Stephen McPhail

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Stephen McPhail
Personal information
Full name Stephen John Paul McPhail
Date of birth December 9, 1979 (1979-12-09) (age 28)
Place of birth    Westminster, London, England
Height 5ft 8in
Playing position Midfielder
Club information
Current club Cardiff City
Number 10
Youth clubs
Rush Athletic
Home Farm
Leeds United
Senior clubs1
Years Club App (Gls)*
1997-2004
2002
2003
2004-2006
2006-		 Leeds United
→ Millwall (loan)
→ Nottingham Forest (loan)
Barnsley
Cardiff City		 78 (3)
03 (0)
14 (0)
70 (4)
86 (3)   
National team2
 ?
2006-
2001-		 Republic of Ireland U21
Republic of Ireland B
Republic of Ireland		 0? (?)
01 (0)
10 (1)

1 Senior club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only and
correct as of 14:45, 18 May 2008 (UTC).
2 National team caps and goals correct
as of 4/11/2007.
* Appearances (Goals)

Stephen John Paul McPhail (born 9 December 1979 in Westminster, London, raised in Dublin, Ireland) is an Irish footballer currently playing in the Football League Championship for Welsh side Cardiff City. He has won 10 caps for his country, the Republic of Ireland, and scored one goal. He plays as an attacking central midfield player but can play on the left as well. He has the nickname of Macca due to his surname.

Contents

[edit] Club career

[edit] Leeds United

McPhail started his career by coming through the youth ranks at Leeds United and attracted interest from several teams which even led to 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 when he made several substitute appearances and impressed with his hard working play and strong passing ability, which was showcased during one league match when he made 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 1999/00 season, after making several sub appearances, when he was given a long run in the first team squad and was rewarded with a new five-year contract at the Yorkshire club[1]. During this time McPhail went on to break his scoring duck for Leeds that year when he scored twice in a league match against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

After David O'Leary left Leeds the club went on to have several different managers over the next few years and due to injuries he failed to break into the team first under Terry Venables and later Peter Reid. During this time he spent time on loan at Millwall[2] and Nottingham Forest[3] in order to get some first team games. He nearly made his move to Forest permanent as both player[4] and manager[5] felt the move would be beneficial to his career but the propsed move eventually broke down as Leeds were reluctant to let him leave. During his time at Leeds United Stephen took part in the club's Champions League Semi Final run, taking part in memeorable games against the likes of Barcelona and playing well against Lazio at Elland Road. Andy Gray once referred to him as the "best midfielder in the premiership".

[edit] Barnsley

He left Leeds in 2004 to sign for Barnsley[6] in 2004 on a free transfer. He spent two years at Barnsley where he was a major part of the squad and was part of the team that gained promotion to the English Championship via the League One play-offs. Had he stayed with Barnsley he would have been playing in the Championship the following year but instead he opted to leave the club.

[edit] Cardiff City

Due to being out of contract he attracted interest from teams all over The Football League but on 13 June 2006 he signed for English Championship side Cardiff City on a free transfer from Barnsley. He was seen as a replacement for Jason Koumas when the club failed to secure his permanent transfer from West Bromwich Albion after he had spent the previous year on loan at Ninian Park. During his first season at Ninian Park, he showed his potential, being ever-present in the starting line-up and in July 2007 he was rewarded with a new four-year contract at the club[7]. Manager Dave Jones continued to show faith in the midfielder when, at the start of the 2007/08 season, he made McPhail temporary captain in the absence of normal captain Darren Purse and vice-captain Riccardo Scimeca. On 27 October 2007 he finally broke his scoring drought for Cardiff, in his 55th league game, by finding the net in a 1-1 draw with Scunthorpe United.

