2005–06 as Yeovil adapted to League One football, at the end of the season, Gary Johnson quit as the clubs manager and this also paved the way for Phil's departure from Huish Park.

Bristol City

He joined Bristol City after a free transfer from Yeovil Town in the summer of 2006, following Gary Johnson to Ashton Gate. Once again Jevons romped his way through League One, earning goals that would see the club promoted to the Championship league. After promotion though, Jevons slipped out of contention in the squad and on 22 November 2007 he went to Huddersfield Town on a month's loan.

Huddersfield Town

He made his debut on 24 November, as a substitute in Town's 1–0 loss against Leyton Orient at the Galpharm Stadium. On 1 December he scored his first two goals in a 3–0 against his former club, Grimsby Town to send Huddersfield through to the third round of the FA Cup. His first league goal for the Terriers came against his parent club's rivals, Bristol Rovers. Then on 24 December, Jevons's loan was extended until 19 January 2008. However, on 10 January Jevons was signed for £100,000, that could double to £200,000 depending on appearances and whether Town win promotion, on a deal that takes him until summer 2010. On 23 March 2009, he joined League Two side Bury on a month's loan. He made his debut as a substitute the following day in the 1–1 draw against Rotherham United at the Don Valley Stadium. He stayed during their play-off campaign, but unfortunately he had his penalty saved in the second leg against Shrewsbury Town, before they lost on a penalty shoot-out.

Morecambe

On 22 July 2009 Jevons signed for Morecambe on a season-long loan deal, along with teammate Ian Craney. He got his first goal for the Shrimps in their 5–2 defeat by Burton Albion on 15 August 2009. He scored 18 goals in his loan spell at the club. He signed a pre-contract agreement with Morecambe to stay with the club after his contract with Huddersfield Town ends on the 30 June 2010.Even when he was only on loan, Jevons was a real fan favourite. Morecambe FC fans were delighted when news filtered through that manager Sammy McIlroy had managed to sign him on a two-year-deal.

Honours

Everton

• FA Youth Cup: 1998

Grimsby Town

• Supporters Player of the Year: 2004

Yeovil Town

• Football League Two Champion: 2005
• Football League Two Golden Boot: 2005

Bristol City

• FA Cup Player of the Round (Second Round): 2006
• Top goalscorer: 2006–07 Season with 11 goals (League) and 6 (Cups)

In popular culture

Music

Pete Green wrote "The Ballad of Phil Jevons" which appears on the B side of his first seven-inch single Everything I Do Is Gonna Be Sparkly (Atomic Beat Records, 2007 – ABR001). According to the songwriter: "To start with I just wrote the song to amuse my fellow Grimsby-supporting mates, and never intended it for public performance because I didn't think it'd mean anything to anyone. But then I thought: hmm, well, the enigmatic, gifted-but-lazy footballer is sort of an everyman figure really."

How can I object to you

if you score four times in an afternoon?

Phil, your boots are white

but if you fill your boots like that, we'll forgive that shite

Your finishing was really quite sublime

The Barnsley fans were leaving at half time

A Scouser's work is never done

and when you signed from Everton

you scored a gem at Liverpool

but got yourself shipped out on loan to Hull

A lazy sod or just a nervous wreck?

A 35-yard millstone round your neck

And you and me are just a pair of slackers

We're gonna carry on until they sack us

Four grand a week with bonuses

I would say the onus is

on you to justify that salary

It took a run in the reserves to make you see:

motivated not by Groves but fear

Scoring goals and saving your career

You shrugged your shoulders as the Mariners went down

and then you buggered off to Yeovil Town

External links

• Phil Jevons player profile at htafc.com
• Phil Jevons career stats at Soccerbase
• Yeovil Town record