Thursday 22 December 2011

The Sky Blue View Christmas Special: Number 4

Were getting ever closer to Number 1, but at number 4 you have chosen Shaun Wright Phillips.

Shaun Wright Phillips
After getting released by Nottingham Forest at the age of 17, Shaun joined City's famous youth academy. He made his debut in a League Cup tie against Burnley and his league debut came two months later at Vale Park as he came on as a substitute to help turn around a 1-0 deficit.

Wright Phillips started his Manchester City career as a striker, and after his league debut he started the next two matches in place of Paul Dickov, but only made another first team appearance during the 1999/2000 season.


City won promotion, and Shaun featured more for the Blues than the previous season. Making 19 appearances in a variety of attacking positions, he was a part of a side that went immediately back down to Division 1.

It was when Kevin Keegan replaced Joe Royle that Wright Phillips saw a change in his fortunes. He became an established player, but as a wing back in a very attacking formation.

He won City's young player of the year four times in a row which surpassed Steve Kinsey's record during the early 1980s.

He was clearly a fan's favourite due to his consistent performances on the right wing and his quality was recognised by oil rich Chelsea, who signed him from City in July 2005.

However, his time at Chelsea was a poor one and he made a return to sensational return to his spiritual home just three years later. Signing on a four year deal, he scored two goals in his second debut for the club away to Sunderland in a 3-0 win.

He equalled his goal scoring record from his entire Chelsea career within just one month of being back at City, and became a consistent regular at the Blues. However, when Mark Hughes was sacked in December 2009, he was starting to be left out of the City squad under new manager Roberto Mancini due to Adam Johnson's impressive form on the right hand side.

Along with the influx of better players to the club, Wright Phillips was eventually left with no choice but to leave the club.  

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