On 30 November 2007 after a poor start to the season for the Bluebirds McPhail spoke to local paper the South Wales Echo and claimed that the teams poor start was "all his fault".[8]

Cardiff's form improved towards the new year as they moved back towards the play off places with McPhail's midfield partnership with Gavin Rae beginning to produce, as he found the net twice within the space of two months with goals against Hull City and Blackpool. McPhail also led the team as captain to the FA Cup Final, played on 18 May, playing in four of the five games en route to the final, being replaced by Aaron Ramsey for the third round tie against non-league Chasetown due to picking up his fifth booking of the season the previous week.

[edit] International career

He received his first call up in May 2000 when manager Mick McCarthy selected him in the squad for a match against Scotland[9]. McPhail currently holds 10 caps for the Republic of Ireland national football team and has also played for the Ireland under-21 side earlier in his career however he has not earned a full cap for Ireland since a match against Nigeria in 2004.[10] Due to some good form at Cardiff he had publicly declared his hopes of returning to the international scene due to the return of an Ireland B team.[11]. In October 2006 he was named in the Ireland B squad for a match against Scotland B and captained the side in a 0-0 draw.[12] In May 2008, new Ireland manager Giovanni Trappatoni selected McPhail for his first squad for the friendly games agains Serbia and Colombia.

[edit] Club stats

As of 3 February 2008

Club Performance
Club Season League FA Cup League Cup Other Total
App Goals App Goals App Goals App Goals App Goals
Leeds United 1997-98 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0
1998-99 17 0 0 0 1 0 2 0 20 0
1999-00 24 2 3 0 2 0 9 0 38 2
2000-01 7 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 11 0
Subtotal 52 2 3 0 3 0 14 0 72 2
Millwall (loan) 2000-01 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0
Subtotal 55 2 3 0 3 0 14 0 75 2
Leeds United 2001-02 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 3 0
2002-03 13 0 0 0 1 0 5 0 19 0
2003-04 12 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 12 1
Subtotal 81 3 3 0 6 0 19 0 109 3
Nottingham Forest (loan) 2003-04 14 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 16 0
Subtotal 95 3 3 0 8 0 19 0 125 3
Barnsley 2004-05 36 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 37 2
2005-06 37 2 2 0 1 0 0 0 40 2
Subtotal 168 7 5 0 10 0 19 0 202 7
Cardiff City 2006-07 43 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 45 0
2007-08 43 3 5 0 4 0 0 0 52 3
Total 254 10 12 0 14 0 19 0 284 10

[edit] Honours

With Barnsley:

With Cardiff City:

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Leeds aim to keep stars" BBC Sport Retrieved on 1 October 2007
  2. ^ "McPhail explains move" BBC Sport Retrieved on 1 October 2007
  3. ^ "Forest agree McPhail deal" BBC Sport Retrieved on 1 October 2007
  4. ^ "McPhail eyes Forest deal" BBC Sport Retrieved on 1 October 2007
  5. ^ "Hart wants McPhail to stay" BBC Sport Retrieved on 1 October 2007
  6. ^ "Barnsley sign McPhail" BBC Sport Retrieved on 1 October 2007
  7. ^ "McPhail signs Cardiff extension" BBC Sport Retrieved on 1 October 2007
  8. ^ "Its all my fault - McPhail's shock admission" South Wales Echo Retrieved on 30 November 2007
  9. ^ "McPhail joins Republic's swing to left" The Independent Retrieved on 1 October 2007
  10. ^ "Opportunity knocks for Ireland's B side and Stephen McPhail" FAI.ie Retrieved on 4 November 2007
  11. ^ "McPhail targets Republic return" BBC Sport Retrieved on 1 October 2007
  12. ^ "Ireland B vs Scotland B match report" FAI.ie Retrieved on 4 November 2007

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Cardiff City F.C. – current squad

2 McNaughton • 3 Capaldi • 4 Rae • 5 Purse • 6 Loovens • 7 Whittingham • 8 Fowler • 10 McPhail • 11 Parry • 12 Johnson • 14 Feeney • 16 Ledley • 19 Scimeca • 20 Thompson • 23 Blake • 25 Sak • 26 Brown • 31 Magennis • 36 Hasselbaink • –– Flood • Manager: Jones